A delicious tangle of romance, fealty and dangerous politics’ – Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne The good? The tropes. There's an A03-style list of tags for what you can find in this book, I won't list them out but they are easy to find if you go looking, and most of them are delicious. And honestly how they played out was also, mostly, delicious. And actually most of what I found to be good in this story was the romance because I did like these characters; one was easier to love than the other as he was more fleshed out, but the other had a good bit of unlayering from how he started out, too, so it didn't feel too unbalanced. They are caught up in a complicated dynamic, and even though there was some angst due to pining and yearning and feeling unworthy being caught up in that, the dialogue that the author leaned on to express consent, reciprocity, the morality/ethics of it all, and understanding between them, was so good. This is a bit of worldbuilding thrown in to facilitate a SPECTACULAR piece of romantic tropeyness, but it has repercussions that leave you thinking “but…?!?” Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide. The ambassador of Oissos is behaving with no sense of decorum whatsoever,” Zeliha went on. “She keeps following me around and declaiming as if she’s in the middle of her Senate. I don’t know who thought a Senate was a good idea. All it seems to do is turn out a load of annoying power-hungry bureaucrats.”

I loved spending time with Kadou. A Taste of Gold and Iron is a beautiful love story with a warm, genuine, and hugely relatable portrayal of living with anxiety at its center, and I rooted for the main character all the way.”—Everina Maxwell, author of Winter's Orbit It takes a long time for the romance to get going, but once it does, every other plot element falls away. The antagonists are goofy and pointless, and their evil plot is foiled at the 75% mark with a stern conversation and no fanfare whatsoever. The dialogue throughout reads less like a fantasy novel and more like an old Tumblr post. All sexual content is, you guessed it, gauzy and vague. A tangent, but: I think I’m officially done reading m/m romance that isn’t written by queer men. The cutesy, obfuscating language used in so many bestselling m/m romance novels has gotten SO old. I am over! It! And let's not forget the prince's ex-lover, a major character throughout the book, who exists solely as a mincing caricature of a gay man who calls everyone "darling" and has zingy one-liners for every situation. He could be cast in an offensive 90's sitcom tomorrow. The central plotty issue is that someone is minting fake coins - and this IS a great problem to hang a plot upon, but Rowland doesn’t really follow through on it, imho? We know this has happened from the first chapter, and Rowland is at pains to have Kadou spell out exactly how and why this has potentially DEVASTATING repercussions for the economy and international relations…but the investigation is half-assed throughout, and I’m left wondering both how the hell the conspirators got away with their scheme for as long as they did, and also how they were able to suborn as many people as they apparently were? Not to mention how the country is going to cope with the repercussions of the fact that it seems some fake money IS out in the world, and there’s absolutely no way that gossip & rumours haven’t spread.

But then, Zeliha was right too—the Oissic Senate did seem to draw power-hungry bureaucrats, primarily. He’d replied in a little whisper so the strangers couldn’t hear him, “Nine, eight, six.” She had smiled as bright as new-minted coin and kissed his cheek and told him to keep his altın safe and not to put it in his mouth. In the forest below, there was a particular clearing, the usual staging area for the beginning of royal hunts. Servants had come ahead hours before—or perhaps even the day before—to assemble airy, colorful tents and pavilions, floored with carpets and cushions. The grandest of these was the sultan’s, of course, and Kadou was surprised to see Zeliha already waiting when he arrived with the few other courtiers who had not returned to the countryside after the week’s festivities wound down. Looking at it with his eyes rather than just the senses in his fingertips, he could see that the counterfeit was extremely well made. If he had only glanced at it lying on the table, perhaps amongst genuine altınlar, he wouldn’t have taken any notice of it. A delicious tangle of romance, fealty, and dangerous politics.”—Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne

The characters development was phenomenal. Kadou and Evemer both were interesting and very relatable. They were easy to love. So much there were under the surface! They had distinct characteristics; flawed, imperfect but very easy to connect with. The cast of side characters is awesome. Tadek was undoubtedly my most favourite character in this book. Other characters were great too. Kadou, the shy prince of Arasht, finds himself at odds with one of the most powerful ambassadors at court—the body-father of the queen's new child—in an altercation which results in his humiliation. Kadou, the shy prince of Arasht, has no intention of wrestling for imperial control with his sister, the queen. Yet he remains at odds with one of the most powerful ambassadors at court – the father of the queen’s new child. Then a hunting party goes terribly awry, and Kadou finds himself under suspicion of attempted murder. A beautifully detailed world, the power to touch-taste metal, political schemes, and a slow-burn romance wrap together in a lush fantasy. Rowland's latest continues to showcase their captivating prose, immersive details, and complicated characters."— Library Journal (starred review) But who could blame him? Siranos’s family had been devastated two generations ago by the machinations of a jealous second son, and he had no reason to believe that Kadou would behave any differently. Most people in his position, Kadou supposed, wouldn’t have been joyfully happy to find themselves a step further away from the throne. But it made him nervous to be the target of such suspicion. He’d been second-guessing himself constantly, worrying and half-confused over his own motivations, lying awake at night wondering whether it was an inevitable matter of when he brought harm to his sister and niece, rather than an impossible, unthinkable if.

New in Series

Strikes the perfect balance of political intrigue and romance. . . . A beautiful, compelling navigation of power and consent, loyalty and love, trust and hope.”— Shelf Awareness Kadou and Evemer are both such compelling characters and I loved exploring their relationship and how they helped each other grow and develop. There was a lot of angst and yearning but at the same time it felt very gentle and sweet which are my favourite kinds of relationship. I also really liked the relationship both of them had with another character called Tadek, who is Kadou's ex-lover and after events at the start of the book has been demoted from being a kahyalar to being Kadou's armsman, he is such well fleshed out side character and I was just as invested in his story as the two mains - he honestly deserves his own spin-off. I loved his sass and charm, as well as the progression of his relationship with Evemer - it's not romantic in any way but something I really love is when two characters who don't like each other intially slowly become friends and seeing how much they both care for Kadou and bond over it was so adorable. Tadek started off decent, and descended into a caricature of himself. He ended up being wildly childish and immature. I arranged it, didn’t I?” she replied dryly, shifting Eyne a bit so she could free a hand to wave Kadou over. “Come here, I said. The rest of you are dismissed, thank you.”

The book is much too long, much too descriptive, too many meaningful long conversations obliquely about feelings. The romance part might be called a slow burn, except it is not even a burn because the feelings were not particularly convincing. The mystery plot got lost constantly, to the point that I didn’t understand what or why was happening. The break-in? I actually still don’t know what that was about. I’m getting paid as we speak,” she said with a grin, slouching down into her chair and crossing her arms. “I’m getting paid in chaos.”This book is a bit of a mixed bag, and I find myself in a state of ambivalence. On one hand, it had many of the elements that typically draw me into a story, but on the other hand, it didn't quite capture my heart. It's safe to say that I was, in a way, captivated by it, especially as I raced through the last part with a determined fervor. However, the initial section of the book was a bit sluggish in its development. PDF / EPUB File Name: A_Taste_of_Gold_and_Iron_-_Alexandra_Rowland.pdf, A_Taste_of_Gold_and_Iron_-_Alexandra_Rowland.epub I challenge everyone to read this and not want them to be happy. The yearning, the soft, gentle caresses, the stolen secret moments of intimacy. There are moments dedicated to the feeling of brushing the hair of the person you love, of delicately grazing hands, of every fibre of your soul screaming as you pull away from the person you really want to devour. The wait was so worth it. I wish the ending was longer and would have loved an epilogue. As someone who hates long books, that should tell you a lot about A Taste of Gold and Iron. Give me more!

The political intrigue I’d expected was painfully simplistic. The villain was absurdly transparent. I am a total dingdong when it comes to mystery plots, and this was obvious from the first time they’re introduced. I also hated the worldbuilding (what little of it there is); at one point someone casually mentions that there are two moons, which…why? What is the point, if you’re just going to mention it once and never use it again? They do a lot of creeping around at night, so you’d think the light of an additional moon would play some kind of part in the narrative, but it doesn’t. It’s just a weird little detail that exists to make the world unique, despite the fact that every third SFF story has a unique configuration of moons and suns. This should have been a great fit for me - fantasy world with political intrigue, and a queer central romance? Perfection. A Taste of Gold and Iron is an imersive fantasy romance that completly captured me. From the impressive world-building to the diverse and complex cast of characters. there he was, familiar and comfortable. that’s what it felt like. like his heart, or whatever part of him it was that yearned for someone worthy to serve, had recognised the person he was meant to follow. the person he was meant to die for. there he was.”

There is action and danger to provide thrills, and a hilariously witty secondary character. But it is the aching and longing that makes Rowland’s stunning queer romance so memorab le."--The Philadelphia Inquirer He hadn’t been, particularly, on either count. He’d been too worried about the progress that wasn’t being made on the investigation at the Shipbuilder’s Guild, about Siranos arrogantly inserting himself into conversations he didn’t belong in and passionately declaring that Azuta Melachrinos, his fellow countrywoman, deserved a fair trial and representation in court … I feel like there are so many beautiful elements of the story I haven’t even spoken about, and others I’ll never be able to do justice. My only advice is to read this book. If you love it as much as I did, it will be a new favourite.