Things I wish I'd known before reading the Captive Prince trilogy
So, I've read the Captive Prince trilogy. And I've been struggling a bit about how to write this, and I don't want to make it seem like I didn't like the books, but...
If you are like me and have been told about how great this series is since it was still a WIP origfic on LJ and yet were very skeptical of reading it because of various Do Not Wants and maybe tried it a little bit and bounced off of it...
To you, I say: skip the first book.
Because it was even more Do Not Want-y than I'd even known.
Somehow, even though I knew it was slavefic and there was rape and public humiliation, I either missed the memo or forgot about it, because the pedophilia took me completely by surprise.
And it's not to say that there isn't rape and pedophilia in the second and third books but omg there is so much less and it's backgrounded.
Like, the first book is slavefic that has some plotty stuff going on in the background. The second and the third books are plotty plotfics that take place in a slave 'verse.
So, anyway, I enjoyed it, although the fannish osmosis that I'd had of it that it was funny... I didn't see much in the way of humor? But the plotty stuff is great, even if some of the machinations strain belief a little too much. But it's fun straining.
There was one character beat at the end of the third book that I didn't feel was completely earned (Laurent doesn't like slavery? When was that established? Must be in all the pages of rape, peodphilia, and public humiliation I skipped in the first book.), but the third book has some really great character development, and I do like how the second and third books work together.
So, uh, yeah, basically: you can skip the first one. The second one gives all the background you need, and if that's not enough, a roughly two-sentence summary of book one (that has probably already occured by fannish osmosis since it's been in the fannish background for so long) is enough to get you through it.
In terms of shipness, if I ship anyone, it's Damen/Nikandros. I was gonna be like, "this may be the first fandom where I'm like 'I think I'd prefer pairing guys who stab people in the front, not the back.'", but now that I'm thinking about it, possibly all the other stabbing-people-in-the-back pairings that I have are where they both would do that, not only one of them??????? I shall have to contemplate my OTPs carefully. Perhaps the true key to my OTP heart is compatibility in where you stab your enemies.
In terms of the fandom's OTP Damen/Laurent, though, I really feel like it would have to be post-book 3 for me, or a pre-canon AU where book one didn't happen. Like, I'd go for an arranged marriage AU. But I avoided this series for multiple Do Not Want reasons, so, like... lol at me if I start writing a fuckton of fic for this, but, uh, yeah.
Now on to trying Rivers of London yet again? Or catching up on Dresden? Or trying the second Lemony Snicket again?
This entry was originally posted at https://lannamichaels.dreamwidth.org/960083.html.