Anonymous asked: So I'm kind of low-key constantly on the look out for a new decent book to read (gay is a 10000% bonus) and you seem pretty enthusiastic about the Captive Prince (and all I know about it is that there's a gay couple)...d'you have a pitch for it? (Coherency not required)
D O I E V E R
okay, so you know how you read a book and you’re like ‘this is great, but imagine if x’ or ‘this would be ten times more intense if they x’ or even ‘I can’t wait to hit up Ao3 later because if anything is gonna have an AU where one of them is an exiled prince sold to the other as a slave it’s this’? THE ANSWER TO ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS IS CAPTIVE PRINCE. THEY’RE NOT EVEN QUESTIONS, BUT CAPTIVE PRINCE IS THE ANSWER.
it’s all the things you look for in a fic: an intense slowburn between The Hero and The Ruler with the most toe-curling concept packed full of A+ romance tropes, literally breathtaking teases and epic twists and it’s written by that one fic writer who nails characterisation even when she’s writing an off-the-wall royalty AU and manages to turn what the plot summary said would be a ‘master/slave erotica’ into an intelligent, gripping, intensely romantic and not at all problematic thrill ride about secret identities, politics and courtly intrigue – EXCEPT IT’S NOT A FIC! IT’S A BOOK! YOU CAN BUY IT AND HOLD IN YOUR ACTUAL HUMAN HANDS!!!
but honestly. princes! sword fights! incredible world-building! power dynamics! secrets and lies! a not insubstantial amount of background exhibitionism! incredible build-up of the main relationship, the eventual consummation of which literally brought me to overwhelmed tears! read! captive! prince!
(other things of note: 1. not a gay couple! one is bisexual and the other, for my money, is grey-asexual. which just makes it even BETTER. LIKE IT WASN’T ALREADY THE MOST APPEALING THING ON THIS GOOD EARTH. 2. it neatly sidesteps all the 50 Shades-esque pitfalls you’re imagining it falling into. trust.*)
