A Taste of Gold and Iron

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I have no words to say how much I loved him.So much that sometimes I wished this was a MMM book so he can stay with our MCs because the three of them were 😍 (And I don’t even read MMM books!!) 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. when an altercation puts kadou, the shy price of arasht, on shaky footing with the queen, he tries to prove his loyalty by investigating a break-in at a guild with his newly appointed bodyguard—cold & stoic evemer. as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens to ruin the kingdom’s financial standing, kadou & evemer have to protect each other at every turn. And,” Zeliha said, her tone shifting, “I haven’t gotten to talk to you about what happened at the kahyalar’s party when you went for the Visit. You were very naughty, I heard.”

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.

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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.

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…?!?” And by the end of the book Prince Kadou seems to have learned precisely nothing: he began the book getting into trouble (and indirectly causing deaths) largely because he decided to keep secrets from his sister the Sultan & caused his loyal retainers to have divided loyalties; he ends the book once more keeping a secret from his sister the Sultan, & causing his retainers to have divided loyalties. Like. Babe. No. Warning: the ending is, if not quite a cliffhanger (because of course there is no suspense to the relationship and the political plot, ah, lol, that is veneer thin and just ornamental!) unsatisfactory. This is a very long book (170k words), much too long, but the ending is couple chapters short and it feels like a cheap attempt to make fans buy more books, more novellas to get further into a HEA for these characters. (In case it was not clear, I am going to be reading it, I do not care, halfway through I was just rage reading). But the ending — all I can say, to avoid spoilers, is that I found it a very strange point at which to stop telling the story. Especially since a decision had just been made that didn't make sense to me. I needed either more info about why it was the right choice, or more story to follow it — or, ideally, both. It was just... weird. It helped convince me this was a 4-star read, rather than 4.5 or 5. This also ruined action scenes - what should have been a tense fight scene got dragged into some distant-feeling academic process of fighting forms.

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.”

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. Winter’s Orbit’s politics meets a lesser cruel Captive Prince. Add a slow-burn romance full of yearning, and A Taste of Gold and Iron is born.The gender stuff in this book is also really silly. Essentially, there are cis men, cis women, and folks of a third gender. We know characters with a ~binary gender presentation~ are cis because the characters use plenty of assumptive and bioessentialist language to describe each other’s bodies. There’s no real information about how gender functions in this world; it’s just kind of there, again, to create a fun little quirk in an otherwise bland story. I’m all for fantasy novels that embrace new configurations of gender, but just adding in nonbinary people to an otherwise totally cis, gender-conforming environment isn’t the slam-dunk the author may want it to be. He’d confided his fears to Tadek—another of the kahyalar, who he had known for some time, and who he had once been … close to. Tadek, who was so easy to talk to, even about matters Kadou barely dared to whisper aloud to anyone else. Tordotcom Publishing is thrilled to announce that Ruoxi Chen has acquired Alexandra Rowland’s A Taste of Gold and Iron, a historical fantasy novel pitched as The Goblin Emperor meets Magnificent Century. The two-book deal, for World English rights, was brokered by Britt Siess, formerly at Martin Literary, now at Britt Siess Creative Management.

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. 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! I wouldn’t have minded dying for him. Part of me is disappointed that I didn’t. I would have felt it an honor.” Yall need therapy. Just saying...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. For a long time, I was convinced that I would rate this book four stars, but my thumbs just hit five beautiful stars, and I do not regret it! 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. Witty, clever, and often extremely funny, Rowland’s tale of a prince who doesn’t want power but has it anyway—and must survive all the risks that brings with it— somehow manages to be both soft and hard-edged, clever and kind. And sexy! Very much that too.”—Jenn Lyons, author of The Ruin of Kings