Captive Prince discussion

After reading Pacat's first book to the "Captive Prince" trilogy, I was captivated by the vast world and expansive amount of characters involved. It gave me "Lord of the Rings" and "Game of Thrones" vibes as soon as I got into it, so I knew I would be hooked and ended up finishing it within two days, and was excited to get the second book as soon as possible.
A strength I recognized immediately when flipping through the first few pages was the immense world-building, which requires hours of work and focus on making it effective for the reader, especially when a map is added in the beginning such as in this book with names of countries and villages and capitals. Though the first book primarily focuses on only two of the countries, it still mentions several different villages and towns that end up being retold and reused. Nothing is forgotten, and it isn't brought up again far enough away from the first time to have to go back and reread.
The character development is astounding in these books, particularly for the main character Damen. Every facet of his character is expanded upon without being forced, and each exchange is complex but makes sense by the end of the story. Especially with Laurent; their relationship is strained from the very beginning, and you learn to really dislike Laurents' character, especially when they interact in the following quote:

"'He's the captive Kastor sent you to train?' said Torveld, curiously. 'He's--safe?'
'He looks combative, but he's really very docile and adoring,' said Laurent, 'like a puppy.'
'A puppy,' said Torveld.
To demonstrate, Laurent picked up a confection of crushed nuts and honey and held it out to Damen as he had at the ring, between thumb and forefinger.
'Sweetmeat?' said Laurent.
In the stretched-out moment that followed, Damen thought explicitly about killing him."

I have never been captivated by characters in such a way, and it felt so real and genuine through Pacat's writing. This expansiveness is pivotal to make a story like this amazing; spending time focusing on characters and letting them grow and shine.
Another thing that made this entire book so addicting and well composed was seeing the environment and society of Vere. The politics really intrigued me, and seeing them manipulated by both Laurent and his uncle made my head hurt but got me even more invested into the story due to it. This kind of thoughtfulness of placing pieces of a puzzle carefully and accordingly is what makes a book truly great; not just a fleeting "boy meets girl" situation or something or the type, but really digging deep and adding conflict on conflict on conflict with compelling characters and a massive world to involve them in.