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

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. I received an ARC from Edelweiss+ and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. ** 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.

This also ruined action scenes - what should have been a tense fight scene got dragged into some distant-feeling academic process of fighting forms.

A delicious tangle of romance, fealty, and dangerous politics.”—Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne 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. 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.” 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. This book is a bit of a mixed bag, and I find myself in a state of ambivalence. On one hand, it had many of the elements that typically draw me into a story, but on the other hand, it didn't quite capture my heart. It's safe to say that I was, in a way, captivated by it, especially as I raced through the last part with a determined fervor. However, the initial section of the book was a bit sluggish in its development.

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This should have been a great fit for me - fantasy world with political intrigue, and a queer central romance? Perfection. Tor had a really, profoundly successful run of interesting and boundary-pushing queer titles a few years ago, so it’s really a shame to see them hoovering up all of these bloodless, middling stories. 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 best. In Arasht, where princes can touch-taste precious metals with their fingers and myth runs side by side with history, counterfeiting is heresy, and the conspiracy they discover could cripple the kingdom’s financial standing and bring about its ruin. 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. 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.

I saw somewhere this book compared to the goblin emperor and I can definitely see that - I think if you enoyed that you will really love this. They have the same overall calm and comforting vibe (despite some heavy themes) while still having a intriguing political mystery at the heart of things. Drama, intense politics, and sexual tension . . . . Witty . . . While it is a romantic fantasy novel, it’s also a political thriller, heist, and family saga at once. More importantly, as with any good romantic novel, I was shaking the book asking when the characters would kiss already. It was well worth the wait when they finally did.”— LocusAuthors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide. 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. 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. 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.