Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

24 reviews

divine529's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

I don't even know where to begin talking about this book. I really didn't love it, but it was very engaging and intriguing, so that kept me reading. It's essentially a specific kind of "book candy" (it's not a good book, but it's compelling in a way I'm not sure I fully understand and makes me want to keep reading).  

This follows our main protagonist, Damen, a prince from Akielos whose father was killed and his half-brother sent him off to be a slave in a neighboring kingdom. His master is the cruel and cold prince of Vere, Laurent. What follows is a story of cruelty, survival, pain, political intrigue and cultural clashes. 

As I said above, I wasn't a huge fan of this book. I really enjoyed my time with it because of the plot and the politics. The characters aren't that loveable and I feel like we really don't know much about them by the end of the book. Plus the things Laurent put Damen through? That's a kind of trauma that doesn't sit right with me for any kind of relationship they form, even if it were to be resolved later. 

The amount of rape, CSA and torture is a lot and was really rough for me to read. 

Some people have said this is a sort of gay GoT and I can sort of see what they mean. 

All in all, I didn't love this, but it's intriguing enough for me to want to continue on. Definitely "book candy" for me.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Blood, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

sarahndipitous_reads's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

One of the best introductions to an enemies to lovers romance I’ve read in ages. Very dark and explicit, so be sure to check trigger warnings before reading. Book one is excellent at setting up the series with interesting politics and world building that had me not minding there wasn’t any romantic development. This is a slowburn to end all slowburns and it is pure perfection.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

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

mint_frog's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Rereading after many years and having forgot pretty much all of the plot. It's uncomfortable in many places, because sex slavery, duh, and also corporal punishment. The romance part is gonna come much later, but it is funny how Damen makes sure to mention in his internal narration how Laurent is totally his type with the blond hair and blue eyes and fair skin and all that. The political intrigue is written incredibly well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

slimygf's review against another edition

3.0

idk if this type of book is for me, i think i overestimated how well i could stomach the uhh subject matter. the last third of the book got really good tho?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

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

hazel_oat's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Miscarriage, Grief, Death of parent, and War

cyancookie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, Torture, and Trafficking

Minor: Incest, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

1undercover's review against another edition

1.5

Ain't it for me chief. I'm fine with an amount of consent issues in my guilty pleasure romantasy but there are deeper problems here. Some genuine (tw)

rape, pedophilia, and public sex without consent

. I like the different cultures, different skills setup and I can see that this is going to a place with an interesting relationship, but the story was in no way wrapped up in the first book and the lads didn't even get to bone. I didn't get any of the answers to my theories. Uncool. And something about the romance being between someone and the man who

deliberately had them nearly publicly raped and then flogged TO DEATH and did both with satisfaction

? I don't really care what the cultural norms are, I really struggle to believe that love's coming out of that idk. By almost halfway through the book I was still wondering if I'd misunderstood and the main character was supposed to be with someone else. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

frantic_vampire's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Well, I think I found a new bookish obsession! This was so good and I just couldn’t put it down. But it was also really, really fucked up. And yet, I loved every minute of it.

I loved that Damen is our pov character. He’s not shy with his opinions and he’s willing to risk his neck for the injustices he sees happening around him. And I love him for that, even when it leads to worse things for himself. I also love that he’s so against Laurent right now, it’s really building a true enemies-to-lovers romance.

Captive Prince is getting a solid five stars. I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of the books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail