[0-0malik]

similar, but still different.

[mala-taste]

Reading the Captive Prince books and it's the most surreal experience ever. I hate all the characters and think it would be for the best if that entire geopolitical region was just glassed with some sort of out of orbit weapon. I spent the first half of the first book disgruntled because I had been promised politics and strategy and leadership and all I got was awful arrogant shitheads indulging in society-sanctioned BDSM, which I can get at home by simply calling one of my exes without taking the effort to read an entire book. There's a twist and I could tell what it was at the 20% mark.

BUT. Then the actual politics start and it's actually... great? And the author actually... understands how things work? Very very well? And is also great at illustrating it in an engaging manner? Like here is this extremely skilled person who perfectly understands architecture and supply lines and political maneuvering and military discipline who wrote a book about things they enjoy and that I typically don't, but I have such mad respect for their skill that I am actually getting seriously into it. I love me a scheming mastermind where the author takes the time to explain HOW they gain everyone's loyalty or pull off the political scheme instead of just going 'oh, this character is a scheming mastermind!!'.

Also once both the boys turn out to be Secretly Competent and show it to each other they get the best Grudging Respect vibes and I am just a sucker for that way more than I am for the whole pet kink. Yesterday at this time of day I was swearing up and down that this was just another run of the mill fantasy-romance-erotica thing like a SJM book or, like, that Gild series, and that I would never be sold on it but right now I am 98% sold on it and staying in on a Friday night to finish the second book.

Storytelling skill really does matter.

[imperfectlibrarian]

Oh. Wow. This is really similar to my own experience with the first book.

I remember reading the synopsis and thinking "there's no way this isn't a hot pile of garbage but whatever let's give it a chance" and then I started reading and...

The character building is so good. It's just so good.

It's part of my job to find mistakes in books. I still like "flawed" stories and I don't think any less of authors because of it. We're all human and I have mad respect for writers, art doesn't need to be perfect to be enjoyed. But when you see the same mistakes over and over again on daily bases it's hard to trust the author.

One of the most common mistakes is making the characters act just to push the plot forward instead of making the characters react to whatever it's going on around them as a human being with their personalities traits and personal history would.

So, there's two moments on the first book that made me realize I was reading something special:

1) When Damen tries to bargain and offers Laurent the beginning of a redemption arc. Laurent laughs at his face. We, the readers, are the ones who care about redemption, Laurent doesn't. He has other shit going on.

2) When the circumstances give Damen the chance of starting a romance arc and the fucker runs away. He doesn't want romance, he's not reading a romance novel like us.

This was just an example to say that when characters are well written like this they feel so real that we're able to believe even the wildest premises. We slowly start to care about what happens in the BDSM country of Vere because there's people there.

So yeah, storytelling skills really matter. I believe it's even more important than creating a good premise.

Another common mistake is the classic "telling instead of showing" and in this aspect Captive Prince is a masterpiece.

When OP talked about the scheming and political intrigue I remembered how Laurent conspires 24/7 right under our nose but in such a subtle way that when the plot twists happened I didn't think "what? I didn't see this coming at all!", I thought "OF COURSE, HOW DID I MISS THIS?"

Pacat not only shows how smart Laurent is to the other characters but actually makes him fuck with the reader as well. As if she believes the readers are capable of understanding subtlety and catch up later.

So, I didn't trust the author, but the author trusted me all along.

Seriously, such good writing.

[rendoesart8]

EVERYBODY WAKE UP I DREW FEM DAMEN AND LAURENT

[marzipanthots]

Wipppopp lady jokaste has stolen my heart again 💕💕 thank you for 50 followers :D!

Working on 2 scenes from book 2 and 3 👀👀👀👀

[eklaize]

-" Don't be presumptuous" said Laurent, coldly. -"Too late, sweetheart." Captive Prince by C.S.Pacat

I love tense scenes like this! My friend is currently re-reading the trilogy again and sending me screenshots of our favorite scenes and I just had to draw one of them! I needed to make a new account for this though because I feel like fanarts just don't fit on my main one and this way i can just post random drawings whenever I have a fan outburst again. Hope you enjoy!

[kybelles]

it’s incredibly disappointing and shocking to see how misogynistic and vile the capri fandom is towards jokaste even in the year of 2023, to the point of calling her “used goods” and “an opportunistic slut” (YES YOU READ IT RIGHT!) it gets extra depressing when you remember jokaste did what she did to save damen’s life and it wasn’t even acknowledged by damen or that she was really rewarded other than laurent letting her go instead of her being charged with treason.

the most common argument i come across is “we don’t know if she did it to save damen’s life! it was purely laurent’s theory therefore it’s ambiguous.” now i know media literacy has been a lost art for the longest time so it doesn’t necessarily surprise me but if you read this exchange, based on her reaction, it’s quite clear that laurent was correct in his assumption:

and if even this isn’t a solid proof for you, here’s pacat’s own words:

another arguments i frequently see are:

a- “why didn’t she try to warn damen?” damen’s literal best friend from his childhood days tried to warn him against kastor and he paid him no mind. you really believe he would listen to jokaste, someone he’d known for a shorter period than nikandros?

b- “did she really need to sleep with kastor?” …yes? do i need to remind you that damen’s entire household was killed? which would include jokaste if she wasn’t kastor’s mistress? not to mention she had to be close to kastor to save damen.

through the series, pacat intentionally draws parallels between laurent and jokaste; both appearance and character wise. remember this scene where laurent stopped the vaskian raiders from instantly killing damen?

jokaste played the same gamble. she had no way of knowing whether damen would survive in vere or not but she had to try because she loved damen too much to see him slaughtered like a pig in front of her eyes. and yes i use the word love because just look at the way she talks about him… oh my god… like while it is implied jokaste first got close to damen for personal gain, she obviously developed feelings for him after some point and had the utter respect for him. (i always think it’s quite sad us fic writers need to write her cheating on damen with kastor in modern aus for plot sake because under normal circumstances, jokaste would never let damen go)

i guess the horrible misogyny aside, what also drives me insane is the double standard. laurent had damen collared like a slave, drugged him, forced him to fight with the threat of rape if he lost, whipped him, sexually assaulted him by proxy and the fandom can still sympathize with him and love him (don’t get me wrong i love him too) but when it comes to jokaste, someone who had no choice and did the only thing she could do to save damen, people hate her passionately and call her awful names. it’s infuriating. it’s disgusting.

tldr; jokaste genuinely loved damen and made the only choice she could under those unfortunate circumstances to save him from a horrible death and while no one is obligated to love her, this appalling misogyny train needs to stop.

[cashleyd]

Paschal's name always reminds me of Pascal from Disney's Tangled lol

[bubbleteabarista]

auguste, laurent, nicaise.

[cashleyd]

[catbishonen]

please imagine them kissing on the stair to their palace so i don’t have to own up to drawing Damen shorter than he actually is /cries/

edit: omg I just found out about @capri-month and this goes perfectly well with Day 2: “Hello, lover”!!!!! I’m a fresh face in this joint but still so very excited to contribute to the fandom and celebrating Captive Prince 10th anniversary!!!

——————————————— PAYPAL COMMISSION: click here for more info

Diamond brush set by Tundra-Sky

[captaindamianos]

A long long time ago @zumurruds asked for Nicaise. I finally tried my hand at him

[ming85]

Described in the book as ‘overwhelmingly decorative’ the palace of Arles always made me think of Alhambra and those crazy complex rotating mosaic pillars of Orvieto Cathedral. An exercise in overpainting!

(my CaPri tag for more art)

[veretiandoublet]

looks at cs pacat's latest insta post. can we get one of those in english pretty please,,,,,,

[yv-sketches]

These fic covers might be my favourite commission I’ve ever done.

Work in progress and details on Instagram

Author: @kaerwrites on AO3

[marzipanthots]

!! Quick design for lady jokaste !!! I wish there was more interaction with her and Laurent lamoooo they both be spitting fire

[just-themys]

Doodles dump. I don’t know what to reserve for a clean post and which to post already, which to finish…. so here have a bunch of bad photographies of my most recent art for Cp featuring Laurent and Damen really much in love, baby Laurent, and Auguste.

[marzipanthots]

Here some more fun character designs for Laurent exploring the infamous and most important debate! HOW LONG IS HIS HAIR!

#2 is close contender

#1 is dear to my heart lmaooo

I feel like everyone has the freedom to interpret how ever they feel 💕