Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

So, this will be my first one star rating ever. I know this is probably a very unpopular opinion, but this book was just too disturbing and collided with my values and everything I stand for that it made me utterly uncomfortable reading it. I can never find rape, torture and pedophilia sexy. Never. No matter how well written the story was or how much I rooted for the characters, the focus on sexual slavery and all other disturbing parts with rape, torture and abuse really put me off. Slavery isn’t sexy. Rape isn’t sexy, and it certainly isn’t entertainment. 

I really cannot for my life understand how this book can be praised by so many. It’s well written, yes, and the plot resembles Game of Thrones quite a bit, with fights for power and dark setting, and there are complex characters to root for (especially Prince Damen, who is captured by his half-brother, stripped of his identity and right to the throne, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave), but in my eyes that can never justify the toxic values and ideas presented in this book. This book is NOT a cute enemies-to-lovers M/M romance! Not in any way. (The series might end up there eventually, but I will not continue it to find out, since this book is the furthest from it.)

This book presents so many dangerous ideas that it makes me scared, with its society where rape is seen as entertainment, and where no one raises an eyebrow at older men having sex with twelve-year-olds, and where it seems that it is not rape if someone gets an orgasm. But you know what, men CAN be raped. Forced oral sex IS rape. Unwanted preparations of someone’s “entrance” IS sexual assault. Orgasm is NOT consent. And sexual slavery can NEVER be justified. This book is NOT about romance at all, it’s about abuse, about power over slaves and about toxic views on other people’s value.

Rating:
1 star

Get your own copy:
No, please don’t!

​Author info:
C.S. Pacat