#mmfantasy

Unfortunately, it’s harder than you think to find queer fantasy/scifi! And even when you do find it, it’s even more difficult to find well written scifi/fantasy books with M-M romances! I searched through a TON of articles online, and eventually I found a few books considered “Classic Gay Fantasy” including The Captive Prince.

Several online reviewers described the book as gay dark fantasy; the book features terrible conditions for humans typical to dark fantasy, and I typically enjoy books with difficult subject matter so it seemed fine thus far. Then I read the description.

The back of the book reads, “Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of Akeilos. But when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.”

I was a bit worried when I read the words “pleasure slave,” but I figured I like dark fantasy, and I’m gay, so I should at least give this Classic Gay Fantasy a try! So I took the leap, got the book (along with a few others), and gave it a read.

Let’s begin with the positives. First, the book isn’t very long, so if you’re reading it to experiment, then at least it isn’t too much of a time sink. And second, the book does an excellent job of exploring a world where sexuality is treated VERY different from Western society today. Homophobia isn’t really a thing in C.S. Pacat’s world (which is refreshing to say the least), and some heterosexual relationships (those that would produce bastard children in this world) are treated as taboo.

While I enjoyed the author’s general take on sexuality, the way the author handles homosexuality, sexual violence, and sexual slavery is VERY problematic. For example, the trilogy is marketed as a Romance (you won’t see any romance in book 1, so don’t hold your breath) between the main character Damen, and his captor Laurent. 

Here’s just a few of the horrible things Laurent does to Damen in book 1: Laurent tries to have Damen raped (Laurent drugs Damen and puts him in a risky situation), Laurent has Damen flogged (and encourages the flogger to try to kill Damen with the whip), Laurent has Damen raped (I will spare you the details), and Laurent treats Damen like an animal.

I have not read book 2, nor will I, but it should be IMPOSSIBLE for Damen to form a healthy relationship with Laurent after all that he has been through. I know plenty of people end up in unhealthy relationships with their torturers, and were that the author’s take on their relationship, I might accept it as a mechanic for storytelling, but please don’t tell me there’s any way to turn this background into a positive relationship (there isn’t)!

That’s not even to mention the repeated racism included in the book with the author’s descriptions of Laurent’s white, blonde, blue-eyed beauty. Over and over again, you’re forced to read about how fair-skinned he is and how everybody loves him and that he would just be so amazing if he wasn’t just a shitty person. I don’t know how many times other white people need to hear this, blonde hair and blue eyes do not make a person beautiful!

And finally, just about every portrayal of sexual slaves in the book is filled with problematic ideas. All of it is really bad, but just to start somewhere, one slave is still a child, and although the author repeatedly has the main character point out that his abuse is unacceptable and immoral, she also repeatedly refers to his beauty and goes as far as describing specific features that are attractive, which is just so YUCK!

Other passages describe certain slaves as obedient to the extreme, and while those passages call out the physical harming/abuse of those slaves as problematic, the author never just straight out calls slavery bad. In one section, the main character thinks about not how another slave deserves freedom, but rather how he deserves a master that treats him better (implying that he needs a strong, manly man to handle his perfect obedience). Again, this is only one instance of many, many problematic passages, and I’m sparing you most of the details.

The only way I can spin all the problems with The Captive Prince as a positive is if I consider the book a mirror-reflection of problematic straight fantasy. Maybe, just maybe, C.S. Pacat is so clever that she is turning straight fantasy, where women are treated just as poorly as the men in her book, on it’s head. I think she does turn straight fantasy on its head to an extent, especially with regards to her take on sexuality discussed earlier. But mostly, it just seems like she’s enjoying exploring sexual fantasies in the book regardless of the morality/consequences of her writing. 

Unfortunately, all this talk of subject matter leaves little room to discuss the actual writing quality. Briefly, I would say the writing is decent (neither great nor terrible). But it doesn’t make up for the book’s shortcomings.

If you consider reading C.S. Pacat’s The Captive Prince, be warned that you will be exposed to many, many problematic ideas without any payoff in terms of character growth, narration, or even romance.