Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

222 reviews

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

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.

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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

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Content Warnings

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

billcbentley's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Sexual harassment

inkynavi's review against another edition

3.75

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did! Lots of political intrigue and plot to keep you engaged. The sexual aspects alluded to weren't anything worse than the Game of Thrones show, so it was easy for me to look past it. But I can see why some people wouldn't be able to stomach it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Slavery

Moderate: Physical abuse and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia

littlewishling's review against another edition

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

What a great book! I love Damien and Laurent’s dynamic and I can’t wait to see how it plays out. Pacat has done a phenomenal job of creating a believable and intriguing world that I can’t wait to read more about. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Slavery

Moderate: Death, Sexual violence, and Violence

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.

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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

cielosiluminado's review against another edition

adventurous 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

50% confused 50% loving the drama !!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, Sexual content, and Slavery

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Incest, and War

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