Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

41 reviews

bashsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

This series is apparently quite notorious! And I can see why - it definitely doesn't ascribe to conventional and "appropriate" interpersonal and sexual dynamics. The worldbuilding is designed solely for horny reasons, which I love, and the plot is interesting enough to keep my attention, which I appreciate. I think that the Pascat's writing style is a bit underdeveloped, but it works fine enough for what this book aims to accomplish. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Blood, and War

Minor: Incest, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

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

anghara94's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Trafficking

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

brdiaz1123's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and War

sarahflies's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mikeymara's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I am definitely reading the next books and buying them to own. This book is not for everyone as it does involve a lot of topics related to sex slavery and rape. It is also not the best for people who want a quick romance, this is more of a slow burn in some ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism

A lot of sex based content aswell as rape and abuse. One of the main characters is a 10-14 year old in a relationship with an adult man. At some point in the story the main character is punish via wipping, it is vaguely graphic. There is some minor death of an animal, it is minor and can be skipped over. The main plot involves a description of the main characters kidnapping and transportation to Vere.

nat_kiverse's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, and War

kyliereads341's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

fudanshi's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Incest