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.

There are so many elements I could praise, but the most important part of this story is how queerness is normalised. I will never get tired of reading fantasy stories that are void of any queerphobia, and all the nasty aspects of our own world. I loved the seamless use of different pronouns, and the normalisation of sexual and gender fluidity. This made the political world-building so interesting. I loved the concept of same sex arranged marriage, and how casually those elements were introduced. The idea that ‘body-fathers’ only had claim over their children if women chose to grant them that power was so intriguing. I adored how the women of the novel – primarily Eozena and Seliha – wielded their power without hesitation. Seliha was the queen I was hoping for, and everyone would have been doomed if it weren’t for Eozena’s cunning political movements. The world was excellently crafted, and I could easily picture the architecture, the streets, markets and alleys, the beautiful and intricate court, the statues, and the unburdening temples. Everything about this novel was so vivid. If you’re looking for prose that makes you see things so clearly in your mind, that lifts scents and images from the page, let me introduce – A Taste of Gold and Iron.

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.

Evemer needed to question himself and everything he believed in and learn to communicate more clearly. Kadou needed to learn to love himself and accept that there were things he couldn’t control. The characters were so lively, their thoughts and personalities unique and distinct. Kadou’s anxiety, which was phenomenally written, was the primary cause of his insecurities. With the help of Evemer, Kadou’s understanding of his anxiety slowly improved, and the man he was in the first and final chapters of the story were two different people. Kadou learned ways to cope and live with anxiety, and the way Evemer was patient with him, talked through all his concerns, and helped him process his emotions, was truly beautiful. Evemer was so loving, so gorgeously written. I adore men who are both strong and powerful, yet soft and gentle. Evemer is an elegant representation of what a masculine fantasy character should be. They were both superbly written as individuals, but together were sensational. They complimented each other and were better together.

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 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.

Thank you so much to Black Crow PR, TOR, and the author, for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really wanted to love this book, but it unfortunately read too slow for me and seemed to drag fairly endlessly. I liked the world building - and the magic was particularly interesting. And I did enjoy some of the characters - just not enough to get over the fact that nothing happened for so much of the book!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

💛💛 A Taste of Gold and Iron 💛💛

I really really wanted to like this one but I just didn’t. It was very ambitious, and while some people would enjoy the way gender is portrayed here is just not for me. I love queer fiction but I felt like certain concepts were too forced into this novel and didn’t truly integrate with the overall story.

Perhaps I simply didn’t have the time to enjoy this story properly, but it was a very slow ride for me and ultimately not rewarding.

This is being marketed as fantasy but other than some of the characters being able to 'taste' gold this felt more like a political romance read to me, to me this is a slow-burn, opposites attract/enemies to lovers, political romance between a prince and his bodyguard.

I really wanted to love this, I have been desperate for a great queer fantasy read but the best parts of the book was the steamy scenes. They were exquisitely written and I 100% bought into their chemistry but for the length of this book there absolutely was not enough! The rest of the book, while enjoyable, felt too long with small plot points being over explained.

I thought the representation of chronic anxiety was handled well and I liked that the people around Kadou supported him and help him realise that he could cope.

I think this might be the start of the series and I would read book two.

This novel is a hotly anticipated 2022 read, set to be published on September 1st. It has created a buzz due to its promise of a slow-burn, sizzling gay prince/ bodyguard romance set in a political fantasy backdrop. As well as this, the protagonist, the hot prince, suffers from chronic anxiety and poor mental health which is refreshing for so many readers to be able to read about a character that resonates with them and their own internal struggles. I’m happy to say that I was granted an e-arc via NetGalley and I am pleased to report that the novel does live up to it’s promise. The romance is swoon-worthy and the novel has just the right helping of romance, tension, flirtation, political conspiracy, non-binary characters and plot construction. The most beautiful aspect of the romance is the balance of the power dynamic between the prince and his bodyguard. Both are extremely conscious of their duties and what is expected of them from one another and as their feelings begin to develop, they strain internally against what they want to do with their feelings and what they can actually do in their defined roles. They slowly begin to break down their own walls and delicately unpick the emotional imbalance that comes from their worlds being turned upside down.

The exploration of mental health, anxiety and panic attacks, may be triggering for some but is handled beautifully. The fear and lack of control over your own feelings before a panic attack is described accurately and the level of support that the prince’s friends give him whenever he has an attack is really lovely to witness and shows exactly the right way that people should behave in these difficult circumstances to support and comfort. Kadou is presented as a really calm, likeable and vulnerable prince, he is not your typical princely stereotype and I love the subversion of this. He is obsessed with finances, adores his baby niece, worries constantly about his sister, worries constantly about whether he is a good enough brother and he can also be sulky, withdrawn and empty. His character is incredibly multi-faceted and really displays how a person’s mental health can affect every aspect of their personality and how people can look and feel different depending on what kind of mental health day they are having. This is something people who haven’t ever suffered from mental health find it difficult to understand and I think the book deals with it perfectly.

There is a main political conspiracy plot but this takes the side-lines and the majority of the novel is focused on the romance and an in-depth analysis of the prince – Kadou‘s psyche. His nervous disposition, people-pleasing tendencies, anxieties and insecurities.The subplot of a conspiracy to ruin the kingdom’s financial stability by debasing its currency does add flair and action to the otherwise deep exploration of character. Personally, I like more plot and world-building in fantasy novels so this book wasn’t a perfect read for me as I sometimes felt bogged down by the character monologues. However, for others I know this won’t be a problem and perhaps a preference. I liked the brief mention of the magic system, people who can tell the metal composition of an item purely by touching it but again, the exploration of this is limited and I personally would have loved the magic system to be more integrated into the plot.

A Taste of Gold and Iron is a MxM queer fantasy-romance set in a world reminiscent of the Ottoman empire, but with a feminist twist. Kadou, younger brother of the Sultan, keeps getting into trouble - and to save face and keep him in line, the Sultan gives him a bodyguard (which you may read as babysitter).
Kadou and Evemer instantly despise each other - an opinion they gradually learn to revise as they are forced to work together to clear up a mystery.

Read this is you are looking for: slow-burn gay romance, enemies-to-lovers, the bodyguard-trope and, yes, also the one-bed trope. The relationship was really well done and delivered on all counts, with lots of Angst and longing gazes; but it is also quite slow to develop, so if you're looking for a book with a fast romance pay-off, this probably isn't it.

Something I really enjoyed was the realistic depiction of a character with an anxiety disorder and panic attacks - the author is either writing from personal experience or has done her homework very well.

Unfortunately, I personally wasn't in love with either the world or the plot, and at over 500 pages, I had to work hard to not lose interest. The pace of the book is definitely on the slower side, particularly in the first third; after that, things start happening and the speed picks up a little. For me, the romance made up for that once it started developing, but that took some time to get going, and if this hadn't been a review copy, I might have put the book aside.

I want to thank NetGalley and PanMacMillan for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here expressed are my own.

This was such an enjoyable read! I have to admit that the first third of the novel was quite slow since it was used to set the foundation for the whole story, but then thankfully things started to pick up and I could not put the book down. The investigation was interesting enough, but what really kept me reading were the characters, Kadou in particular. I just have a soft spot for him and I just wanted him to be the happiest he could. His romance with Evemer was a slow-burn one, but it was done very well and I was rooting for them for the whole novel.
I wish the fantasy element of the metal touch-tasting was explored more in depth and also used much more to carry on the investigation, I saw it as a peripheral element when in reality it had the potential to be a main part of the story.
Anyway, I definitely do recommend this book and I also hope to read more by Alexandra Rowland in the future.

DNF. while i think this book is objectively better than the author’s first (which i found downright unbearable), it does not do well for anyone who a) speak turkish and gets incredibly annoyed by the mishmash of turkish and made-up words that sound like broken animespeak, and ditto for greek b) can recognize a lan wangji with serial numbers filed off even if you stick him into a turkish soap opera instead of a c-drama setting. everything has such a haphazardly constructed feeling to it, it’s truly annoying, and I cannot overlook linguistic butchery even in the name of the gays. and such cartoonish villainy and overreacting on misunderstandings, god.

I am stuck between giving this 4 or 3.5 stars because I liked this book, I couldn’t put it down and I had a fantastic time reading it. I loved the relationship between the main characters and was very invested in their slowly growing romance. The depictions of anxiety and panic attacks felt very realistic to me and I thought it was handled well.

But the book wasn’t perfect; the plot felt a little weak and too easily resolved. The focus was much more on the characters and their relationship which was fine, I just wish the plot had been just a little stronger and less easy to predict.

But overall, I really did enjoy this book and it was definitely worth ignoring my to-do list in favour of spending the day reading it.

the world building is good but let down by weak main characters and a story I've read many times in other fantasy novels.

also this is meant to be adult fantasy but the writing is very much YA

I love the representation in this book and I think that the writing was good and the plot okay. It wasn’t the best read but far from the worst. It was a little too slow to get into for my taste, but when I finally got into it, it was a good read. Well developed characters and a well written story with good worldbuilding.

I will preface this by saying this contains a homosexual romance. If this is something you do not like obviously this book is not for you. With that made clear let's start with the broad synopsis of the book.

A Taste of Gold and Iron is a fantasy romance set within an Ottoman Empire-inspired world. From the back of the book we learn that;

“One false coin could topple an empire.

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.

To prove his loyalty to his sister and salvage his reputation, Kadou takes responsibility for the investigation of a break-in at one of their guilds. He enlists the help of his newly appointed bodyguard, the coldly handsome Evemer, who seems to tolerate him at best. But what appears to be a straightforward crime spirals into a complex counterfeiting operation, with a powerful enemy at its heart.

In Arasht, where princes can touch-taste precious metals with their fingers and myth runs side by side with history, counterfeiting is heresy. The conspiracy they discover could cripple the kingdom’s financial standing – and bring about its ruin.”

Now I will be the first to say romance is not my favoured genre or rather I should say I prefer it being a subgenre within the novel as a whole. The synopsis however captivated me and I am so glad one that I was curious enough and two that I was kindly given permission by the publishers and netgalley. I adored this book. It has everything you could want from a good royal fantasy as it were. Espionage & plots , intrigue, an amazing array of characters. While there is no denying romance is at the core, and this book may have swayed me to get more into the genre, there is so much more to the plot and I honestly adored it.

As always I never want to spoil the plot of advance reader copies but I will do as much as I can. As is obvious from the synopsis our main characters are Kadou and arguably Evemer. Their chemistry and dynamic is wonderful to see grow and alter from basically putting up with each other due to society's expectations and orders from the sultan, to friends and ultimately lovers. (I feel like this isn’t a spoiler since it’s a fantasy romance, what did you expect?). The rest of the characters help flesh out the world, action and move the plot forward.

My only complaint, although it isn’t overly a strong one is I did find the enemy was a little bit obvious, for me at least. There were some good red herrings but ultimately I did call who and what was happening. This didn’t really take away from the novel for me since the rest more than makes up for that. I adored seeing the relationship develop between Kadou and Evemer and seeing the other characters notice their growing closeness. A certain Armsman was actually a favourite of mine, their antics and personality often brought some much needed light-heartedness in tension heavy scenes but also helped build the tension as well.

The intrigue and court politics was also something refreshing along side the crime solving. It had a taste of Machiavellian tactics (a love of mine) and I really felt Rowland captured the sense of court intrigue well. On top of that I think they dealt with the Ottoman inspiration well and fairly. It didn’t feel like it was done to tick a box but that it was thought out, researched and combined with their own worldbuilding to make a believable fantasy empire.

All in all I found A Taste of Gold and Iron a highly enjoyable read that I would recommend to any fantasy romance fan.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Set against the rich, Ottoman Empire-reminiscent backdrop of Arasht, this is a slow-burn, gay romance between beautiful prince and stoic bodyguard. With magic, intrigue, high stakes, queer and non-binary characters in an open and accepting society, kissing to avert suspicion, and oops there's just one bed, it's a delightful read. Fantastic for anyone looking for a love story that doesn't revolve entirely around romance or sex, with complicated feelings and duties, and a sprinkling of spice that's super steamy without being full-on smut.

Prince Kadou is often beset by anxiety and paranoia. After his paranoia leads to an altercation with the sire of the Sultan's - his sister's - daughter, Kadou is left humiliated and ousted from court until further notice. He is assigned a new guard: Evemer. Although handsome, highly trained and deeply loyal, Evemer seems to have the emotional depth of a brick wall, and Kadou believes without a doubt that his new kahyalar hates him with all of his heart.

Kadou must grapple with his insecurities and chronic anxiety, and Evemer with his sense of duty as they work together to solve a conspiracy that could bring the entire kingdom to its knees, all while grappling with the confusing turns of the heart.

oh i absolutely DEVOURED this

a magical, enthralling tale of a prince who suffers from a severe anxiety disorder and the grumpy, cold bodyguard who is sworn to protect him, one of the most prestigious jobs in the land.

some of my favourite things about this book: yearning that leaps off the page, developed worldbuilding alongside a very involved political subplot, musings about royalty and the line of succession, LOTS of incredible fic tropes picked off, very realistic severe anxiety rep, inclusive society including non-binary and asexual characters, AND a loveable side character who is a welcome tone shift following some of the more serious scenes. but what truly makes this book so good is the relationship between kadou and evemer, which slowly builds throughout.

though a different genre, this reminded me a lot of becky chambers' wayfarers books in the effortless way it reads. the only things i would criticise (very lightly) were that there was a couple of scenes where i had to flick pages back and forth as it seemed to jump quite abruptly and i wondered if i had missed a page; and, i could have done with a little bit more explanation of some of the elements of the world, like the money and the various titles that kadou and his sister held.

I absolutely loved A Taste of Gold and Iron.
This is my first book by Alexandra Rowland and I'll definitely be checking out their other books as this was amazing.
I really loved all the characters and the Ottomen Empire inspired world was described beautifully.
I highly recommend this book!
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5

A Taste of Iron and Gold is a complex, character driven fantasy filled with court politics and romance.

I think I went into this book with too high expectations because whilst it wasn't a bad book, I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. The main reason for this was the flowery writing style that often left me confused. I also think this book would really benefit from a prologue because the first chapter started rather abruptly with little to no explanations.

I thought the plot was rather interesting and I found myself really drawn to the Ottoman Empire inspired world. I felt like this book was very romance heavy, which I adored! I also grew to love the main characters and their romance, which was full of so many of my favourite tropes.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves romantic fantasy, however this book just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will update the review with a link to our blog closer to publication date.
I'd like to thank the publisher Pan Macmillan and netgalley for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

At the start of this story I was with Evermer: Prince Kadou needed nothing more than a kick up the backside, cold showers and a few forced marches. But as Evermer's opinion of Kadou changed so did mine until by the end of the book I strongly admired Kadou's strength of character in combatting his anxiety disorder; although still plagued with worry and nervousness,he recognises his panic attacks for what they are and is starting to realise that they are not cowardice. The developing love affair between Kadou and Evermer is beautifully handled and completely believable and indeed touching.

One quibble: the use of strange pronouns in place of his, hers etc is affected and annoying. I couldn't be bothered to work out who was referred to in this manner so just gritted my teeth and ignored it. But it cost a star. My thanks to the publisher for an arc.

I am loving this new generation of female-authored, character driven, political scifi/fantasy books. In similar vein to The Goblin Emperor or Becky Chambers, Alexandra Rowland has created an absorbing, completely believable world filled with complex, relatable, believable characters.

Kadou is a prince, brother to the Sultan, now second in line to the throne due to the birth of his niece. A birth which has created conflict with the baby's father, a man who doesn't really understand either Kadou or the inheritance laws of the empire, and whose veiled enmity sets off a catastrophic chain of events which threatens not just Kadou and all around him, but the entire dynasty.

At the heart of the novel are relationships, centering on the quiet, anxious, duty driven prince. His relationship with his sister, both beloved family and ruler, with Tadek, loyal guard, friend and past lover, and with Evemer, who resents first his posting to Kadou and then finds himself drawn to the prince in ways he can't and won't define.
Slow burning romance, true friendship and fabulous political plotting all combine to make this a fantastic read. Highly recommended.

3.75 - 4 out of 5
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"Looking at her was like looking into the sun. But Evemer's North Star sat at the kitchen table..."

The story follows an anxious Prince Kadou as his loyalty to his sister - the sultan of Arasht - comes into question. Kadou must not only navigate the trials of assuring his devotion to her and the empire, but also face down the gauntlet of his own mind. When he is assigned a new guard, he can't possibly predict how it might change him.

In all honesty, this book had a very slow start and at 25% in, I found myself struggling to find the motivation to pick it back up. To be fair, I probably wasn't in the best mental space to read about someone struggling so severely from panic attacks, and I will say that this probably needs a trigger warning for anxiety because of how accurately it's portrayed.

I gave it one more shot and going into the second quarter, it really started to grab me. There was more of a plot to enjoy and this gorgeous ottoman-inspired world really began to flourish through Alexandra Rowland's effortless prose.

Despite how difficult it is to read the agonising overthinking of someone with anxiety, I did appreciate how real it felt and enjoyed the times where Kadou found strength to quiet those voices and back himself. Evemer, who's all duty and discipline, obviously doesn't get it and the friction between them is palpable and deliciously tense.

I would definitely say this is a romance with elements of fantasy, instead of trying to sell it as fantasy with a romantic sub-plot. I enjoyed the development of the characters, and as the last 75% book progressed, I found myself unable to put this down.

The sexual tension in this is glorious, but, I think, above all I enjoyed the intimacy of oaths and fealty. At times I got a little frustrated by what all could be solved if the characters simply had a conversation, but the one-bed trope made up for any points I might've deducted for it.

Loved the diversity in this, the queer rep and very real take on mental health.