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.