Captive Prince (The Captive Prince Trilogy) Paperback – April 7, 2015

This book is one of the best that I've read and among them, one of the most complex and intriguing. Let me start off by saying that I read the first two volumes online. Two years have passed and I have not revisited the series until the third volume came out.I've finished the first volume just yesterday, so let me do a comparison of what I recall of my impression of the series two years ago as compared to my impression now. Two year ago when I first came upon this series, I held it in the highest regard. It is fantastic, it is great, it is the best thing that I've ever read. The characters are intriguing, their dynamic intricate and complex, the story line so amazing as to always keep me guessing. Amazon asks what describes the mood of the series the best and the answer would always, always be suspenseful, followed by anticipatory on the reader's end. I recall two years ago that once I started reading the story online, I could not stop scrolling and clicking until I reached the end. Now, two year from then, in the present day, I did the same with the physical copy of the book. I finished it in a day and pretty much ignored everything until I did so. When I finally did, I pulled my head away from the book, closed it and went to bed way past my usual sleeping hours, only to awake the next day and repeat the same process. I'm on the second book now, so needless to say, my impression of the book two years previous and now is both very favorable.The volume is as good as I remembered. It is a known fact that stories sometimes are not as good on the second read: you notice inconsistencies, flaws, things that previously made sense but now you clearly saw didn't. You are older, more mature, you've read far more and much better stories out there. And there is some of that in here, but not in the way you would think. Fascinated and awed by the world-building and details of the story, I never noticed how odd some sentence structures of Captive Prince were (ie."'A reward.' Laurent, flatly."). Commas are use in abundant, parenthesis not often used but still more frequently than common in novels, the start of many sentences with 'and.' They weren't enough to detract from the story Captive Prince is telling, but they were jarring in the beginning. Thankfully enough, the first two fell away from usage after the first half of the book and the third, it was easy enough to grow used to after a while. While I'm on the topic, the author uses really sophisticated language often, which was distracting for me because I had the option of either 1) searching it up or 2) ignoring it. I went with the second option after a while when my anticipation made it impossible for me to continually pause in my read.So I mentioned the flaws that I came across during my rereads and here are some pros. Captive Prince is essentially a story of court intrigue and double-dealing. Upon reread, I noticed just how much was set up. Details that were seemingly unimportant suddenly come back with vengeance chapters later as an essential part of the plot. While reading the second book today, I noticed the same thing. When you read, pay attention to details just like the characters would, because there are layers upon layers with their actions and words. That impressed me and also the fact that even though I recalled enough of the main plot points of the story, I still looked forward to every turn of my page nevertheless. My knowledge of what would happen, instead of detracting from the pleasure of reading, only made my anticipation of every next line grow. The prose is beautiful and the dialogue, once again, full of double-meaning that I could never resist rereading some parts of it.I'm just writing whatever comes into my mind right now, so here's some of the things that captivated me. The characters are amazing. Damen is a Prince who is a warrior and has no head for court deception and he becomes the slave of Laurent, who is known as a cold, ruthless and entirely-too-sly prince. Damen is by no means dim, but he is nothing compared to Laurent. Laurent's reputation, as you will soon read, is not-at-all an exaggeration. He has grown up in Vere, a country that is full of double-dealing and focus of sex as sport. While I'm at it, I'll warn you that there's going to be rape, betrayal, incest, slaves, same-sex relationship, pedophilia and also non-con. Some of these don't happen between the main characters, but it will be there in the background nevertheless for the sake of plot. Laurent grew up in a country like that, so he treats Damen badly in the beginning and the two of them had a very antagonistic relationship at the start. Despite that, both of them do grow closer but at a very slow pace. If you want to see them fall in love by the end of this book, you will be disappointed. They only starts learning to trust each other by the end. Anyway, besides that, the world-building is amazing. Damen comes from a different country than Laurent and the way that Damen constantly notes makes both countries and himself more realistic (Vere is more decorated, clothing with way more laces than necessary, etc). The author puts a lot of details in the different settings and cultural differences.In conclusion, if a slow developing romance, intelligent characters, and court intrigues interests you, then congratulations, this book is for you. However, once again, keep in mind my warnings. All these things are at least implied: rape, betrayal, incest, slaves, same-sex relationship, pedophilia and also non-con.

Let me say that this is a well-written story that I really enjoyed reading (if only my library could deliver books overnight I'd be on book 2 right now)! This is a book I've been going back and forth on whether or not to read for some time but I'm glad I finally did.Prince Damianos (Damen) loses everything in an instant when his brother betrays him and seizes the throne. To demean him further, he is gifted to the prince of an enemy nation with the intention that he be used as a pleasure slave. Prince Laurent is cruel and cunning and despises Prince Damianos more than anyone, so Damen is forced to keep his identity a secret while navigating the politics and depravity of court while searching for a way to escape.This book is marketed as a romance. For those wondering, this first book does not contain romantic scenes but rather builds the foundation for these two characters to grow closer in further books. However, it was still immensely entertaining. The worldbuilding felt natural, important details were revealed as needed rather than an info dump at the beginning detailing the history of the world. The characters were complex and fun to read, particularly Lawrance whose motives are often too difficult to decipher until it is too late.Now, this next part is important to address so bear with me.People who are particularly sensitive to topics such as rape, pedophilia, and slavery will likely not enjoy this book. That is in no way meant to shame anyone - we all have topics we cannot read about and it is important to know your limits.One of the fictional cultures represented here does partake regularly in these acts though they are seen as disgusting through the eyes of the protagonist, which in itself is interesting because he actually does view slavery in a positive light. It is easy to understand why half the reviews hate this book while the other half praise it as compelling romance (I myself was thinking, for most of the book, that the romance would end up being some form of Stockholm syndrome). Rather than pass judgment on the author, I will say that the reading experience is much like viewing a culture with morals and traditions very much unlike our own. You may not like it, it may revolt you, but these are things that happen in the world (this fictional world and occasionally in our world) and pretending they do not exist does not make them go away.Overall, I really enjoyed Captive Prince and I can't wait to get my hands on the next one to see what happens next.