I've been a fan of Alexandra Rowland ever since they blew me away with their Chant series and I was beyond excited to hear of their new fantasy romance release. I was not in the least disappointed and a Taste of Gold and Iron has cemented Rowland as one of my favourite authors.

Their characters are once again vividly drawn. Kadou our Prince suffers from what he calls cowardice (that, in reality, is a pretty bad anxiety disorder and he has serval panic attacks throughout the book) and after a fatal hunting incident, he is banned from court and now followed by a disapproving guard. I loved the changing dynamic between Kadou and Evemer as Evemer goes from thinking that Kadou is a flighty and irresponsible Prince, to devoting himself body and soul after witnessing Kadou's endless loyalty. The amount of beautiful oaths sworn was a delight and this book has opened me up to how romantic they can be. There is a great amount of angst as they become aware of their feelings towards each other which of course had me crying but god I could not get enough. I also loved the kiss me to get out of trouble scheme Kadou kept pulling, fantastic trope and I demand more.

The side characters were all fantastic and even the ones I initially found annoying soon become my favourites. To the point that I started sympathising with the person behind the counterfeiting mystery and I kinda wanted them to have been redeemed. But that's probably just my poor taste.

Once again Rowlands's worldbuilding is immersive and rich. I will say that the Chant series is better in this aspect but of course, this book focuses more on the romance which I loved so I can't really complain.

Overall this is a fantastic fantasy romance with a side of court politics and mystery that Rowland always excels at and I devoured this in just a few days. It combines all of their skill in world-building, character development and humour to create my new favourite read of the year. If you want hate to love romance with a very anxious Prince that will steal your heart then please pick this up.

This year seems to be the year I read all of Rowland's works. This is my fourth book read by them in 2022 and by far the best. I found Rowland when they were still a self-published author and they wrote the most amazing book called In The End which was really great Good Omens Fanfic. I slowly feel for them when I listened to Be The Serpent Podcast but didn't enjoy A Chorus of Lies at all and struggled through a Conspiracy of Truths.

All to say I have had a mixed bag with Rowland's work. However A Taste of Gold and Iron is simply perfect! It is by far my favourite novel I have read by Rowland and takes all the best parts of her self published work and all her knowledge and growth since then and creates a heartwarming beautiful story of fealty.

A Taste of Iron and Gold follows a young prince and his bodyguard, but it is so much more than just the slow burn romance between the two. At its heart, it's a tale about growth and confidence in oneself and understanding that it is okay to take up space and not apologise for your own existence. We see all our main characters grow and shift as the novel takes these characters through the trials of the story.

I thought A taste of Iron and Gold really shows what Rowland can do in her writing and I am so thrilled to see what is next. I hope it follows this vein of storytelling.

Firstly, this book should have a map. Not because it needs one, though it would be helpful, but because I love maps, and everyone knows fantasy books with maps are legit the best.

The start of A Taste of Gold and Iron is slightly confusing because there is not much introduction to the world we’ve just entered, the names of both places and jobs weren’t explained, but you figure them out after a little while. What I found more confusing was replacing some pronouns with çe, çir and çirself, which wasn’t explained, nor did I know how to pronounce it, which led me down a rabbit hole spiral of trying to pronounce it. Besides these two things, I was hooked into the story straight away.

The story revolves around the intrigue of a break-in at the Shipbuilder’s Guild, which houses a secret held by the Arasti, making them the only country that can sail the Sea of Serpents during the serpents mating season without their fleet being destroyed, a pretty lucrative secret. In conjunction, counterfeit coins have been found within Arasht, which could lead to financial and political ruin. To prove himself to the Sultan, his sister, Kadou, takes on the responsibility of discovering the investigation after an altercation with his sister's lover leaves him shunned and humiliated. The Sultan, however, appoints Kadou a new bodyguard, Evemer, who dislikes Kadou and who wants to turn Kadou into the prince he ought to be.

Kadou has a pretty series anxiety disorder; he’s plagued with worry and nervousness, has regular panic attacks and constantly second guesses himself. He takes the weight of the world on his shoulders and refers to his anxiety as cowardice, which is so far from the truth. Evermer, his stoic shadow, has his work cut out for him holding back his scorn of all that Kadou is. Both Kadou and Evemer are compelling characters, and I loved them dearly. The development of their relationship was a slow, creeping thing that grew and strengthened as they began to understand each other, respect each other and reciprocate their fealty to each other. The tension between the two was glorious and torturous; it was a delight to follow the two as they blossomed from dislike to friends into being devoted to each other and falling in love.

I loved the plot of this story, though the romance is the focus. It was interesting to see the treachery that had taken root within the court, and my heart quickened to see it all unfolding. The side characters were as equally wonderful as both Kadou and Evermer; Tadek, Kadou’s former lover was an indispensable part of the story; he brought humour and wit and was a confidant for Kadou and Evemer, though Evemer would never admit to it. Eozena was fierce and motherly, as should be expected from the captain of the guard and a close friend of both the Sultan and Kadou, who had known them since childhood; she was also a badass of the highest order and, again, was indispensable.

I thoroughly enjoyed A Taste of Gold and Iron; it was the perfect blend of romance and intrigue, the plot was beautiful, and the characters have found their own little place in my heart. If you need any more convincing to pick up this book, I leave you with this, my favourite quote from the book, courtesy of Evemer:

‘He wasn’t going to think of His Highness’s mouth, or His Highness’s mouth, or His Highness’s mouth’ … ‘What if, however, his treacherous brain suggested, we think about His Highness’s mouth?’

A Taste of Gold and Iron is just so well-crafted that I have to admire it even if I didn't personally love it. Stylistically, this is so smooth and polished, with just the right level of witty complexity to the sentences. The world and its characters feel generally very well realised, and Kadou's struggles with anxiety (and an implicit neurodivergence to Evemer) are real highlights. It's just that, as someone for whom this particular romance isn't aimed, it could often be a hard read. It is very slowburn, to the point that it sometimes drags (particularly the ending); the political intrigue plot is not very deep either, and mainly exists to facilitate certain tropey romance scenes (which are charming enough in themselves). Taken as a fantasy royal bodyguard m/m romance, this is fully actualised and satisfying, but it will benefit from readers looking for that dynamic specifically.

This is definitely one of those books where I read the blurb and thought 'uh huh, this is my kind of book' and, for the most part, I was proved absolutely right. Not a completely unqualified success though, for reasons I'll come to later in this review...

The basic premise of A Taste of Gold and Iron is that its protagonists are a prince (Kadou) and the man who is appointed as his bodyguard (Evemer), so there's plenty of stuff going on around fealty and misunderstandings (since Evemer completely misjudges his new charge at first). Kadou also has a very troubled relationship with the man Evemer has taken over from, who had charmed his way into Kadou's bed and who manages to avoid being just the Jealous Ex by some nice characterisation (to the point where I actually liked him best of pretty much all the supporting characters by the end of the book!).

The backdrop for their story is an empire where Kadou was heir to the throne but his older sister has just produced a baby, bumping him down one step - the only downside of this is that she had this baby with someone that Kadou can't stand. The characterisation of said baby daddy is one of the weaker ones here, as it's leaning a bit too close to moustache-twirling at times, so it's no surprise at all that he turns out be even worse than suspected earlier on. There's a sub-plot running through this around counterfeit currency, which the title hints at as there's also an ability which certain people have of being able to taste the source and quality of a particular metal, but it was definitely a sub-plot compared to the relationship between Kadou and Evemer which was Plot with a capital P.

That's where the missing star went, to be honest, as I liked the development of that relationship but the pacing fell apart towards the end of the book as the counterfeiting sub-plot got resolved about two-thirds of the way through the book and our protagonists were still dancing round each other and their feelings. That stopped being charming and became annoying. All in all, another entertaining book from this author but one that I probably won't re-read any time soon.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest opinion of the book in question.

This is probably one of the most difficult books I had to review this year.

I am giving it 4 stars because it’s an entangled bundle of stuff, so, here goes me trying to make sense of everything.

There are lots of things I loved about this book and the first thing I am going to say is how beautiful and poetic the prose is. It was stunning, and just for that, this book falls easily in the category of books I want to reread. However (and since I read an arc, I hope things will change in the final version) I had issues with the first chapter and the ending ones. The very first chapter was not so easy to digest, it really put me off and I was seriously concerned I wouldn't enjoy this book. There is a lot of info dump and little explanations, I even thought that perhaps I missed a chapter or a book prior to this. Luckily, things got better after that. The story carries on, you get to absorb more elements of the world and the plot, which I highly enjoyed.

Another praise I have for the book is the queer representation, with gay and non-binary characters organically fitting in the story and this world. In this imaginary fantasy ottoman world, the sultan is a woman, who is not forced to marry but free to have children outside the marriage. It also has a realistic representation of a character afflicted by anxiety and panic attacks.

The story is built around the investigation of counterfeit coins and brings to the plot more information about the politics and the magic of the world, which I found fascinating. However, the investigation plotline is predictable and quickly abandoned, nothing is fully explained in this world, and the story turns out to be highly romance-focused. I didn’t mind that, except when finally our characters fall for each other, the unclear politics of the world didn’t let me fully savour the moment.

In the end, the slow-burn romance (too slow it kills you) was something special, thanks to the beautiful prose, and the smart use of “oh look, only one bed” and “let’s kiss to avoid suspicion” tropes. With the mystery of the fake coins set aside, the last few chapters are all about the romance but it was quite dragging until the very last page, with the very ending, which was left too open. I guess this is for a hypothetical sequel? I don’t mind, I want a more satisfactory ending for Kadou and Evemer, and this world definitely deserves more.

General Impressions

Usual disclaimer: they got me with the cover! That US cover! Ladies and gentlemen, there are not enough hearts in the world to describe it. And the UK one is beautiful as well. And neither of these covers, come even close to how wonderful, show-stopping, meaningful, absolutely unique and necessary this book is.


I knew this book was gonna blow past my every expectation after the first couple of chapters and it only became better the more I read.

There was such richness and vastness from the very beginning without ever feeling like an info dump. The world-building was complex and wholly original and there was such a richness of details that made me truly feel like I was beside these characters at every moment. The plot itself left nothing to be desired as well, keeping me engaged and wondering until the very end.

And as for Kadou and Evemer? The most delicious slow-burn, enemies to lovers, philosophy discussing, acts of fealty giving, pair of hard-headed sweethearts I read in years and all I wanted was to reread the entire book the moment I finished it. The multiple scenes in which they discussed their responsibilities to each as prince and bodyguard/servent/subject were some of the most paradigm-shifting for me because I had never seen a person with power feel responsible for those serving him to such great detail. Alexandra was able to do the impossible by not only writing a noble character aware of its privilege and obligations but one I was able to like and root for, which has very rarely happened.

Their relationship never felt forced or meant to be, instead, they both had to look past their initial misgivings about each other and face up to their true feelings not only about each other but their own insecurities and shortcomings. Their journey from disliking and looking down on each other to understanding, friendship and eventual romantic attraction was a rollercoaster and as easy as breathing at the same time. Kadou and Evemer didn't become magically better because they were together - they became better people because they wanted to be worthy of the other's admiration and affection.

The secondary characters were also a delight and I adored how Alexandra refused to make the easy choice when it came to making Kadou's ex-flame a villain or portraying him as the effeminate evil queer person but fleshed him out completely into one of the best parts of the story. The only want this book left me with was that I wished I had gotten more of Kadou's older sister, the sultan since most of what we got as a reader was a bit unflattering since she and Kadou were at odds for most of the book. This woman was not only busy running an empire but the two people that should support her, her brother and lover were at odds with each other and causing international incidents where people died, after she gave birth weeks before. This woman could not catch a break!

Conclusions

This book had everything: slow burn romance, enemies to lovers, a land inspired by something other than medieval England (god bless!), an original magical setting, no sexism, queer normcore society, third gender and pronouns acknowledgement throughout the entire book on dozens of characters, original societal hierarchy, the *hottest* of scenes (seriously, I don't think it will come as any kind of surprise to discover that this woman writes for Ao3 because DAMN, the level of kinkiness at the end!!!!) and their conversations about fealty and philosophy, reader I can't breathe just thinking about it! Go read this book as soon as it comes out if you cannot read it now and you can thank me later.

Alexandra, ma'am, you own me now.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan, Tor and NetGalley for this DRC.

Rating: 5/5

This was incredibly lovely. I had a few false starts with this and wasn't sold for the first few chapters but then I got very attached to the main characters very quickly and I was hooked.

This book is achingly beautiful (and it just aches in general honestly). The writing style took a little to get used to but once I had adapted, I really enjoyed it and it suited the voices of the main characters incredibly well. Both the characters and the plot are very well developed and everything feels fleshed out and well-rounded. It is however much more character-driven than plot-driven. The focus is firmly on the characters, their emotions, and their relationship with one another. I honestly couldn't tell you which of Kadou or Evemar is my favorite, they are both wonderful in their own ways. The side characters are also vibrant and well thought out and added a lot to the book as a whole.

This book made me FEEL so many things and I was thinking about it constantly when I had to stop reading to do other things. I think for plot and writing this is a solid 4* but the relationship (which is tender and soft and beautiful), characters, and how it made me feel, it's 100% a 5* read which is what I'm going for. The cover is also absolutely gorgeous.

I really enjoyed this and would absolutely read more by this author. It was an amazing read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc of this in exchange for an honest review.

This was a well written book with a compelling storyline and well developed characters- like exceptionally developed that really made me feel like i knew them. The world building was also really well done. I liked the romantic element of the book which i would say was probably the main focus of the book and it was done very well. An enjoyable read.

Fooled by a beautiful cover. I'm so upset. This could have been EVERYTHING, but it just felt lacklustre to me all the way through. It took me quite a while to read this, and I kept expecting it to get better, but that just never happened. My main issues were with the writing style, which I found cringy and didn't work for me, and the characters, who I just... didn't like. It's kind of impossible to enjoy a romance if you don't like the characters, but I also expected the romance to be a lot more central, and I didn't find the actual plot very interesting. It all just fell really flat for me.

Thanks to the publisher Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc for an honest review!

A Taste of Gold and Iron follows Kadou, the shy prince of Arasht as he finds himself at odds with one of the most powerful ambassadors at court. this conflict ended in an unfortunate misunderstanding that costs the lives of several of the court’s most trusted and loyal bodyguards. the Queen, disappointed with Kadou’s oversight, appointed Evemer, known for his propriety and strict personality, as his new bodyguard. To regain the queen’s favor, Kadou takes responsibility for investigating a break-in at one of the merchant’s guild with Evemer by his side.

What really stood out to me in A Taste of Gold and Iron is Kadou’s character. As a prince born into royalty and power, he is incredibly self-aware of the weight and responsibility that comes with power. he’s constantly questioning the validity of this power and the nature of fealty. this is particularly put in question when Kadou finds himself more and more attracted to Evemer, a bodyguard who swore an oath to service the royal family. A Taste of Gold and Iron takes a deep dive into the ethical questions other fantasy glosses over and the result is both fascinating and satisfying.

A Taste of Gold and Iron is very much a character-driven story as the story is advanced through the exploration of these ethical questions and the relationship between these characters.

If you are looking for a tender, soft relationship then A Taste of Gold and Iron is going to deliver. the author fully delivers on the tenderness the cover inspires and the ao3 tags, particularly the hurt/comfort & slow burn. Let’s just say I’m a big sucker for strong mutual support in a relationship. Kadou and Evemer did not get off on the right foot. The accident leading Evemer’s appointment to Kadou led Evemer to believe Kadou is an unseemly prince but as the plot unfolds, Evemer comes to see more of Kadou’s character and sees him in a new light. It’s slow burn, it’s beautiful and the vibes it delivers *muah*.

Without spoiling the plot, you know the hallmarks of hurt/comfort fics?? A Taste of Gold and Iron has it. YES.

Whilst the romance is definitely the main focus of the story, the relationship Kadou shares with other characters is also handled with love and care. Especially Kadou's relationship with Tadek, his ex-lover and now armsman. the love these two shares is complicated considering the difference in rank these two have and it's further complicated by the events of the story. there's a fair amount of guilt and issues these two have to sort out but they never stop loving each other. it's lovely to see how there's no 'evil ex' trope involved. Tadek got his own character arc and my opinion of him has changed rather dramatically throughout the story and I love it when a story changes my mind like that.

A Taste of Gold and Iron also has one of the best representation of anxiety I’ve read. It’s raw and real and it’s very meaningful to see representation in fantasy.

And the writing! The prose is beautiful and poetic without being ‘too much’. It adds to the ambience of the story and it brings out the tenderness of it.

What I wanted more of is a more cohesive plot. I’m not exactly sure how to explain this but I find 1)the investigation plot that’s quite important at the beginning of the story to end rather abruptly (and somewhat unsatisfyingly) and 2) the new element the third act conflict brings in rather unnecessary. I feel like without bringing in this new element, there’s already enough conflict in the story to accomplish the same thing and this new element just kind of annoys me. do take this with a pinch of salt though because I don’t like most third act conflicts I read.

Overall, I would highly recommend A Taste of Gold and Iron! Particularly if you are looking for a heartfelt fantasy romance full of tenderness and yearning.

I enjoyed this sweeping fantasy book. Well written, with a great plot and great characters. I enjoyed this book.