The Power of Sex: C.S. Pacat’s “Captive Prince”
By Oliver Fosten
It’s easy to expect a quick, smutty novel when picking up “Captive Prince” by C.S. Pacat, the first of a series comprised of three books and four short stories. Beyond the usual warning on the jacket that the book is for mature audiences only, the dramatis personae make it explicitly clear how central dominant and submissive dynamics are to the plot. Let’s not kid ourselves here: this novel is about sex, just not in the way I was remotely expecting. There’s no ripping off of lacy shirts or questionable absence of lube just as there are no tender embraces or rough moments of unhinged passion. Nope, all the horizontal monster-mashing here is about control, gain, and putting more at risk than just the well-being of your genitals.