Reviews with content warning for Incest - Kings Rising

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Kings Rising by C.S. Pacat

45 reviews

divine529's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

This is the third and final book in the Captive Prince trilogy and once again it picked up right where the previous one left off with Damen's reveal to the people around him and war brewing.

This was the best of the three by a lot. I still consider it all to be "book candy" and like with the previous books, so much telling, not a ton of showing, but it was a stronger book than the previous two by a lot. The reveal of Damen to everyone really helped a lot of things, and getting to unpack all the trauma both he and Laurent went through was good. It definitely needed to be unpacked further, but I'm glad we got what we did. Some of the side characters ended up being a good voice of reason and conscience for all of that (Nikandros is the best). There were some absolutely fantastic scenes - sparring scene and whatever they hell they were doing with the disguises was hysterical to read. It was great getting to see everything come together and wind up, but I didn't love how rushed and abrupt the ending was.

All in all, this was my favorite of the three. I still had problems with the book and series as a whole, but it was entertaining overall.

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mint_frog's review against another edition

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emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

The ending felt simultaneously cathartic and in part a bit underwhelming. The plot point of Damen's potential child irritated me a little bit, because I just can't understand why it would matter that much, even it were 100% his child. Royal bloodline I guess, but it seems kinda stupid.

This is where we finally fully get to the "lovers" part of "enemies to lovers", and it's done incredibly well. I can fully understand why the characters behaved and felt the way they did in the beginning, and also exactly why the nature of their actions and feelings gradually changed.

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onthesamepage's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

‘How’s your shoulder?’ Damen said.
‘My shoulder and I,’ said Laurent, ‘are waiting to be shown a real fight.’

This gave me everything I wanted, although did Pacat need to end it there instead of giving us maybe 50 more pages at the end, for some quality time with Damen and Laurent?

There's a lot of tension, angst, and pining, but also a lot of reveals that made me feel so validated at all the hints I thought I'd been seeing in the first two books. I really appreciate Pacat's subtle hand here. The dynamic between Laurent and Damen continues to be amazing. There were scenes that had me gnawing on my fist—Damen is such a romantic, and Laurent is an absolute badass, and anyone who underestimates him deserves what they get. But I also love that we get to see a softer side to Laurent. He remains such a fascinating character.

I think I'll end up re-reading this series regularly. If you've been hesitant to pick it up, I highly recommend it! I regret waiting as long as I did. Pacat has quickly become a favourite author.

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