CAPTIVE PRINCE by C.S. Pacat was initially released as an
original web serial under the pen name S.U. Pacat. It's
slave fiction erotica, with a male/male
romance, but it is so much more. It feels very much like
the Lymon Chronicles from Dorothy Dunnett, which is very
high praise from me, indeed! I've read a lot of articles
and interviews by Pacat, who does tip her hat to Lymon as
being one of the impetuses of the story. There are
double
crosses and triple crosses and intricate political
intrigue, and the whole convoluted plot is oh so
incredibly
marvelous.
I stumbled across Pacat's work several years ago from the
recommendation of one of my book blogs, and was instantly
hooked on the serial. Pacat had been posting the work in
serial form online for years, developing a slavishly loyal
following panting for the next update. The first two
volumes were first published in 2013 and are now being re-
released, and now we are awaiting with bated breath the
third volume (which has not been released in a serial form
online). I'm praying that volume three will be released
in
2015- the wait has been killing me! I'm hard pressed to
think of another book series I have crushed so hard on as
CAPTIVE PRINCE.
Volume one starts off with the enslavement of our hero
Damon, who is the true heir to the throne of Akielos.
Damon's evil half-brother Kastor drugs Damon and
degradingly sells him as a sex slave to a slave trader
from
the country of Vere. Kastor tells everyone in Akielos
that Damon is dead, and Kastor ascends to the throne in
Damon's place. Damon is presented as a gift to the Crown
Prince of Vere, Laurent. Laurent is highly insulted by
the
gift, as Laurent's brother was killed by Prince Damon
during a Akielos-Verian war several years ago, and
Laurent's father also killed. Laurent despises all
Akielons and feels they are barbarians. Damon realizes he
cannot reveal his true identity to Laurent, or he will be
killed.
Laurent is under the heel of his uncle the Regent, and
there is bad blood between them. The political
machinations between these two are breathtaking, and
continue to build and will really bloom in volume 2.
Damon is caught up in this high stakes games of the Verian
court, and struggles to maintain his dignity and honor in
the corrupt world of Vere. This powerful book
unflinchingly shows the brutal and sexually sadistic world
of slavery intertwined with the intricacies of political
intrigue, and the story is taut and utterly compelling.
There are not enough superlatives in the world to describe
my love for this series. Powerful eroticism and political
fantasy create a mesmerizing world in Pacat's The Captive
Prince. Fans of Dorothy Dunnett or of Jacqueline Carey's
Kushiel series will be instantly hooked, and I think
CAPTIVE PRINCE
will make almost everyone's keeper shelf. Certainly
it is a series I have re-read over and over as I eagerly
await the publishing of volume three.
Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful
heir
to the throne of Akielos, but when his half brother seizes
power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and
sent
to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure
slave.
Beautiful, manipulative and deadly, his new master Prince
Laurent epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in
the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is
as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a
play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to
survive and save his country.
For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his
true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one
man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else . . .
Just a correction, but Captive Prince was never fan fiction. It started off as a web serial, but it was always original work. (Maria Ronarto 9:15pm March 7, 2015)