Reviews with content warning for Violence - Kings Rising

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Kings Rising by C.S. Pacat

77 reviews

kmarie341's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

at the core of this story is a boy who had his brother withdraw from him because of his childhood and a boy who had his childhood taken from him with the death of his brother. the long-building intensity of the regent and laurent’s political maneuvering and the way this represents

laurent’s fight for personhood and escape from his abuser as he reclaims his sexuality, his sense of self worth, his vulnerability, and the respect of the people of his court that the regent isolated him from

built so satisfyingly to its conclusion. love getting to see my babygirl laurent get everything he deserves. this book fixed something in me and kept me hooked and for that i can give it no less than 5 stars

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littlewishling's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was on the edge of my seat for most of this book. I was so stressed and I loved every second of it. I’m sad that this is the end of the series cause I just want more!

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divine529's review against another edition

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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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foxclouds's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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meganemarshall's review against another edition

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emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Tense to the very end. I kept having to check how many pages I had left. No matter how nervous it made me, I did really like how the whole story played out. I didn't expect the twist. It wrapped everything up nicely. I wish the ending wasn't so abrupt, I wanted a little more. I definitely will be picking up the short stories and hoping to get a little more happily ever.

I finally started to like Laurent in this book, Damen is my sweet cinnamon roll and anyone who does him harm I hate. So, it was really hard to like Laurent for a lot of the series, but finally, we started to see a lot of his background and his thought process. The side characters in this book also had some interesting storylines, Jocasta, in particular.

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eelka's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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chaptermaggot's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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justjaqueline's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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ronijya's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny 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

4.5

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mallorypen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

I really, really enjoyed the hell out of this book, and the incredibly satisfying conclusion to a series that I did not particularly enjoy as it began.

When I say "incredibly satisfying," I don't just mean the happy ending where the battered and bruised kings of their respective countries find a way to love one another on their own terms and reunite an ancient and divided kingdom as a result; I mean that the plot answered all the outstanding questions, and that the narrative delivered parallel arcs that made the story feel complete. Here are a couple of things that I really fucking enjoyed:

The story began with the knowledge that Damien killed Auguste in a conflict that was understood (at the time) to be orchestrated by Damien and Laurent's fathers as part of an act of war. The story ends with Laurent killing Kastor in a conflict that was revealed to have been orchestrated entirely by the Regent ... just as the initial conflict had been.
The fact that Laurent knew who Damien was from the first moment he saw him?!? Because of course he did - this guy killed his brother. Laurent studied and fought his entire life to be able to kill just this one man. He obsessed over how to end his life. The fact that he didn't immediately kill Damien when he had him under his power was a little strange to me, but I did appreciate how it played Laurent's desire for retribution against his survival instinct. This reveal also lent a new light to all their previous interactions, and proved that Laurent was smart enough to be able to compartmentalize the horrors of war/the actions of a young prince doing what he thought was right for his country. It also showed just how reluctantly Laurent was dragged into first acknowledging Damien as someone who saved his life; then grudgingly respecting him as a smart battle tactician and strategic asset; and finally seeing Damien as someone he could love in spite of it all.
Damien and Laurent's characters were so clearly defined, and the way they approached conflict stayed perfectly in those defined characteristics.
- Laurent was calculated until he got vicious, at which point he made mistakes, and he only got vicious when his highly-personal tender spots were attacked - anything to do with his uncle's abuse/approval, and anything to do with Damien. Firstly, because he knew who Damien was and was suffused with rage, and then because he learned the truth of Damien's character and then decided loving and protecting Damien was more important than his own political machinations. UGH, my heart.
- Damien's driving motivations stayed consistent: to do what's right for his kingdom & to adhere to his own moral code. He was smart, but not devious; he was controlled, but not impenetrable. His growing affection for Laurent made him even sloppier, which was shown with devastating effect when he tried to get to the Regent at the kingsmeet. MY. HEART. (Speaking of that moment, it was also a great illustration of how alike Laurent and the Regent were in how they used the emotion and motivation of the people around them to get what they wanted - the Regent revealed his abuse of his nephew in just the right moment to get Damien to lose control in just the right place to gain leverage over Laurent.) I also appreciated that Damien's moral compass made him blind to the motivations of less honorable men - he fully believed that Gion would make good on his promise to give evidence against the Regent, even when he and Laurent were in chains and about to lose everything.
Though it was horrific, the throughline of the young men who were abused by the Regent ultimately being his downfall was symbolically fitting. From Laurent, who dedicated his life to beating his uncle at his own game (though his motivations were clouded between actually beating him to impressing him/proving his value independent of his uncle's perverse desires), to Nicase, who saw the writing on the wall and delivered the damning evidence to the physician, to Emeric - the death of whom became the impetus for Gion's wife Loche to break from her husband's schemes and tell the truth. It drove the narrative that, no matter how wiley and intelligent you are, if you are a bad person who does bad things, the truth and karma will out.

~~So why didn't I give this book a five star rating?~~ Actually, that's a good question, and it may be a reflection of a few things from the series versus things from the individual book - the main thing that comes to mind is how Damien didn't figure out that the Regent had abused Laurent. There's a line in the first book that all but shouted it out plainly, and plenty of evidence thereafter that was glaringly obvious. I also really wanted an out-loud love confession, because I'm a HEA bitch through and through ... even though it was obvious in how Laurent asked Damien about combining their countries and his joy when Damien agreed. And guess what? I adjusted my rating because I simply cannot stop thinking about this book/this series.

Anyways. This fucking slapped!

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