A Taste of Gold and Iron

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A Taste of Gold and Iron is a slow-burn romance flush with sexy, complicated relationships and founded on the ethics of duty and love. As indulgent and satisfying as your favorite fanfiction.”—Tessa Gratton, author of The Queens of Innis Lear While the world-building was wonderful, I must admire the author’s efforts for a different reason. This novel is very clearly focused on the romance, and the plot and world-building run as an undercurrent to Evemer and Kadou’s relationship. The time that went into crafting the elements of the world so that they could compliment and elevate the romance is immediately evident. The most obvious instance of this is the dynamic that is built between the khayalar – who are ferocious trained ‘guards’ – and the people they serve. The trust and understanding that must be placed between the two are so important. Evemer is assigned to Kadou, and before meeting him, has an intense hatred for the prince, due to an incident that occurs in the opening of the novel. This completely flipped the dynamic between the two, as Evemer, who had trained his whole life for this moment, resents the man he must protect with his life. The khayalar are so complex, and I loved how much detail went into building the political elements of the world, because it made all the tropes the author included work. The hate to love trope was tangible, Evemer had a real reason to hate Kadou. The progression of their relationship was masterful. I loved how, slowly, they were forced to rely only on each other, which naturally made for some interesting scenes. Hatred changed to respect, which grew into fondness, in turn blossoming into love. This all happened slowly, and at the right moments. For this relationship to change, the characters needed to develop. This also ruined action scenes - what should have been a tense fight scene got dragged into some distant-feeling academic process of fighting forms. Nine eight six. Nine hundred and eighty-six parts pure gold out of every thousand, he knew now, a fineness that had been set hundreds of years before and had never once changed, not for generations, not for dynasties. He still had that altın somewhere, and even now, part of the signature for coin gold as he experienced it—proper coins, that is, genuine ones—was the clear, bell-like chime of a hammer striking a die.

Kadou's coping with anxiety and personal growth are a joy to watch as he fully embraces his talents and comes out of his shell with the help of Evemer, his bodyguard. The slow-burn romance between them is beautifully done and adds a thrilling element to the story that readers will savor.”— Booklist I received an ARC from Edelweiss+ and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. ** Truly, though,” she said, “I can’t imagine having a baby without six kahyalar to help. And even then, they always disappear just at the wrong moment. Can you take her? My arms are about to fall off. She’s deceptively heavy.” A Taste of Gold and Iron Alexandra Rowland book announcements Fantasy Historical Fantasy publishing news Tordotcom Publishing Tordotcom Publishing Acquisitions But then, Zeliha was right too—the Oissic Senate did seem to draw power-hungry bureaucrats, primarily.Queer fantasies will forever hold a special place in my heart. I grew up reading all the big YA fantasies and was disappointed every single time I didn’t see myself represented in the stories. Now that I am an adult, I prefer to read about people my own age, and it fills me with so much joy to see novels like A Taste of Gold and Iron being published. This book has everything that I love about stories. Sometimes a book can feel like it was written for you, and I felt that every single time I sat down to return to this astonishing world. The romance is central in A Taste of Gold and Iron, and I adored it. Kadou and Evemer were both complex characters with many, many layers, and even though they disliked each other at first, they became more and more vulnerable to each other by peeling off those layers. Their first kiss was unexpected, and I immediately felt a warm glow of light in my chest. When they held hands in the cellar, butterflies fluttered through my belly, and I sighed with contentment. 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. A Taste of Gold and Iron absolutely delivers on its premise. This has the perfect blend of dislike growing into love, quiet yearning, dangerous conspiracies, found family, and a touch of magic. This book has characters you are going to fall for (even if you think you don't like them at first) and an incredible supporting cast filled with interesting, nuanced, strong men, women and nonbinary folks. I am expecting (and hoping for!) lots of fan art with this one.

Tadek had comforted and reassured him, had kissed his hands and smiled at him, had offered to ask around as to whether anyone else had heard mention of what Kadou had done (or was doing) to make Siranos so angry and suspicious. That was the point where things had started to go … awkward. Awkward, even before this moment, when his perspective wrenched and he was able to look at it from an outsider’s perspective: Sending a kahya after Siranos was tantamount to having him tailed. Anyone else would conclude that easily. Incredible narration!! This book was made to be listened to, and the narrator makes the characters and names come to life in a way reading it could not. It's been announced with a list of AO3-style content tags and they sound exactly like EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED:Kadou, the shy prince of Arast, 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 that results in his humiliation. Overall, while there are elements within the whole that could be worth a recommend, I would definitely hesitate to encourage anyone give it a try who wasn't already going to. 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 Someone had seen him talking to Tadek at the Visit. How could he explain? Was there any explanation that would be sufficient? The politics and ethics of power and fealty are a big theme in this book and the Kadou/Evemer dynamic hinges less on class than oaths, obedience and a hair washing scene that would make Charles Boyle sweat.”— Geeky Inc

Tadek started off decent, and descended into a caricature of himself. He ended up being wildly childish and immature. I’m going to do bullet points for a few of my criticisms, just to hit the main things that bothered me.Gods, he realized immediately, of course they had seen it. He and Tadek had been right out in the open, they hadn’t been subtle in the least—)