Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

58 reviews

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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? Yes

3.75

read this bc my coworker lent me the books. i liked it! super excited for the second one! living for the slow burn so far. i’m hoping for some dual pov action in the next one bc i love laurent’s character and i think his pov could be fun and interesting

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Content Warnings

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

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• 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

This reminded me of reading fanfic back in the real wild west days, in both the good and the bad ways. This is a real "dead dove do not eat" so look up the cws for sure. If you didn't understand that sentence then you should not read this book probably!

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.

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Content Warnings

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

daem_ss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

Más que haber estado leyendo un libro sentí como que estaba viendo una serie épica de reinos y guerras. Me encantó la ambientación, la tensión entre los protagonistas y, sobre todo, el complot que se iba moldeando a través de las páginas. Aunque sí hubieron partes que encontraba algo innecesarias o donde me confundía, entiendo que todo formó parte de demostrar cómo funcionaban las sociedades de cada reino. Uf, estoy deseando que el segundo libro me encante aun más. 🫣

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

nikki_saulnier's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Slavery

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lou702's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book has very explicit and heavy topics in it. I did not enjoy those part but they made the experience of the book different and made it worthwhile, since the characters are acting and reacting on those parts, which makes it bearable and better to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, and Blood

evilovesyou's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and War

m4ximus_pr1m3's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Slavery, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

onthesamepage's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

It takes a lot of skill to write a dark world and present it as-is, with characters who are part of systems of abuse and not cognizant of it. Neither Damen nor Laurent are innocent—despite everything Damen suffers in Vere, it's not like Akielos doesn't also have a system of slavery in place. But it's interesting to see the cracks in Damen's ideals as the story progresses, and the same is definitely true for Laurent. There are multiple moments where their assumptions are challenged, and you can feel their surprise, and how they reassess their opponent, and I love character development like that.

There is absolutely no whiff of romance in this first book, which is good, because I don't think the story allows for it yet. But the character dynamics are fantastic. Laurent is definitely the most fascinating of the two, because he is more inscrutable. Some of his interactions with Nicaise show genuine compassion. It's also clear that he doesn't hate everyone from Akielos and is, in fact, capable of being kind to the slaves, even as he is a complete bastard to Damen. I think Damen is a naïve idiot, and I say this with love, because I don't buy for a second that Laurent doesn't know exactly who he is, and has known from the beginning, which would also explain why his behavior towards Damen is different compared to how he usually behaves. 

I'm definitely invested in them at this point, and I can't wait to see all the ways in which they'll grow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse and Drug use

Minor: Animal death

chaptermaggot's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Drug use, Incest, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

danteeeh's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail