Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

98 reviews

annarosalie's review against another edition

slow-paced

in that novel i didn't find anything what deserves at least one star

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

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.

---

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

littlecosmos's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Captive Prince is an engaging page-turner with a plot that holds the attention. The main characters have palpable chemistry, and the writing style is captivating. Although I had several questions by the end of this book, I found the answers I'd been looking for in the following two books of this series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

chris34's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual content, and Violence

ssaradve's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Blood and War

eli_ross's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

As interesting as I found the premise of this book, it's really let down by the writing, which I found was inconsistent and underdeveloped in places. It read more like a YA novel, which is what I expected after reading the first few pages, but some of the content was very graphic. I think that if it had been written in a more sophisticated style, it would have negated the brashness of some of the darker scenes. Check the trigger warnings before reading, as others have said.

However, I enjoyed seeing the relationship evolve between Laurent and Damon. I'll be reading the second book eventually, as I'm invested in where they end up. Overall a good book if you like a quick read, and a dramatic enemies-to-(I'm assuming) lovers story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, and Classism

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.  

---

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

booksthatburn's review against another edition

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Sexism, Violence, Blood, and Murder

beraspa's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

It is a difficult story to read since the plot revolves around sexual slavery and violence. The story is well written and leaves you wanting to know how it continues. Although with some skepticism about how this situation can turn into love.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

ciuli's review against another edition

dark sad 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

3.25

Look, I have to say that if you manage to ignore 90% of the story and the plot and only focus on the main characters, then I could probably say that this book was enjoyable. 

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! 

---

Content Warnings

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