Book Review
Title: King’s Rising (Captive Prince Book 3) by C. S. Pacat
Genre: LGBT, Dark, Romance
Rating: 4.75 Stars
King’s Rising is the final book in the Captive Prince trilogy and I’m not ready for it to end. After waiting two whole books nearly for Damen and Laurent to end up together finally just as war is going to erupt, Damen makes the decision to make his identity knows in order to unite with Laurent as they prepare to face down the Regent. I have grown so attached to Damen and Laurent I am not ready to let them go but I am super excited to see what goes down in this final instalment. After Laurent leaves and Damen reveals his true identity he is met with hostility from the people of Vere, which he seems surprised by. The only way to calm the hostilities is to take over the fort which he allows his old friend, Nikandros to do, when that is done he heads out to meet Laurent as they planned. However, upon arriving at the Regent’s chosen battle ground, Laurent doesn’t arrive but Damen doesn’t flinch and leads his men to victory there especially after discovering that the Regent isn’t present. Laurent, meanwhile, was captured by some of the men working for his uncle and manages to free himself and see the battle finished.
Damen chooses this moment to confess who he is and Laurent explains that he has known all along which doesn’t make sense. If Laurent knew who Damen was it leads us to two conclusion, either he is lying about knowing who Damen was in order to save face because he feels hurt and betrayed to have bedding his brother’s killer or he did know and did it anyway. Damen is hurt by Laurent’s reaction believing that they had finally developed some truth in each other but Laurent proves to be his former cold self but I think this is just his defence mechanisms from the trauma he suffered at the hands of his uncle. After this argument Laurent confesses that he now knows that his uncle has travelled to Damen’s kingdom as is planning a takeover there and they are about three days behind him so they get to work solidifying their alliance. Together they present a united and equal front to their respective people but it isn’t easy as the tensions between the countries have been high for a long time but slowly they are being recognised as a united front. Obviously, this has changed the relationship between Damen and Laurent and at close to the halfway point in the novel I wanted to see how Pacat brings them back together again since they deserve it after everything they have been through.
As Damen and Laurent’s army follows the trial of destruction left behind by the Regent both are becoming more and more angry and ready for the final confrontation. Slowly but steadily they reclaim their stolen territories and in one fort seemingly abandoned by Kastor and the Regent’s people they find Damen’s former lover and the woman that betrayed him in favour of Kastor. He immediately takes her prisoner thinking he might have some leverage over Kastor with her and he is smart enough this time around to have her guarded by men that have no interest in women so he can’t get her claws into them. However, he does sent Laurent to speak with her when she requests to speak to Damen and she explains to Laurent that she has sent her son, Damen’s son to Kastor for protection. Damen knows she might be lying but he is also aware of the fact they slept together several time and there is a strong possibility that it is his child and Kastor now has that child’s life in his hands. Laurent doesn’t let anything slip but when he sees how shaken Damen is he offers him comfort and the pair talk about the history between them and whether that alone is worth destroying the relationship they have worked so hard to build. Damen even goes as far as saying they can combine their kingdoms and rule the together and this is Damen effectively telling Laurent that he loves him. Laurent is too stubborn and protective of his feelings to say it back but he does go to bed with Damen and we get to witness their heartfelt reunion but with 40% still left to go I know something is going to go down and soon to bring us to the final battle and the conclusion and I am scared for my boys because I have grown to love them.
The final section of the novel left me stunned. Seeing all the individual sub-plots come together over three books into a shocking, dramatic and heart-breaking finale was divine. This trilogy has definitely launched C. S. Pacat into my autobuy authors and I will definitely be checking out more of her work. Laurent and Damen don’t get the classic happily ever after, it is more bittersweet but it did resolve everything and left our beloved characters in a good position. The only downside for me was we didn’t get to see the aftermath of Kastor’s death and the arrest of the Regent, not even in a epilogue which would have made the ending a thousand times better for me personally as a reader but still one of my all time favourite gay fantasy smut series. Even if you aren’t into reading smutty books I’d highly recommend picking this up as we don’t’ get any hardcore smut until the end of the second book and that’s only one scene and we only get two or three in the final book but there are very well written and are more about the emotions of the characters rather than the physical aspect. Highly recommended.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Commentaires