Filipe.Chernicharo 20/04/2017
"A Kingdom, or this."
Upon my re-reading of the "Captive Prince" trilogy, I perceived a flawed but original story. We have two rival nations: Vere ( country based on 14th Century France, over-ornamented, perfumed e colorful ) and Akielos ( based on straightforward, still beautiful and delicate Classical Greece ). All around the fictional world, homosexual and bisexual behavior are widely accepted and even urged ( in the case of Vere, where bastardry is a terrible crime ). C.S. Pacat ( isn't cool how she shares initials with C. S. Lewis ?! ) structures her worldbuilding neatly and in a credible manner, though it lacks some fundamental aspects such as religion ( we never hear about anything sacred or divine in any of the three books, except by the Kingsmeet which receives "pilgrims"). I get that the story is much more about characters than historical background, though , and in that front that author doesn't disappoint: we have a variety of interesting characters, all with very varying personalities and goals, such as the despicable Regent of Vere, the beautiful and dangerous Lady Jokaste, the sweet-natured Erasmus ...
Pacat's protagonists - Damen and Laurent. - are the very embodiment of the symmetrically opposed values of their home countries: Laurent, fairs and deceitful, Damen, honoured and straightforward.
"Kings Rising " delivered the sense of closure that it should upon Laurent and Damen's relationship, gave some hints as to Akielon culture and delivered a gruesome end to both the Regent and Kastor, even if in a rather hurriedly manner. In overall, Pacat writes beautifully e erotically, with various elements of the Middle Ages , common ground to all the decent high fantasy novels ever written.