Lauren
Prince’s Gambit is book two in the Captive Prince Series. As such, there will be spoilers for book one in this review.
We follow Laurent and Daman as they forge a new, odd sense of alliance while heading to “man a fort” while truly planning to face Laurent’s Uncle. Unfortunately, they are sent with a group of disunited men as their fighting force, many of which are more loyal to Laurent’s Uncle than to Laurent himself.
I don’t know. I felt so conflicted about this series as a whole. On one hand, I actually really appreciate the character growth of our two protagonists, Damen and Laurent. We can see Laurent is a little more complicated and has far more depth than what you might believe at first glance. He clearly cares about what he’s doing and has some sense of morals in trying to avoid unnecessary war. He’s also very smart, quick to learn things he is not proficient at and just as quick to admit to Damen when he is not as skilled in something as he is. I liked this for him, and I liked how close a Damen seemed to get to the other men. It served his well to see that his “enemy” are really just men. I also really liked the role of politics in this story. It was often hard to know who to trust, and Laurent did a good job of navigating that (generally speaking with a few slips) along with Damen’s guidance. I also really appreciated that Damen’s identity became a point of worry for him as it didn’t seem all that important in the first book. The interactions between Laurent and a Damen were well done, too. There was a slow sense of building trust that felt realistic. Almost a sense of friendship, even. I am really glad they didn’t just automatically like each other from book one. Some of my favorite scenes in this book are of them just talking and interacting. I will also say, minor spoiler, but the smut was fine too. I’m not huge on reading smut, but there wasn’t much of it and what was written didn’t make me cringe, which is high praise. So what’s my issue with this book? This part will be spoiler free, so note that some of these complaints may be vague or change over time. Damen remains a slave. I just can’t really get over that. Laurent could reasonably free him at any point in time, and the book seems intent on making us believe Laurent is misunderstood but truly a good person, so why does he keep Damen as a slave other than selfishness and mistrust? I don’t like it. Laurent is a new person. This, in theory, is good. he was deplorable in the first book most of the time, and while we get peaks into the why of it, I don’t just automatically forgive him because we see this new side of him. As far as I’m aware, he never even apologized. I’m not against the use of sex as an act of politics, but there’s still too much mention of young people getting with old people. We don’t see it in this book (mostly - there’s on exception but they’re both at least over 18 so that’s something), but there are still mentions and it feels so unnecessary Why are they all obsessed with male genitalia??? We already know most of this world is queer. We don’t need to be obsessed. The writing was…fine. The events early in the book had weird pacing and it felt like we kept jus rushing past things just ~because~ My last point is a spoiler, so it will be hidden below, but the TLDR is one scene of what I could say in non-consensual sex that is written so seem consensual that really sat with me wrong. I don’t know. I’ll read the last book. I think the ending was exciting and I do want to know where everyone ends up. I’m just not really cool with these things that keep coming up. It feels a little gross to me. The author could have literally omitted all of them and the plot would have stayed the same AND I would have rated it higher. . . . . . . . Back to point 6 from my list of issues: There are still casual mentions of forced sexual activities. I will say, 99% of it is consensual and between people of age, so that was a nice change (low bar here), but there is a scene in which Laurent tells Damen to take a drug (without him knowing what it is) that results in him sleeping with someone. This isn’t consensual because Damen never consented to being drugged. IS he said he was okay with it, that would be different, but he didn’t. I’m not a fan.
Prince’s Gambit is book two in the Captive Prince Series. As such, there will be spoilers for book one in this review.
We follow Laurent and Daman as they forge a new, odd sense of alliance while heading to “man a fort” while truly planning to face Laurent’s Uncle. Unfortunately, they are sent with a group of disunited men as their fighting force, many of which are more loyal to Laurent’s Uncle than to Laurent himself.
I don’t know. I felt so conflicted about this series as a whole. On one hand, I actually really appreciate the character growth of our two protagonists, Damen and Laurent. We can see Laurent is a little more complicated and has far more depth than what you might believe at first glance. He clearly cares about what he’s doing and has some sense of morals in trying to avoid unnecessary war. He’s also very smart, quick to learn things he is not proficient at and just as quick to admit to Damen when he is not as skilled in something as he is. I liked this for him, and I liked how close a Damen seemed to get to the other men. It served his well to see that his “enemy” are really just men. I also really liked the role of politics in this story. It was often hard to know who to trust, and Laurent did a good job of navigating that (generally speaking with a few slips) along with Damen’s guidance. I also really appreciated that Damen’s identity became a point of worry for him as it didn’t seem all that important in the first book. The interactions between Laurent and a Damen were well done, too. There was a slow sense of building trust that felt realistic. Almost a sense of friendship, even. I am really glad they didn’t just automatically like each other from book one. Some of my favorite scenes in this book are of them just talking and interacting. I will also say, minor spoiler, but the smut was fine too. I’m not huge on reading smut, but there wasn’t much of it and what was written didn’t make me cringe, which is high praise. So what’s my issue with this book? This part will be spoiler free, so note that some of these complaints may be vague or change over time. Damen remains a slave. I just can’t really get over that. Laurent could reasonably free him at any point in time, and the book seems intent on making us believe Laurent is misunderstood but truly a good person, so why does he keep Damen as a slave other than selfishness and mistrust? I don’t like it. Laurent is a new person. This, in theory, is good. he was deplorable in the first book most of the time, and while we get peaks into the why of it, I don’t just automatically forgive him because we see this new side of him. As far as I’m aware, he never even apologized. I’m not against the use of sex as an act of politics, but there’s still too much mention of young people getting with old people. We don’t see it in this book (mostly - there’s on exception but they’re both at least over 18 so that’s something), but there are still mentions and it feels so unnecessary Why are they all obsessed with male genitalia??? We already know most of this world is queer. We don’t need to be obsessed. The writing was…fine. The events early in the book had weird pacing and it felt like we kept jus rushing past things just ~because~ My last point is a spoiler, so it will be hidden below, but the TLDR is one scene of what I could say in non-consensual sex that is written so seem consensual that really sat with me wrong. I don’t know. I’ll read the last book. I think the ending was exciting and I do want to know where everyone ends up. I’m just not really cool with these things that keep coming up. It feels a little gross to me. The author could have literally omitted all of them and the plot would have stayed the same AND I would have rated it higher. . . . . . . . Back to point 6 from my list of issues: There are still casual mentions of forced sexual activities. I will say, 99% of it is consensual and between people of age, so that was a nice change (low bar here), but there is a scene in which Laurent tells Damen to take a drug (without him knowing what it is) that results in him sleeping with someone. This isn’t consensual because Damen never consented to being drugged. IS he said he was okay with it, that would be different, but he didn’t. I’m not a fan.