Fantasy novels with Queer Protagonists, Part 2: Captive Prince 
 There's an enjoyable fantasy/political thriller/romance mashup in here somewhere, but it's buried under layers of what I can only describe as "ick". 
 ["Ick" - noun - A portion of narrative that manages to make the reader feel both deeply uncomfortable and like they need to have a very long bath at the same time.] 
 On the positive side, there's some really interesting worldbuilding going on. To outline: the country of Vere is obsessed with legitimacy and natural born heirs. Their custom, therefore, is that extra-marital dalliances are entirely socially acceptable... just so long as the pairings are all same sex. Thus the King will openly keep a harem of demure twinks, whilst heterosexual brothels are the sort of shady enterprise that you avoid being seen at. It's an interesting conceit (certainly a very convenient one if you're writing gay fantasy), and one that I'd have liked to see explored in greater detail. 
 What I get instead is a hedonistic slave culture of proportions that would make a Roman emperor blush, and which generally left me feeling, well... icky. 
 To try and break this down... nobles in Vere have sex slaves, which they call "pets". These are people who are bought and trained since childhood. If they do not comply with their training then they are tortured until obedient. They then do such things as (a) waiting on their masters hand and foot, whilst being kept on leashes like animals; (b) wrestling in public contests, with the victor gaining the privilege of raping the loser; and (c) putting on public sex displays as party entertainment. Their beauty (and tantalising semi-nudity) is lavishly described throughout. 
 The author seems aware of the issues that the situation throws up - and so her main character is suitably appalled by the rape, and by the prospect that he himself might be required to take part in such sexual performances - but the story really doesn't engage with the consequences. We might have an erotic scene where two slaves "perform" with one another, giving every outward sign of enjoyment, but when a minor character is damagingly raped... it happens off-page. One prominent subplot involves paedophilia and child rape... where the child in question seems to be quite happy with his situation and indeed is worried about losing it. Another involves a sex slave who is really pretty happy with being a sex slave, except he has an abusive master... so the plot resolves by selling him to a kind master, who will take care of him and pamper him (until he stops being young and pretty, one assumes). That's the happy ending. 
 Now, I'm not saying that these were in and of themselves unjustifiable plot choices - I can imagine an interesting character study of a child who feels immense love and loyalty (and fear) for his abuser; and if you were the slave of an abusive man, of course you would be happy to be sold to someone kinder. Having some friends in the BDSM scene, I can definitely imagine that certain submissively-minded people might cope rather better with such situations than others, so that's interesting too. But if you put all of the above together, and generally treat the sexual matter as titillating, then it feels like the author is ducking the problems that she has created with her own worldbuilding. It's hard to escape the feeling that this entire culture is just a backdrop and an excuse, and I can't quite forgive it for that. Where are the psychological consequences? Anywhere? 
 This is particularly driven home with the main character, Damen, who (unlike every other slave) avoids 90% of the proposed sexual awfulness that he's threatened with. As an enslaved aristocrat and a warrior, his class entitlement makes him an excellent substitute for a modern reader (i.e. he has a similar reaction, albeit one arising from a different set of preconceptions), and there was a lot of latitude there for the author to explore the sudden loss of both freedom and consent with some degree of nuance. Instead the sexual violence mostly happens around Damen, who denounces the system as an observer, and the worst thing that happens to him personally is being flogged. The flogging is appropriately horrific... but given that Damen is a super-manly warrior type, it is also presented as something that happens, and which he then basically immediately gets over. The damage is all kept at arm's length, leaving everything to feel just that bit too consequence-free. 
 I get that the author is writing romance fiction, not a gritty examination of sexual slavery, but I don't think you can happily write a romance in such a setting without some exploration of the issues. And if you aren't happy doing that... you ought to have chosen different subject matter. I very much appreciate that this is a difficult (if not impossible) thing to do right, and the average reader's mileage may vary, but still. I personally found it difficult to concentrate on the positives of the novel, being too busy throwing the book across the room.