Captive Prince (C S Pacat, Berkly)

This queer-themed erotic novel by Australian author C S Pacat explores dominance, submission and cutthroat politics in a fantasy setting. Damianos is the prince of Akielos. He is expecting to become king, but on the night of his father’s death his chambers are raided by armed soldiers. His half-brother Kastor has seized the throne and has decided to dispose of Damianos: he is to become a pleasure slave in decadent Vere, where his new owner is the heir to Vere’s throne. Damianos, now called Damen, must keep his identify secret and plot his escape from the myriad dangers of the Byzantine Veretian court and his owner, the enigmatic, manipulative, cold and beautiful Laurent. Damen and Laurent are compelling characters with a slow-burning sexual tension. The story is primarily concerned with sexual tension and slavery and the low-fantasy setting is somewhat reminiscent of the ‘Game of Thrones’ series. Captive Prince is the first in a trilogy that was originally self-published online before being picked up in an international publishing deal. Book two will be published in July.

Heath Graham is a teacher and former bookseller