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divine529's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
There are four short stories in this collection (in no particular order): (1) Pet (Berenger x Ancel), (2) Green But For a Season (Jord x Aimeric), (3) The Adventures of Charls the Veretian Cloth Merchant (Charls and Guillame and others), and (4) The Summer Palace (Laurent x Damen).
My favorite by quite a large margin was the one with Charls the cloth merchant. I could've read about him and their adventures all day. In fact, I would love a whole book about him please. Next, I loved the Summer Palace and finally truly starting to acknowledge and heal from the things Laurent and Damen went through. Pet was interesting. I didn't love it, but it added something extra for me and I do love Berenger and their relationship. Green But For a Season did nothing for me really.
All in all a fun collection.
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, and Slavery
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Trafficking
Minor: Pedophilia, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Fire/Fire injury
diana_raquel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault and Slavery
teagstime's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Getting to see Jord's POV of the formation of the Prince's guard was cool- to see them going from a ragtag group to men who would die for their Prince, no questions asked. Because of course Laurent won them over by being clever and quietly caring!
I also adored Charls's adventures with Young Charls and Lamen. Charls was such an unexpectedly charming npc from the trilogy, getting a whole side story from his POV was a total delight 💗
It was interesting seeing the story from Ancel's perspective, too (tho I'm ngl it took me a stupidly long time to even realize who he was LOL).
And, of course, THE SUMMER PALACE...!!!! What can I even say. I just adore the two of them. Their love has grown into something so quietly sweet, so tender and beautiful! Laurent laughing and teasing Damen, the two of them just... wrestling and having fun and thinking about the future, while gently helping one another heal from their tumultuous past... God. It's just! So! Good!!! They deserve to take their time getting to know one another so intimately- to engage in shy courting rituals and 'meetings each other's families.
C.S. Pacat gave me the thing I needed most: post-canon Damen/Laurent content. And I am eating it UP I'm DEVOURING it !!! 💗💗
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Trafficking, Alcohol, and Classism
cait's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
nicamooch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Slavery, Violence, and Trafficking
Minor: Pedophilia, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War
dododenise's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
These were just some fun stories for when you loved the captive prince trilogy.
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, and Slavery
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
adhdru's review against another edition
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I ended up loving even the characters I didn't expect to.
Green but for a Season > sad
Would've been a lovely read, if we didn't know how the story between Jord and Aimeric actually ended; it was quite painful to see Jord get enamored and hopeful about him knowing how it'd all unfold. Despite the pain, I really enjoyed getting to see more of Jord and through him a young Laurent working hard to prove himself worthy and building up the Prince Guard.
The Summer Palace > lovely
The marvelous epilogue we all deserved. Though I was happy with the way Kings Rising ended, I was extremely pleased to get to see a little more of Lamen. This story managed to be incredibly soft, funny and still deal with some pretty heavy topics that weren't really addressed in the trilogy, but that needed to be addressed nonetheless. Their relationship is just wonderful and I'm in love with their love!
The Adventures of Charls, the Veretian Cloth Merchant > funny
This was hilarious. I loved Charls' POV with his clueless self-assurance, genuine loyalty and love for Laurent and (funnily misguided) care for decorum towards the prince.
Pet > surprising
I never particularly cared for Ancel, so I was surprised that he was the MC for one of the short stories, and I was honestly not expecting to like it much, however, I was wrong. I enjoyed seeing the capri world through a pet's eye, a pet that's willingly one. For me pets are an —admittedly extreme— form of prostitution, and though during the Regent's time consent was completely disregarded and many were practically forced into petdom, I assume that during a fairer rule there would still people choosing to be pets. I think there's a fine line that often gets blurred between sex work and forced sexual labour and I thought Ancel did a very good the consentual side of sex work, when chosen willingly —a great contrast to Damen's views and experience and of the institutional slavery of Akielos.
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, and Slavery
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Pedophilia and Trafficking