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alexandrabelze's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, and Blood
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Alcohol, and War
ahoyitsjoy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Aside from the often gratuitously horrific SA happening in this book, the political intrigue is really quite well done. The reader has enough info to generally figure things out ahead of the protagonist if they're paying attention. I'm hoping the next book has the shock value dialed back several notches and more of the good stuff, because I think there's potential here.
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War
briannafenty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Injury/Injury detail
ssaradve's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Blood and War
billcbentley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Sexual harassment
booksthatburn's review against another edition
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Sexism, Violence, Blood, and Murder
ciuli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The whole first part of the book made me wish I could scrub my brain with soap just so I could forget everything that I had read so far. While I do understand that the whole plot of this book surrounds slavery and how they are the slaves are treated depending on the country's culture, I also believe that having people casually rape each other every now and then could have easily been avoided.
I knew what kind of themes I would have encountered reading this book, I had read some reviews here and there, but it felt like reading glorified porn in some parts and that's just something I don't like, but that's my taste and my opinion.
Regarding the characters, boy did I NOT like Damen, AT ALL!
man had me wishing I could slap him irl, and a the time he was supposed to be the one I felt pity for! He is completely disconnected from the real world, thinks his country and people are so much better than everyone else just because they treat their slaves better, while completely missing the point considering how they do have slaves as well 😭
I like Laurent, I like his scheming mind and how smart he is with everything, I like how he is always 10 steps ahead of you and you don't even know it. Is he a perfect character? Absolutely not, he almost had someone rapes in front of him and almost flogged Damen to death, but we know there's more to it and I'm curios to see what's to come!
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Moderate: Pedophilia
bookishstevie's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment
shrikebait's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I went in expecting a MM dark fantasy erotic thriller based on the blurb. While this is absolutely a fantasy book, I don't find it romantic or particularly erotic, even in a taboo sense. There are quite a bit of NC erotic tropes in the first half, but they never really pay off and aren't a consistent theme later in the book.
Speaking of taboo...A particular ick comes in the form of a child character who is groomed as a s*x sl*ve. Rather than recognizing the horror this concept SHOULD evoke, the story portrays him as a spoiled brat, older than his years. No, thank you.
While I enjoy the attention to detail in the clothing and customs of this world, I feel this aspect falls flat without a cohesive plot. Initially, I thought the plot was supposed to take a backseat to the erotic elements...but when the eroticism didn't pay off, I was left with characters who lacked consistent motivations and a less-than-compelling plot.
With all this in mind, I'm not particularly interested in the next book. I might change my mind if y'all think it's a move in the right direction for the series.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Violence
Minor: Blood
nitzanschwarz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
I finally did it. I finally read this book! And boy, do I have some thoughts.
I'll start by saying that I will be reading the rest of the series—I pretty much need to know what happens next. How does this develop? When do they realize some of the hidden truths about each other? And how do they deal with them when
But despite this, I must admit that this was not an easy read on multiple fronts. First of all, just the rampant sexual abuse alone made this rough. I definitely don't think this is a book for everyone, as sexual violence and exploitation are themes that carry on from the first pages to the last, alongside many other forms of violence, mental and physical alike. This is not a pleasant world to be in, that's for sure. I understand, theoretically, why Pacat spent so much time on all of this, but there were definitely moments where I wondered if it was even worth getting through all of that, or should I DNF it?
I decided to continue despite this puke-inducing horror because of the characters and their relationships. We mostly get to know Damen, as the story is told from his point of view (albeit in 3rd person POV). And I like this man. He is courageous, cares for his people quite a bit, and is quite smart but also a bit of a hothead. He also tends to miss some of the more glaring things in front of him, but I'll let it slide because he has a very strong image of both Laurent and Vere, and some of the underlying truths of the Court seem to clash quite heavily with both.
Laurent is more of the cunning and deceptive side of things. He is playing 3rd Chess with the court and Damen, but unfortunately his main opponent also happens to be a chess master. While Luarent is the brain to Damen's brawn, he also sins at projecting an image unto Damen instead of seeing him for who he is.
For both these men, it'll be interesting to see how that develops.
I do think the relationship between Damen and Laurent is rather fascinating and can't be easily defined. I am not sure that calling what these two have a relationship is even apt at this point. They're enemy princes, but they're not. They're master and slave... but they're not. They despise each other but are also confused by each other, and I rather think neither quite knows to anticipate what the other might do next.
There are a lot of questions surrounding these two that I am curious to see explored and revealed in future installments.
And what about when Damen realizes Laurent's past "relationship" with the Regent? Pacat has not explicitly told us about it in this installment, but I feel the hints were so massive that it'd be shocking if it wasn't the case--a prince who is "frigid" and refuses sexual company? A prince who reacts with surprise when Damen refuses to rape a child? A cunning, ambitious, pedophilic regent who "spared" his nephew when he was a "boy," only going into the offensive when he is on the cusp of becoming a man? One who laments about Laurent having been such a "good boy"? One who has a "pet" who looks similar to Laurent? And Laurent, who is almost affectionate, apologetic, and worried for that pet? Yeah, no. Everything about that, from head to toe, screams that Laurent has previously received his uncle's perverse attention.
So, yeah, I'm in.
Aside from the events of the book making this a hard read, the writing itself was not an advantage for me. I am not a native English speaker, but I have read over a thousand books in English, often with little to no problem. Yet, with this one, I had to switch to my kindle copy fairly early on because I realized that Pacat loved using "big words," and Kindle would make that less painful. I mean, kudos to Pacat for always having an obscure word that perfectly meant what she wanted to, but it made the reading experience very difficult, especially when she chose a rare word that had a well-known and equally befitting alternative. I'm sure it adds to the setting of the novel or something, but it detracted from my personal enjoyment of the book.
Plot - 17
Characters - 17
Relationships - 17
Writing - 13
Reading Experience - 13
Final Score: 77
I technically read between June 14 and July 11, but in truth, I only read 12% on June 14 and the remaining 88% between July 9 and 11 lol
Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse and Pedophilia