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frantic_vampire's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This was so good! All these stories added so much depth to the Captive Prince series. I loved getting to see Damen and Laurent through other characters perspectives. The absolute chaos they cause is unreal! I also loved getting to see them have their happy ending. But I think my favorite story in this collection was Pet. Getting to see just a smidge of Ancel and Berenger together was fantastic. I would absolutely love to see more stories about them. Anyway, this was such a great story collection and it’s getting four and a half stars!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Trafficking, and Classism
divine529's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Normally I'm not a huge fan of short stories unless they bring something important to the series, but these did. They added an extra layer to the world and it was really nice getting to see different perspectives and peek into other people's lives.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, and Slavery
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Trafficking
Minor: Pedophilia, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Fire/Fire injury
teagstime's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- 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
I loved seeing these little extras- of course, I *loved* every bit with Laurent and Damen, but I also just!? Really liked seeing more of the side characters!
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 !!! 💗💗
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 !!! 💗💗
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Trafficking, Alcohol, and Classism
cait's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
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
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- 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
I didn’t read The Summer Palace the first time I read the trilogy because I wasn’t ready to leave the CapRi world behind. But it really is best read right after Kings Rising, it’s like the epilogue that the final book was missing. Even though I was expecting the fluff it really was so so soft 😭 they’re so in love please 😭😭😭 (did not expect to cry so much though 😭).
The Jord story was sweet- I love that we get the backstory as to why the Prince’s Guard are so loyal to Laurent.
The Charls story was so funny. Undercover DL was so cute. Also, Damen has curly hair and a dimple confirmed! Charls somehow has the ?warmest?descriptions of Damen’s appearance, it’s cute.
I did not expect to enjoy Pet so much. That was a such a wild ride. Ancel is a very ambitious and self-assured character, a different type of hyper confidence in comparison to Damen and just so interesting to read. I adored the dynamic he had with Berenger!
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the other non-Damen perspectives so much, but I love that in all of them you get to see DL from an outsiders perspective at different points of their relationship development.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Slavery, Violence, and Trafficking
Minor: Pedophilia, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War
adhdru's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was a delightful read.
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.I absolutely adore that we got to see Lamen hunting down slave traffickers and genuinely couldn't stop laughing when he kept cluelessly talking to Damen as though he was just an assistant and fussing over Laurent. Which for me peaked when he ordered him to skin the rabbit for Laurent and then 'realise' that of course he wasn't an assistant, but a companion with no valuable skills.
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.I would've never imagined I'd get a ship to love out of this short story, but they make me so fuzzy!
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, and Slavery
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Pedophilia and Trafficking