TITLE: Captive Prince
AUTHOR: C.S. Pacat
SERIES? Book 1/3 “Captive Prince Trilogy”
GENRE/ AGE RANGE: Urban/Historical – Adult
TRIGGER WARNINGS: rape, slavery, sexual abuse, torture, violence, paedophilia, whipping, death, murder
PUBLICATION DATE: February 2nd, 2013
Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog! Destiny recently challenged me to read Captive Prince which she also gifted me last Christmas! I’ve been meaning to pick this up for ages, so I’m glad I finally did! This was a really hard read for me but, the whole Ancient Roman/ Ancient Greek vibe that I got from it is what pushed me through, for the most part.
This is definitely not something I’d ever describe as a fun book, and I would only recommend this series if you love slow-paced enemies to friends to lovers then you should definitely put this on your tbr! Honestly, otherwise, I don’t think this series, or especially this book in particular, will have any payback, what so ever!
So, it’s just hit me that I don’t have a clue where to start this review so I’m just going to talk until I find my groove.
This book is absolutely brutal, and please go into it knowing that it is incredibly graphic and that rape is very prevalent in this book. Major triggers for graphic depictions of rape and whipping.
While I was reading I was trying to think of a word that summed this book up, and ‘brutal’ was what kept coming to mind, but as I was getting towards the end, I decided on ‘invasive’. This wasn’t a bad book by any means, it’s just shocking and a lot to get used to, especially if you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.
This book is very controversial because of its subject matter, and I’m assuming also because of the circumstances of the main character. But, I think that because this is a made-up world, there is only so much you can criticize. This isn’t “the real world” or “our world”, this happens to be a world where the royalty is harsh and brutal and thinks of the lower class/servants as property. So, know that there isn’t much space to breathe with this book, and it’s rarely going to make you smile, if ever.
I think what I came away from this book recognising most, is that C S Pacat is a very skilled writer, she writes about *many* horrible things in this book but never sympathises with the attacker, or makes the reader think that what happens is okay. And, I think that’s really important. She’s not advocating for these acts by writing about them, but writing about characters in a world that accepts these things as fact, and explaining to the reader (and also the characters) why they’re not.
- Just a heads up, I did end up finishing this trilogy and I can say that the next two books are SO much less graphic and rape-heavy, so if you can stick this one out, or read a summary, the next book is fantastic!
Major triggers for rape (also, rape for sport or entertainment) as well as whipping (until the victim is almost dead), as well as underage sex/relationships
TW/CW: rape, slavery, sexual abuse, torture, violence, paedophilia, whipping, death, murder
HAVE YOU READ ‘CAPTIVE PRINCE’?
DID YOU ENJOY THE TRILOGY?
aw
allonsythornraxx 
I’ve heard a lot of things about this book. Mainly because a lot of people seems to be really enjoying it, but there are also an equal amount of outrage over the themes and situation in this book. Personally I have this book on my TBR but I am afraid to start it as it can be too graphic for me.
Great review, Ellyn; it’s nice to see the pros and cons as well as what can we expect in the subsequent books.
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I agree, it’s definitely a controversial read, which is why I avoided it for so long! I found that while this was a hard read, the payoff of books 2 and 3 was really good! It’s definitely very graphic and there’s a lot of rape but there’s not really any in the other 2 books in the trilogy.
Thank you!
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