A Taste of Gold and Iron

Product Information

A sweeping fantasy romance inspired by the Ottoman Empire, A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland is perfect for fans of A Marvellous Light and The Goblin Emperor. This was well written and I really enjoyed the characters. I will say that I think it was longer than needed and I wish there was more spice. But the world building was beautiful. Read more I am so excited to be partnering with Ruoxi Chen and the Tordotcom Publishing team. Ruoxi understands on a really profound level what I am trying to do with this book, and I am absolutely giddy at the prospect of working with her. 2022 can’t come fast enough. 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.

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.” To prove his loyalty to the queen, his sister, Kadou takes responsibility for the investigation of a break-in at one of their guilds, with the help of his newly appointed bodyguard, the coldly handsome Evemer, who seems to tolerate him at Kadou dragged his chair closer to oblige and, between the two of them, they managed to get Eyne transferred into his arms with no more than a few ominous grumbles from the child. She was, somehow, already notably bigger and plumper than she’d been the week before. Kadou had had no idea that babies grew that fast. “If you can’t enjoy the hunt yourself, why drag all of us out here?” Split down the middle? The supporting cast. We had some really good eggs mixed in with our MCs and we also had some less good. Equally, we had some good eggs that just acted in frustrating ways and for reasons that are never truly explained but, of course, forgiven. Part of that supporting cast is a strong presence of queerness and identities interwoven in this world and zero homophobia. Huge win. On the romance front, I don’t even consider this a slow burn, because there was no burn. It goes from nothing to instalust to dithering to instalove.If you’ve been searching for a queer fantasy romance, look no further than A Taste of Gold and Iron. Not only is there a great balance between characters and magic, but also perfect for fans of body guard and royalty romance!”— Utopia State of Mind so many of y’all told me that i would love this. that it would be right up the alley of my pulley/marske loving ass. as i sit here with my brain oozing out of my ears, all i have to say is: you were all right. But before he’d been able to answer her, Zeliha had declared that it was high time they all got out of the palace for a day and thought about literally anything besides kingdom-running. A hunt, she said, would be just the thing.

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. Sexual tension overload! One of my favorite reads of the year."—Katee Robert, USA Today and New York Times bestselling author

Recent Comments

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. 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. This should have been a great fit for me - fantasy world with political intrigue, and a queer central romance? Perfection. This is a tough one to review. Because I had all sorts of feelings about it -- one of which was, I read the first chapter and had such a visceral "nope" feeling about it that I put down the kindle and walked away for an hour -- but mostly those feelings were ambivalent. And then occasionally frustrated because I was seeing things I could love but the love was just out of reach.

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.”

The prose is delightful and really stood out to me when reading. It’s very calming and relaxing, whilst being luxurious and indulgent. The descriptions of clothes, food, architecture and similar created a sumputous atmosphere and it is the perfect book to immerse yourself in and forget the real world for a little while. Tessa Gratton 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