#prince gambit

[ltrllynbdy]

So a few years ago I bought this trilogy called captive prince but after reading a few chapters of the first book I kind of gave up on it. I normally don't have a problem with exploring darker themes in a story but captive prince in particular was unenjoyable for me at that time

Later, I was bored with nothing much to do, so I decided to check my bookshelves, found captive prince and started reading and boy I am so glad that I did! I finished the books in a few days and proceeded to read all the short stories.

First of all, before I get to praise the book, I want to say my main criticism about the books: "the slavery stuff in the first book is badly written". Don't get me wrong, Captive prince does not glorify slavery like some haters suggest. I'm not exactly opposed to writing slavery in fiction and there are many political/historical fictional stories that have main characters trying to abolish slavery. It's a common theme.

Captive prince is not much different from the main character ,Damen ,who used to be a slaver himself, gets turned into a slave and tries to abolish it by the end of the series.

It's a fine idea on surface level but there's one big problem with it , I'd like to call it the "Erasmus problem". The first book of captive prince heavily suggested that there were slaves like Erasmus who liked to have a master and I want to believe it's Damen being biased and bigoted because of his privileged upbringing but the story itself still falls apart. There are also instances where sexual slavery becomes apparent and uncomfortable. So if any of these bothers you like it bothered me, the first book of CP is definitely not for you.

OK now for the positives:

From the second book onward, this trilogy becomes a masterpiece.

This story is truly an enemy to love. Most of the other enemies to lovers stories that I have read are just characters either having a simple rivalry or a petty misunderstanding. They dislike each other because one character ignored the other when they were kids , or because they are simply on a different sports team. Captive prince does not shy away from giving the main characters good and logical reasons to hate each other and even hurt each other to an extreme for great and understandably human reasons. They have hurt each other a lot and have no business ever falling in love and still somehow manage to grow and understand and develop something special and unique and I think it's beautiful.

The slow burn: The romance starts only after the entire first book (in which they just hate each other) and most of the second book (where they get to know and understand each other), it's not the slowest burn I've ever read but for a book with characters like these two, it's necessary. and well written

Captive prince's author is extremely brave in making the first book and one of the main characters deliberately hateable with a seemingly unreliable narrator: I don't think I've ever read a story where I hate the first book and enjoy the rest. First impressions are very important and when people don't like an entire first book they probably wouldn't try to continue. I have no idea how and why this author managed to make people still invested enough to publish the second and third book but I'm glad that it happened. It was so enjoyable reading the story from one character's perspective and going from absolutely hating the other character to loving him and understanding him. with the unreliable narrator that is Damen.

The world building, writing and the political story: This may not be the greatest political story with the greatest worldbuilding I've ever read but considering the genre that is m/m romance, I think it's excellent. Let's face it, it's not common for m/m romance to do worldbuilding and politics well. I don't want to seem mean but I've read a decent amount of books and m/m romance and very few of them were actually satisfying to me in terms of politics. Captive prince was one of the rare gems. There might be a few plot holes for me here and there but seeing the characters struggle with each other and plan things out , helping each other or getting fooled by each other in a romance story focusing on mostly only two characters was great to see. I also found some aspects of Homonormativity in the world hilarious. Unless you are married, you are not allowed to be straight in Vere because they hate bastards lol

Despicable villain: This story has the worst and most hateable villain I've ever read in an m/m story. This again goes back to the author being brave enough to write the story the way it is since a lot of romance writers don't dare tackle some really darker aspects.

Subversion of Tropes and Exploration of Power Dynamics : This one was a little hard for me to put into words but basically the series delves into power dynamics in relationships, politics, and society, offering nuanced portrayals of domination, submission, and consent and I don't necessarily mean sexually. In most romance stories, whenever character 1 goes to character 2's kingdom as a lover or sex slave (usually character 1 is the female character in a straight romance) you'd almost always see them have one specific power dynamic. In Captive prince, their characters and their dynamics clashes and changes rapidly and as the story goes on, Damen as a king becomes almost equal to Lauren (I would argue he even becomes politically more powerful than Laurent during certain parts of the story considering Laurent remains a prince for the most part but I digress)

Flawed and human characters who hurt each other without actually romanticizing toxicity: One thing that some people criticize about captive prince and I disagree with, is that it has a toxic relationship. I have to mention that there's basically no actual relationship between the characters until the end of the story and when they do get into a relationship they are a very sweet couple. I think people call them toxic because they were flawed and literal enemies who hurt each other because of it but that's not what I call toxic. Toxicity implies that them being together (they were not together) poisons their life. Both characters manage to grow and understand each other. Damen in particular is a character who you don't see his flaws at first but it becomes more evident how privileged and naive he was and he changes a lot as well as Laurent.

Overall I think excluding the slavery aspects of book 1 which are badly written, this story hits the mark of everything I need in a romance book and I just needed to talk about it. Thanks for coming to my ted talk!

#captiveprince #Captive prince #damen x laurent #laurent de vere #damianos of akielos #damen of akielos #Damen #Laurent #Book review #lgbtq #Prince gambit #kings rising #c s pacat #lamen #Capri #prince's gambit

[peachesobviously]

King Laurent and King Damianos

#pince captive #captive prince #cspacat #king laurent of vere #king damianos #damen #damen x laurent #prince gambit

[bluecurtains21]

help me find a lamen fic (again) pls

hi! been looking for a while and can’t find anything :(

here’s some stuff i remember:

kid fic

lamen have a daughter

the fic goes through decades of lamen’s post-canon lives

it’s a nicaise lives au

there’s a scene where nicaise asks(?) for lamen’s blessing to get married (i think to a girl?) can’t remember why he needs their blessing, but maybe he just wants it

there’s a scene where lamen are informing their daughter that they’ll be stepping down and she’ll become queen

i don’t think it ends with lamen dying? but it might, not too sure

i prob last read it a few years ago, if that helps

pretty sure it was a one shot?

any help would be much appreciated :)

#lamen #lamen fic #fic #fanfic #lamen fanfic #nicaise lives #kid fic #capri #captive prince #prince gambit #kings rising

[secretkittendetective]

Me: *have 10 books on my TBR list for this summer*

Also me: *have filled my e-reader with loads of long fics that I want to read*

Actually me: *re-reads Prince's Gambit*

#books #captive prince #this is the problem with having physical copies of a book at hand #you suddenly remember a scene so you grab it and re-read it and next thing you know its been two hours and you might as well continue #prince gambit #really love the second book #SO MUCH character development and slow burn and plot #this is what i crave #the way to the ending and not the ending itself #personal

[x-em]

Hello there! So, I made a Captive Prince Reel on Instagram BUT the bastard is shadow banning my bookish account (idk why, my account is not violating any of the social rules).

I have spent days making this reel as cool as possible and knowing that nobody can see it because of the algorythm's fault is... 🥺 WHAT. A. SHAME.

There we go. If you want to see a very cool reel about the Capri saga click on the link below, you're welcome.

(thank you and I hope you would like it 💛)

#captive prince #damen of akielos #laurent of vere #damen x laurent #lamen #prince gambit #kings rising

[dekirufran]

A redraw from the famous painting "La belle dame sans merci" because I wanted to jump on the trend Not entirely satisfied, but I miss them so I had to post it

#captive prince trilogy #laurent captive prince #damen captive prince #captive prince #prince's gambit #kings rising #cs pacat #lamen

[laurents-secret-diary]

the quirked up white boy Of Vere

#laurent of vere #captive prince #kings rising #prince's gambit #MY PASTY GUY #i know he's supposed to be enchanting or whatever but i need him a bit fucked up you know what i mean #if he is anything like how damen describes him then my dude resembles a victorian child huffing asbestos #“his skin almost indistinguishable from the pristine white shirt he wore” #ok? ok?? MY MAN TAKES BATHS IN THE STYX?? #I just find it soooo funny that this is Damen's ideal man. #this frog ass looking aint shit white boy with the brain processing power of an intel i9 card #i bet his hands are always clammy but noone would know because this dude wont let anyone touch him lol #caprisun

[gesunas]

'This,' said Laurent, 'is a little more—' It was a word of sharp points: '—intimate,' he said, 'than ice.' 'Too intimate?' Damen said.

#my art #captive prince #damen of akielos #laurent of vere #princes gambit #kings rising #damen x laurent #lamen #something in this scene cracked something for me... #like these little intimate moments that made you suck in a breath in anticipation....likeee the TENSION was so thick #anyway love these two

[rendoesart8]

princes gambit sketches!

#damen looks too much like a disney prince but i tried smth new okay #might colour later #captive prince #fan art #captive prince fan art #digital art #princes gambit #lamen #cs pacat #laurent of vere #damianos of akielos

[voidstilesplease]

During the scene in Prince's Gambit when Laurent and Damen were taken captive by clan riders and saved by Halvik, there's a part that goes, "Acquiring the fallen man's short clan sword, Laurent inserted himself at Damen's left, which, Damen noted without surprise, let Damen do all the heavy fighting." Damen thinking Laurent placed himself in that particular side to let Damen do all the brunt work when it's actually Laurent covering and protecting Damen's weak side from all the beating he took 😭.

I'm gonna start chewing glasses HELP

#capri reread #prince's gambit #PG: chapter 13 #captive prince #books #bookish #favorite books

[absolutedestinyapocalypsse]

laurent ascended the throne at 21...he should have been at the club

#captive prince #capri reread #kings rising #laurent of vere #laurent #princes gambit #capri #isnt the ascendancy age for most kingdoms 18? bc THATS crazy #25 is still pretty young damen should not run a country at his age #but like at least his frontal lobe is fully developed

[gaelmeee]

Rooftop chase

#captive prince #princes gambit #cs pacat #damianos of akielos #laurent of vere #lamen #fanart #fan animation #artists on tumblr #digital art #drawing #artist on tumblr

[queers-gambit]

Clingy Baby collection masterlist

a collection of varying muses labeling Reader as "clingy".

got another idea for being clingy? lemme hear it! requests CLOSED

requesting rules and masterlist

mostly hurt and comfort, some angst some sequels are being fleshed out

God's Plan

your boyfriend carries the worst parts of his job home, bringing to life one of your deepest-seeded insecurities. >>> or when a fight breaks out with your boyfriend, you're called clingy to your face.

pairing: Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto x female!reader

word count: 3.1k+

fandom masterlist: FX's The Bear

🎭 drama 🥺 hurt 🚫 no REAL comfort 🙊 general language and content warning 🍄 toxic relationship

read here

part two: Two to Tango

the aftermath of Carmy's words seem to rattle him more than you.

word count: 5.4k+

🎭 drama ❤️‍🩹 hurt and comfort 💔 small angst 🧸 small fluff ☠️ discussion of deceased family member 🙊 general language and content warning 💣 relationship angst 🔏 barely edited

read here

Curiosity Killed The Cat

few weeks after rescuing you from a kidnapper, you overhear your boyfriend-turned-savior complain about how clingy you've become. >>> or you overhear your boyfriend call you clingy to his friends.

pairing: Mafia!Bucky Barnes x female!reader

word count: 5.1k+

fandom masterlist: Marvel

🎭 drama ❤️‍🩹 hurt and comfort 🦋 modern AU 💸 mafia AU 🙊 general language and content warning 🥊 brief depiction of physical violence and / or aggression 🫠 description of self-destruction 🔏 barely edited

read here

You Might Think It's Foolish

meeting your boyfriend's family for the first time creates anxiety, so, you stick to his side. at dinner, his mother calls out your clinginess - and Aemond doesn't defend you. >>> or when someone else calls you clingy and he doesn't defend you / agrees with them.

pairing: modern!Aemond Targaryen x female!reader

word count: 3.1k+

fandom masterlist: House of the Dragon

🎭 drama 💔 angst 🥺 hurt 🚫 no comfort 💣 relationship angst 🐝 stand alone 🙊 general language and content warning 🐍 toxic family 🍄 toxic relationship...? 🔏 barely edited

read here

Not All That Glitters is Gold

during your engagement dinner, you learn from your fiancé's niece that he hold choice words about you. >>> or when you find out he's been talking behind your back; calling you clingy. it comes to light during a public outing.

pairing: Daemon Targaryen x female!reader

word count: 3.1k+

fandom masterlist: House of the Dragon

🎭 drama 💔 angst ❤️‍🩹 hurt and comfort 💣 relationship angst ⏳ AU timeline 🙊 general language and content warning 🔏 barely edited

read here

Save Me From Myself

in a moment of unparalleled anger, you learn what Joel really thinks of you.

request: Can i request joel miller for the clingy baby series!! Maybe they were traveling together w ellie and she clings to him bc he always kept her safe until he calls her clingy one day.

pairing: Joel Miller x female!reader

word count: 1.9k+

fandom masterlist: The Last of Us

⚠️ mild spoilers 🙊 general language warning 🥺 hurt 🚫 no comfort 💔 mild angst ❗️ short fic!

read here

requesting rules and masterlist

#queers gambit #queers gambit masterlist #clingy baby masterlist #carmy berzatto x reader #carmy x reader #carmy berzatto x female!reader #carmy berzatto x you #carmy berzatto imagine #carmy berzatto #carmy the bear #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #mafia bucky x reader #mafia bucky barnes #mafia au #mafia bucky x you #modern aemond targaryen x reader #modern aemond x you #modern aemond #modern aemond x reader #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen x f!reader #aemond targaryen x fem!reader #prince aemond targaryen #prince daemon targaryen #daemon x reader #daemon targaryen x reader #daemon targaryen x fem!reader #daemon targaryen x f!reader

[sinkko]

#captive prince #princes gambit #kings rising #So i read some books...

[stromuprisahat]

Laurent’s vocabulary [in Akielon] hit its limits when it came to military terms and manoeuvres, but Damen filled in the gaps. It was of course no surprise to find that Laurent had a well-stocked armoury of elegant phrases and bitchy remarks, but could not talk in detail about anything sensible.

Prince's Gambit- Chapter 9 (C. S. Pacat)

#Captive Prince trilogy #Prince's Gambit #PG Chapter 9 #Laurent VI of Vere #Damianos of Akielos #V #books #quotes #C. S. Pacat #LOL

[helenedraws]

Captive Prince

“A kingdom, or this?”

#capri #captive prince #lamen #damen of akielos #laurent of vere #damen #laurent #kings rising #princes gambit #watercolors #my art #illustration