Reviews

A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland

leamarie's review

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

30something_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

 Do not speak to me. I am simply a puddle of goo and therefore am unable to verbalize my enormous feelings at this time. 🫠 

archaicrobin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A Taste of Gold and Iron  is the definition of a slow burn! I usually love a good slow burn romance but the pacing was so slow at times it crawled at a snails pace! The slow pacing was really what knocked this one down for me. One moment I’d be so invested and couldn’t put the book down, and the next I’d be struggling to read 2 pages and fighting to keep reading! This one was an up and down roller coaster for me which is why it too me so long to finish.

While the pacing was a big problem for me, I generally enjoyed the rest of the book! The characters, while at first very basic, began to grow and take on their own personalities as they interacted with each other.  The characters, and they way they learned, grew, and interacted with each other are what I enjoyed most about this novel. 

I appreciated the attempt at the political side plot of the book but it never came together enough to feel like a solid plot point. This book is all about Kadou and Evemer and I kind of wished the author had leaned more into the romance and less into the counterfeit coin conspiracy mystery. 

I loved the scenes focused on Kadou and Evemer slowly falling in love and the humorous scenes with side characters like Tadek and Melek. These were my moments of joy in this novel, and the mystery felt boring in comparison. 

Overall I enjoyed this one and would recommend as long as you like slow burn fantasy romance.  

kkulmins's review against another edition

will pick up again later, it's currently too dense for me to vibe with. i'm not in the right mood

bholland's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jasilunae's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

majabwds's review against another edition

3.0

I think this book was confused as it what it was supposed to. Characters had several personality changes throughout the story, the tone of the story shifted at the 60% mark from serious, anxious and heavy to light and humorous, and the main plot of the story got resolved off page.
The cover and the summary would suggest that this is a romance book, but the romance part starts happening in the last third of the book. The romance itself was fine, nothing too spectacular. The fanfic tropes had me rolling my eyes but I guess they served the story.
This book is really hyped but I would suggest to set you expectations lower. I though I was going to read a romance not a counterfeit mystery with villains that turn out to be comic relief.
There is anxiety and panic attack rep.

jordannahamel's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked this book - didn’t love it but it wasn’t bad! It was much more slower paced then I imagined and the romance was the slowest of burns but it was overall enjoyable. I admittedly did skim the latter half because it didn’t feel like much was happening.  I feel like a lot of it was filler but I did enjoy the moments between all of the characters and the nuances of the social hierarchies and politics. 

soupwife's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

dubtek5000's review against another edition

4.0

I enjoyed this book. It was a very cute romance. The only real criticism I have is that I wanted more about the weord touch tasting magic, and I wanted to go through the part of the story where they navigated how to be together at the end. So I really just wanted about 100 more pages because I really enjoyed what I got. Highly recommend