Prince's Gambit

This is book 2 of 3 in the series Captive Prince and wow, I loved it infinitely more than the first one. While the first book was exceptionally crude and violent, this was mostly warm and fuzzy with a slow burn to end all slow burns at its core. Book 2 picks up where book 1 left off: Damen and Laurent are sent to defend the border on the regent's orders, despite the obvious danger to Laurent's life. We continue with the same crew of soldiers in book 1, but are introduced to a few new ones, namely Aimeric (who will become very important later in the story). Damen and Laurent still hate each other at the beginning, up until the halfway point of the book when things start to shift a little bit. The two go on a few secret missions on their own, and this draws them closer to one another in unexpected ways. I was reminded of [b:Luck in the Shadows 74270 Luck in the Shadows (Nightrunner, #1) Lynn Flewelling https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1531049892l/74270.SY75.jpg 2495] during some of the adventure scenes (which was a nice comparison in my mind).The crudeness and violence was considerably toned down in this one, though it had its moments. This time, the violence was much more balanced and less gratuitous, which was definitely an upgrade from the last book.The politics were still present in this book, but a little less than in the first. While book 1 dealt a lot with court intrigue, book 2 was more war-focused, which was a good progression of events in my opinion. I'm curious to see where book 3 takes us!