Re-read 25/09/17

Prince's Gambit is the perfect follow up to Captive Prince. It ups the ante in every regard and manages to push the story into even more interesting places.

I loved the shift from Arles to a militaristic setting. Showing Laurent's competence in a militaristic setting was so fasinating to watch; seeing him produce strategies and schemes was even more satisfying in this setting because of how much higher the stakes were in this book. I loved the comraderie built between the garrison and seeing the half backed soldiers become an mettent and able was so satisfying

I don't think I touched on this very well in my last review but I feel the Pacat is excellent in the way she develops her plots. They're very fast paced and energised and seeing schemes played out and major relavations dripped was particularly satisfying in this story. Some of the twists in the last 70 pages really caught me off guard and had a serious emotional impact even though I had already read the book. She really managed to raise the stakes in this book and seeing things go wrong for our main characters just gripped me tighter into the plot. I could never really see where the story was going which is funny to say seeing as I have read this book already.

Pacat also must be commended in the way she developed Damen and Laurent's relationship. She handles two complex aspects of Laurent and Damen's relationship fabulously, enemies to lovers and the power imbalance that could arise from Damen being a slave. From the first book we could see that Pacat was actively making sure that the power balance between Damen and Laurent was more grey than your avarage slave-master relationship. Doing this made their becoming equals both more narritively logical but also avoids the serious abusive undertones their relationship had the potential to have.

They turning from enemies to lovers if often so rushed in novels that it leaves you wondering how a person your protagonist despised with all their heart is now a viable romantic lead. I feel this transition was handled more fluidly in Prince's Gambit than most other books I've read. Creating a common enemy for out two leads really provides effective motivation for
Laurent and Damen when to both spend copious amounts of time together building upon their relationship but helps build a connection between the two that forces the two to see each other in a less negative light. Even though I feel this was handled well I do remember myself finding it very jarring how quickly Damen forgets the abuses he suffered at Laurent's hand. I feel it would have been beneficial for Pacat to be more explicit on showing what exactly makes Damen begin to feel attraction to Laurent, while many of these things can be read between the lines being explicit is very important when dealing with issues like these. Overall I did find this to be one of the best enemies you lovers I've seen it completely love the relationship established between Laurent and Damen.

Prince's Gambit is a fantastic book, it provides great character development and interesting plot and mores the story forward in a worthwhile way. I can't wait to read what I hope is a solid finale in Kings Rising.