Captive (Blackcoat Rebellion, #2)

by Aimée Carter and Aim Carter

The truth can set her free

For the past two months, Kitty Doe's life has been a lie. Forced to impersonate Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, in a hostile meritocracy on the verge of revolution, Kitty sees her frustration grow as her trust in her fake fiance cracks, her real boyfriend is forbidden and the Blackcoat rebels she is secretly supporting keep her in the dark more than ever.

But in the midst of discovering that her role in the Hart family may not be as coincidental as she thought, she's accused of treason and is forced to face her greatest fear: Elsewhere. A prison where no one can escape.

As one shocking revelation leads to the next, Kitty learns the hard way that she can trust no one, not even the people she thought were on her side. With her back against the wall, Kitty wants to believe she'll do whatever it takes to support the rebellion she believes in-but is she prepared to pay the ultimate price?

• ISBN10: 1488721211
• ISBN13: 9781488721212
• Publish Date: 1 December 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: AU
• Imprint: Harlequin
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[ladygrey]

So... I was curious to see where this series would go after the first book. And it really didn't go anywhere I expected. It did a much better job of establishing her relationship with Ben or Benji or whoever her boyfriend is. The problem is, the first book did too good of a job making me like Knox. And Knox isn't in nearly enough of this novel and Kitty isn't as interesting as I'd like her to be or as she needs to be in order to carry this story. And then the end left me less than curious about where it would go next because I didn't quite believe at all the last scene.

I wouldn’t have sent Kitty to Elsewhere (except she was being a dumbass and deserved some sort of punishment). I would have gotten into the wedding plans and the fake marriage. Working that around all the politics and danger and subterfuge I think would have been more interesting.

Even though I didn’t especially love this book, I'll probably read the last one, out of curiosity, and I'll just have to hope there's more Knox.

[shannonmiz]

Well, this series continues to surprise me! I didn't expect to love Pawn, and I did. I expected a bit of a sequel slump, and there certainly isn't one. Captive was absolutely as action-packed and horrifying as its predecessor. The story does take a few chapters to really take off, but I was fine with that because I appreciated the little snippets of recap (they were placed well, it didn't  feel like a recap, but it definitely did the trick!) to help me refamiliarize myself with Kitty's world.

The Good:

• Change of location. I was really glad to see the book leave Hotel Hart and take us to the hell that is "Elsewhere". And this place is bad. Yes, I know it was expected to be awful, but nope, Aimee Carter took it to a whole new level of evil. I did not see a lot of the twists surrounding Elsewhere coming, which was really great in itself. And reading about the history, the people, their lives... it was so worth it.


• The plot. Yes, the plot was very fast paced, very anticipatory. Lots of twists, and lots of trying to figure out who were the "good guys", trying to figure out who was even who (if you've read Pawn, you know that masking is very shady business, and Captive takes it to a new level). I had no idea. Maybe I still don't. Guess I have to wait to find out!


• The new characters. Not even the characters themselves, because Kitty is quite frustrating sometimes, but just all the new people that are introduced. It makes for a really strong book, because you'll find yourself in sincere empathy one minute, and abhorrence the next. There are a lot of characters to feel for, and a lot of characters to hate, and it makes for a book chock full of suspense.


• Kitty and Knox. I enjoy them, I do. Even though Kitty is mind numbingly frustrating at times, she really is caring and loyal and has a lot of good qualities. It is easy to root for her. As for Knox,  I have just always enjoyed his character. I love his frustration with Kitty, especially in the beginning of the book when she is refusing to listen to him. They argue like an eighty year old couple, and I find it fun. Of course, Knox is all over the place in this book, and I was never sure if he was trustworthy after a certain point. I think I know where he stands now, but come on, there's another book, anything can happen!

The "Meh" (Because none of it was bad):

• Benjy. Oh Benjy, why you here? Seriously, Benjy is one of the most useless characters I have come across. I feel exactly nothing toward him. I almost wished I hated him, because at least there'd be some emotional stirrage. I get that Kitty has known him forever but there is no chemistry, just familiarity.


• Kitty earns her III. Seriously, I know why homegirl didn't get higher on her test now, because she does some really dumb stuff under pressure. Likely just as she did on her test, because wow. I mean, I know some people freeze up in the heat of the moment, can't make decisions, make the wrong ones, etc., but she has to get it together if she is going to save anyone, herself included.

Bottom Line: Very good as a book, great as a sequel. I absolutely can't wait for Queen based on the events of this book.
This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/12/captive-by-aimee-carter.html
Captive picks up shortly after Pawn, where Kitty has now succumbed to living as Lila Hart, while the real Lila is living amongst the Blackcoats, assumed dead at the hands of her uncle Daxton. Augusta is dead, and Kitty knows that Daxon isn't who he claims to be. After being on the verge of death, he seemingly remembers Kitty's betrayal, while Kitty was rallying supporters for their cause all over the country. Benji is now working as Knox's assistant, until Daxon realises his connection to Kitty. Unless Kitty can find the evidence to prove that Daxon too has been masked, the rebellion will stall and she'll lose leverage over her freedom she so desperately craves. Not as engaging as Pawn, but Captive takes us from the lush surroundings of the Hart empire, to the walled city of Elsewhere as Kitty is imprisoned. These are the lowest members of society, where the only way out is death. No one escapes Elsewhere.

It wasn't until I saw a group of prisoners running towards is with weapons drawn that I understood. The rebellion had begun.

What left me disappointed, was the lack of character development. Kitty seemed reluctant to help the rebellion, bitter that she was forced to attend lavish parties as Lila while Knox attended the underground meetings of the Blackcoat rebels. She constantly demanded attention, not willing to sacrifice her own ego for the thousands of the oppressed. Living as Lila seemed to have afforded her the social status that the Blackcoats are fighting to abolish. Only aiding the cause if her own demands were met. Where in Pawn she was sassy and fierce, in Captive she seemed sheepish and privileged.

Benji continues to play the gentle, doe eyed boyfriend while Knox still remains the mysterious and stoic rebellion leader.

What was missing was the intensity. It didn't have the same passion and urgency as Pawn and was drawn out until Kitty reached Elsewhere. That's when the story finally picked up. It was a good sequel, enough to satisfy fans of Pawn and sets the tone for what I hope is an incredible finale.

[Ashley]

Nose Graze — Book reviews & blogging tips

For the most part, I really liked Captive. It was a really good second book in a series and actually felt important (unlike most second books). We had an intense story about Elsewhere, which was really cool to read about! Plus there were more secrets, conspiracies, and betrayals! Who doesn't love those? ;)

The one thing I didn't really like about Captive was Kitty. God that girl could be stupid/annoying. Her decisions were just so... WTF!?!? The book was riddled with scenes like this:

Sensible Person #1: "Kitty, promise me you won't do x tonight, okay? It's not safe and it's a bad idea and it could get us all killed."
Kitty: "Okay, I promise."
[1.5 pages later]
Kitty (to herself): "Well, I'm off to go to x because it's extremely important and I can do it right!"
[3 pages later]
*whole thing blows up in Kitty's face... as predicted by Sensible Person #1*

SO MANY TIMES!! It actually made me agree with Knox when he said this:

"I'm more than just a III, and you know it."
"Are you?" He stopped suddenly, and I nearly ran into him. "Because sometimes I'm not so sure, Kitty."

Here's a real example:

"Kitty, I need you to promise me you won't try to find those codes tonight. If you're caught—"
"There's nothing you can do or say that will save me from the Mercers. I know. [...] Fine. I promise.
[1 page later]
Scotia and Knox had had their chance to get the codes. Now it was my turn.

If she wants to be the brave hero, whatevs. BUT STOP LYING TO EVERYONE ABOUT IT!!! Stop making all these promises, just to break them 5 minutes later. It just got so annoying.

Honestly, it's hard for me to NOT talk about how annoying Kitty was, but I need to try. Because beyond her annoyingness, Captive was in fact a really good book. Some of the stuff in Elsewhere was CRAZY INTENSE AND SCARY! Like a bunch of people died, there's all this craziness with HUMAN FREAKING HEARTS, and cages where people fight to the death. Ohmyword. It made me want to become some kind of rebel leader.

Then, at the end, some intense stuff gets revealed, but I liked how it wasn't too much of a cliffhanger. It was more like a mini cliffhanger—enough to get me excited about the third book, but not enough to make me really pissed off that I have to wait so long. Perfect balance, my friends.