Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

19 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

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

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

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

chase0w0'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

eidal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Trafficking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Alcohol, and War

woza's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

It’s a good book in the sense I found it enjoyable to read and not that I would recommend it to anyone else

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia, Bullying, and Blood

charmedstray's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i did not come into this book expecting to like it. i came into this book feeling extremely skeevy about the whole slavery thing and thinking ah, fuck. it's a classic piece of queer fiction at this point, i better at least see what it's deal is. came out the other end of the trilogy absolutely blown away.

to be clear-- this book & its sequels, & pacat's writing as a whole loves to linger in grey areas. awful and deeply unpleasant shit happens in this book! every character does terrible things! what's crucial, though, is that pacat trusts the reader enough not to have the narration go "yes, the systemic sex slavery and the violence are, in fact, bad and not good," and if you grow to trust the author enough to go "you know what? i bet the themes of this book probably Aren't going to be slavery and rape good and hot actually," you'll have a good time. this feels unnecessarily didactic and condescending of me to say, but i'm so exhausted of the ghosts of terminally online lit discourse brainrot that i'm saying it anyway. 

also, for those who also are skeeved out by the slavery thing & would maybe like to know more about it before they commit:

the trilogy takes place in two countries. the first is heavily inspired by ancient greece and rome; their country's relationship w/ slavery is an idea of "perfect submission, in exchange for perfect treatment". hitting, violating, or abusing them is considered to be awful and taboo.
the second country is heavily inspired by western europe-- the court where this novel takes place is, imo, heavily reminiscent of the sun king's versailles, or the medici's florence. this culture nominally doesn't keep slaves-- "pets" as they're called, are contracted, can be paid and often have at least some autonomy. they're considered a status symbol &  treated ridiculously well. 
the idea of slavery (these countries specific ideas of & relationships with it, to be clear) is interrogated throughout the trilogy, and it is textually condemned.

anyway, the first two thirds of this book is dedicated to constructing the convoluted power dynamic between the two protagonists, and also reminding you of the whole slavery thing every single page. in a sort of frog-in-boiling-water way, this turns into intricate political intrigue. if you're not interested in the main premise of the book, the slavery thing, i'd say read it anyway, it gets better. if you're not interested in court intrigue? you will NOT enjoy this!! fortunately, i fucking love this type of thing. also now i'm done with the thesis statement on why this book is Good, Actually!

 her writing style irt character is very much like a painting where the most attention and care is visibly concentrated on the most important areas, but all the side characters we meet are still solidly sketched out. the protagonist is.... a little bit blank slate meathead-y. this gets better later, but it does grow a bit tiresome. the pacing in this one is also fairly slow. overall, if you're interested in messy relationships (both platonic & not), convoluted power dynamics, identity shenanigans, or very pleasant untouchable princes who are definitely not always filled with seething hatred and frustration and misery.... crack it open. give it a try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Confinement, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dahliaden's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Alcohol, and War

zoey_blk's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I read this book through in the span of 3 hours max and really enjoyed Damen as a character. Laurent is a pain in the ass, but I can feel his attitude change ever so slightly. They didn't lie when they said this was a slow burn book. Since I read this book solely because of Tiktok videos about Laurent and Damen I was taken a back by the customs of the world the story plays in. The slave and rape culture made me very uncomfortable every time I came across it. It's a topic I generally don't enjoy, but I tried to look past than for the sake of the Mcs stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol and War