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Prince's Gambit
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Captive Prince and Prince's Gambit, by C.S. Pacat
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No, this wasn't one of mine. Kirsten suggested it & gave you the warning after your caveat. I read this while it was a serial freebie online so I don't know how much it may have been reworked for publication, but I always hesitate to recommend it to anyone - even though it has a lot of fans - because of the non-con and cruelty. Not to everyone's taste for sure. I think I remember discussing this a bit with Chris O'Guinn back on the old After Elton book forum where he didn't like it as well as I did.
I'm looking forward to book three but it'll be somewhat spoiled by the long gap since I read book 2. You're lucky that it'll be fresh in your mind.
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it, Ulysses, despite the m/f. :)One of the things I really liked is that there's so many details in the book that seem to be throwaway and just there to add color, but then they turn out to be clues and perspective on what is going on. Like (view spoiler) It made me want to go back and reread the books as soon as I finished them, and that NEVER happens to me. I am holding off on my reread until just before the third one is released, but I can't stop thinking about this series.
Yes, I see the issues--but medieval life (even in fantasy worlds) didn't share our sensibilities. CHris loved the Stone Prince, which I couldn't get through...
That's a spoiler? Most major book reviewers give away the whole story...but yes, that kind of detail is what makes both Laurent and Damen such amazingly written characters. The metaphor of all the lacings on the Verian clothing is another beautiful detail...
Ulysses wrote: "That's a spoiler? Most major book reviewers give away the whole story...but yes, that kind of detail is what makes both Laurent and Damen such amazingly written characters. The metaphor of all the..."It might not be a spoiler, but I got my nose smacked for posting something from a new book's blurb in another group today, so I am erring on the side of caution at the moment.
I'm glad you enjoyed this series (so far) Uly. I read the first two books a couple of years back and whilst I did enjoy them very much, I think I will have to do a re-read since very little plot-points remain in my mind. I do recall some of the brutality and cruelty meted out to Damen but surprisingly was not too put off by that despite my overall squeamishness to gore.What really annoyed me was the author's celebrated publishing book deal with Penguin which seemed to have overtaken the progress of book three being written with much attention diverted off to the various/differing book covers for the first two books. Enough already - just give us the darned third volume! By the time it finally gets published / released I may well have lost all my appetite for the plot and MCs hah.
As an aside, this unfortunate result seems to have happened to Book 4 of the Scarlet and the White Wolf series. I started reading it and could not reconnect to either of the MCs and ended up setting it aside. So much for the long awaited anticipation.
I read only the first book and I did not like it at all. I wrote a very bad review of it. I think I vented my frustration at this genre of M/M romance written by straight women for a straight woman audience.To me, I did not even notice the great writing that people speak of. I was too distracted by the feeling that this was a heterosexual romance with Laurent being clearly a woman.
I am a gay man, but from a feminist perspective, I would be disgusted that the author did not have the courage to simply write Laurent as women. Well at least, to use the appropriate pronouns.
The appendix where the sheets of the young slave are examined to see when she had had per first period, oh sorry, I mean are examined for cum stains to see when he had had his first wet dream, are sickeningly laughable.
I simply do not understand why people rate this book so highly. Not to mention that "volume 1" of this relatively expensive ebook has nothing like a complete story.
1. I have pre-ordered book three, "Kings Rising," so I must have liked it.
2. Pacat's writing is excellent. World building is wonderful without being over-descriptive. Richly painted settings that are believable and show a fantastic sense of detail which brings the extremely complicated plot alive in both volumes.
3.You have to read 1 and 2 together. They really make one long book, and this is my recommendation.
4. Characters: Prince Laurent and slave/prince Damen are remarkably drawn and deepened over the course of the two books. Their relationship is built bit by bit, in subtle, emotional and psychological ways. The tension between them is deftly handled and elegantly rendered.
My complaint: As Jax (?) might have warned me, Damen (Prince Damianos of Akielo) is bisexual, and historically has preferred women--but has always found some men attractive and has had m/m sex. Same-sex relationships are perfectly accepted in this world's cultures, and in fact the cultural differences/taboos are fascinating. But, even forewarned, I almost lost it at one point in the second book when there was what I felt a gratuitous m/f sex scene with Damen--it had a genuine (if minor) purpose in the plot, but I didn't want to read about it. At least it was fairly discreet. I skimmed over it and didn't let it spoil things for me.
I will counter this complaint (which, I reiterate, is purely my problem, my issues) by saying that the last quarter of the second book was a payoff in many ways. The "cliffhanger" ending is possibly the best, most theatrical one I've ever read. It is the perfect finale, yet clearly is the "end of act II."