Man, gotta say, this series reminds me very strongly of Kushiel's Dart:

• Elegantly written
• Packed with court intrigue
• In a high fantasy setting that
• is at least partially modeled on Renaissance Venice

And also:

• Packed with sexualized violence and sexual violence
• That often rides the line of what I, personally, am willing to tolerate in fiction
• And for sure is over line for many readers
• Though I don't get the impression either writer is being prurient or provocative for its own sake. 

Weirdly, it was when the main relationship -- one between the titular captive prince and his captor -- shifted to a dynamic of more equitable standing that I kind of freaked out and had to stop reading at about 90% of the way through the middle book in the series. Still not sure what that was about, though I suspect that I freaked because their previous relationship -- one that was, in a word, abusive -- had been so normalized in the text that the shift made that abuse obvious. I'd been Stockholm syndrome'd along with the captive prince.

This isn't maybe the most interesting thing to do -- just observe how many people treat Humbert Humbert like some kind of romantic hero, and his relationship with Lolita as a grand love story, and you can see how easily readers will dupe themselves into siding with abusers. What's interesting is unmasking it for what it was, and then trying to move on from there.

So. Onto book three, I guess. 

I just finished reading the second book in the Captive Prince trilogy by C.S. Pacat and I loved it just as much as I did the first one. In fact, I loved it more than I did the first one. Mostly because this one had a lot more consent in it than the first did... and if you've read the first book, you'll know what I am talking about.

This series surprised me. I, honestly, was not expecting much going into it. I was not expecting to get a good story, great characters, and fantastic writing but that's just what I got! And I couldn't be more pleased. Pacat has written a series that keeps you interested in the story and cheering for the characters to finally stop being little shits to each other and just make out already! Also, the LGBTQIA+ themes are handled quite nicely in this series. It's nice to see a book that has homosexual themes yet doesn't revert to the typical stereotypes, which I appreciated a lot. Pacat is a fantastic author who writes what she wants and she is not afraid to tackle certain subjects that most people would shy away from and, for that, she has my respect.

If you are okay with a book series that has a bit more of an adult theme, i.e. sex, violence, murder, etc., then I highly recommend this series. Just keep in mind that the first book contains quite a couple of rape scenes and if that's something that might me triggering then you might want to look into reading something else.