Man, I really wanted to love this post-series short story for the Captive Prince books, but I did not. Spoilers for the series and thoughts on what didn't work for me and why under the cut.
Basically, this story didn't work for me on three different levels. The first is just that I was left with LOTS of questions at the end of Kings Rising about how on earth Laurent and Damen were going to manage to actually combine their two kingdoms and rule together and somehow govern two very different cultures harmoniously and do all this while also not having any heir in sight. The fuzziness of how any of this would actually work was one of my major complaints about Kings Rising itself (although I enjoyed it a lot overall); however, Laurent as a character pretty much prevented that issue from bothering me too much, because he's so competent and always has a million plans and is solving problems before you even realize the problem exists and all that, so fine. I could, at the end of Kings Rising, handwave away all of those issues by just telling myself that Laurent has got it. Which is why I found the entire idea of The Summer Palace to be totally baffling. Damen's narration specifically tells the reader that things are still completely unstable and that Laurent hasn't even secured his throne yet but the two of them are taking a vacation together just because they deserve one??? THAT IS TERRIBLE LEADERSHIP. It makes no SENSE. It doesn't feel romantic to me, it feels unbelievably stupid, and like all of the high stakes we've just spent three books reading about aren't actually that big of a priority after all, since apparently establishing a new seat of government for what is theoretically a completely new political entity doesn't actually matter. Damen, fine, Damen has always been portrayed as a great military leader but probably not all that good at civics, but Laurent is supposed to be smarter than that. I know his uncle's dead and all that, but the idea that Laurent isn't well aware that he needs to assume power and fast or else that power will be taken from them both is insane.
And unfortunately, if the point of these stories wasn't actually believable political intrigue and machinations and all that, but actually it was just about this GREAT LOVE, this short story also failed for me. I didn't recognize these two characters. The idea that underneath that prickly exterior Laurent is just a sweet shy boy (who feels weirdly sexless to me) who wants to be taken care of by big strong Damen does not work for me at all. It especially doesn't work for me when Damen apparently likes embarrassing Laurent and enjoys seeing him on his knees bathing him even when Laurent's body language CLEARLY does not show someone who's comfortable with what he's doing. Is the reader supposed to just not consider Laurent's history of abuse when reading that? I know at this point that Damen is clearly not written as a character who has any ability to understand or conceptualize why Laurent might find kneeling upsetting, but as a reader I found his POV in that entire scene to be completely alienating and gross. It didn't feel like a moment when Laurent was ~understanding what Damen had felt like when he was enslaved (enslaved by his brother and Laurent's uncle, not by Laurent himself, which I feel like is an important element that gets lost), it felt like service as penance, and I did not enjoy it at all. I don't understand or recognize who this Laurent is supposed to be, and I don't understand why Damen loves him, or seems to think that this is the true Laurent, since it was Laurent's prickliness and cleverness that made him fall in love with him in the first place. And listen, I love a good sappy over the top love scene, I really do, but it has to feel like it fits the characters for me, and this didn't, at all.
On top of all that, nothing happens. It's a sex scene that's spread out over three different settings, with a couple of conversations about their brothers that don't actually do much to forward any kind of action, and we're left with this impression that now everything will be a bed of roses for these two kings attempting to knit together a kingdom. It's an epilogue that doesn't fit the overall story at all for me, and it actually weakened my impression about the series as a whole, because it made me question my own understanding of the actual point of the story. I wanted to get to the end of that story feeling like I understood more of who they both are, and how their future will work together, and instead I felt the opposite.
Also, I'm just gonna say it. If the whole point of this was to write a happy sex scene for the two of them that finally wasn't complicated by secrecy or betrayal or near-certain death or whatever, then why would you put the loaded gun of Damen telling Laurent he'd never been fucked in Kings Rising and then not SHOOT THAT GUN in The Summer Palace? If the story had been exactly the same only Damen had bottomed for the first time, it still wouldn't have been a good story for me, but I wouldn't have felt disappointed in quite the same way.
Grade: C (the entire strength of this grade is from the page and a half about wrestling, which was delightful and the only part that actually felt like the rest of the series to me)
Basically, this story didn't work for me on three different levels. The first is just that I was left with LOTS of questions at the end of Kings Rising about how on earth Laurent and Damen were going to manage to actually combine their two kingdoms and rule together and somehow govern two very different cultures harmoniously and do all this while also not having any heir in sight. The fuzziness of how any of this would actually work was one of my major complaints about Kings Rising itself (although I enjoyed it a lot overall); however, Laurent as a character pretty much prevented that issue from bothering me too much, because he's so competent and always has a million plans and is solving problems before you even realize the problem exists and all that, so fine. I could, at the end of Kings Rising, handwave away all of those issues by just telling myself that Laurent has got it. Which is why I found the entire idea of The Summer Palace to be totally baffling. Damen's narration specifically tells the reader that things are still completely unstable and that Laurent hasn't even secured his throne yet but the two of them are taking a vacation together just because they deserve one??? THAT IS TERRIBLE LEADERSHIP. It makes no SENSE. It doesn't feel romantic to me, it feels unbelievably stupid, and like all of the high stakes we've just spent three books reading about aren't actually that big of a priority after all, since apparently establishing a new seat of government for what is theoretically a completely new political entity doesn't actually matter. Damen, fine, Damen has always been portrayed as a great military leader but probably not all that good at civics, but Laurent is supposed to be smarter than that. I know his uncle's dead and all that, but the idea that Laurent isn't well aware that he needs to assume power and fast or else that power will be taken from them both is insane.
And unfortunately, if the point of these stories wasn't actually believable political intrigue and machinations and all that, but actually it was just about this GREAT LOVE, this short story also failed for me. I didn't recognize these two characters. The idea that underneath that prickly exterior Laurent is just a sweet shy boy (who feels weirdly sexless to me) who wants to be taken care of by big strong Damen does not work for me at all. It especially doesn't work for me when Damen apparently likes embarrassing Laurent and enjoys seeing him on his knees bathing him even when Laurent's body language CLEARLY does not show someone who's comfortable with what he's doing. Is the reader supposed to just not consider Laurent's history of abuse when reading that? I know at this point that Damen is clearly not written as a character who has any ability to understand or conceptualize why Laurent might find kneeling upsetting, but as a reader I found his POV in that entire scene to be completely alienating and gross. It didn't feel like a moment when Laurent was ~understanding what Damen had felt like when he was enslaved (enslaved by his brother and Laurent's uncle, not by Laurent himself, which I feel like is an important element that gets lost), it felt like service as penance, and I did not enjoy it at all. I don't understand or recognize who this Laurent is supposed to be, and I don't understand why Damen loves him, or seems to think that this is the true Laurent, since it was Laurent's prickliness and cleverness that made him fall in love with him in the first place. And listen, I love a good sappy over the top love scene, I really do, but it has to feel like it fits the characters for me, and this didn't, at all.
On top of all that, nothing happens. It's a sex scene that's spread out over three different settings, with a couple of conversations about their brothers that don't actually do much to forward any kind of action, and we're left with this impression that now everything will be a bed of roses for these two kings attempting to knit together a kingdom. It's an epilogue that doesn't fit the overall story at all for me, and it actually weakened my impression about the series as a whole, because it made me question my own understanding of the actual point of the story. I wanted to get to the end of that story feeling like I understood more of who they both are, and how their future will work together, and instead I felt the opposite.
Also, I'm just gonna say it. If the whole point of this was to write a happy sex scene for the two of them that finally wasn't complicated by secrecy or betrayal or near-certain death or whatever, then why would you put the loaded gun of Damen telling Laurent he'd never been fucked in Kings Rising and then not SHOOT THAT GUN in The Summer Palace? If the story had been exactly the same only Damen had bottomed for the first time, it still wouldn't have been a good story for me, but I wouldn't have felt disappointed in quite the same way.
Grade: C (the entire strength of this grade is from the page and a half about wrestling, which was delightful and the only part that actually felt like the rest of the series to me)
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