Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland

11 reviews

amy_in_the_city's review

adventurous emotional 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

5.0

I'll admit I struggled a bit to get into this book for the first 100 pages or so, but once I was in, I was IN. The main couple had me kicking my feet rooting for them. I loved all the characters in this book and thought they were wonderfully developed. They could have made Tadek a villain or dreadfully boring, as the romance genre tends to do with exes, but they made him so fun while still giving him depth and complexity. I like his friendship with Kadou, and I can't wait to read his book! I want to be Commander Eozena when I grow up, and Zeliha was an awesome badass ruler. 

The romance in this was such a delicious, angsty, slow burn. Evemer was so stoic and reserved, which made it all the more fun to see him fall so hard for Kadou. I appreciated the anxiety representation with Kadou and that it didn't make him any less of a badass. He still defended Evemer whenever needed, and I loved seeing a prince also defend his bodyguard. A big theme in their relationship is reciprocity, and I love when couples feel like a real partnership. 

There was enough action to keep the plot fun and exciting, but I do wish the villain wasn't so obvious from the start. Also, while this was a fantasy, the fantasy elements are used very sparingly. The ending felt a little bit rushed, and I do wish we got to see a bit more of Kadou and Evemer together as a happy couple. My overwhelming love for the romance and the characters overrides any of these quibbles though, and I know this is a book I'll come back to for rereads.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Gore

Minor: Pregnancy, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Classism, and Death of parent

cinnamonandpancakes's review

adventurous emotional fast-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

3.75

I am unsure if this book would rate higher if I'd read it as a physical book. I kept picking it up and putting it down, which I don't think helped. This book needs to be read all in one go.

I loved Kadou and Evemer, especially Evemer, and their romance. It was very sexy and compelling. And Tadek was a lot  of fun. But I found a lot of the other characters less interesting. Siranos, in particular, seemed to change personality depending on what the narrative needed him to be and that made his plotline quite unsatisfying in my opinion.

The world building was amazing, however, and I loved the focus on material culture. It felt very much like a world that people lived in.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Drug use

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Death

keresian's review

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

5.0

Okay listen - LISTEN. I stayed up til 2am to finish this. I was hooked. There's so much simmering behind the scenes with world building. The plot is phenomenal. The brilliant way Rowland has woven in gender and sexuality, love and familial bond. I love this book and this world - this is a tough one to beat for favourite of the year.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Violence, Sexual content, and Death of parent

ceruleanseas's review

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use

Minor: Grief

discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious slow-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

3.25

This was a beautiful story. I have such a soft spot for serious, measured, bodyguard-type love interests. And I’m not someone who suffers from panic attacks, but I thought the depictions of Kadou’s anxiety disorder were handled well. 

This is entirely personal preference, but I would’ve liked if the pacing of the romance was a bit quicker. I understand it’s a slow burn, but this was a SLOOWWWWW burn, lol. Again, totally personal preference. It was still a joy to read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Confinement, Drug use, and Kidnapping

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

I love the anxiety rep & the gender and sexuality rep. Cuuuuteeee relationship. Decent plot. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Murder, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Blood, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, War, and Pregnancy

vivavia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Kidnapping, Chronic illness, Classism, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual content, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

wilybooklover's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

5.0

A stunning fantasy romance. In this story we see stoic, principled Evemer assigned as bodyguard to the anxious Prince Kadou. They soon uncover a conspiracy plot at the behest of Kadou’s Sultan sister, Zeliha (not a particular convoluted mystery, but entertaining nonetheless) and in the process fall in love with each other. 

The romance was the main plot and it was sooo good. I’m a sucker for a slowburn idiots to lovers and it was executed so perfectly here. These two were so gone for each other. If you like some good mutual pining, this is the book for you. 

The worldbuilding was lush and vivid, reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire and full of politics. The secondary characters were fun and realistically flawed and diverse. This is a queernorm world and it was delightful to read how casually queer everyone was. Despite some moments of peril, the whole story felt cosy and soft.

This book also somehow made economics interesting to me and that is talent. 

I have no idea if there’s a sequel in the works but I would definitely like to read stories about Tadek and Zeliha. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Bullying, Murder, Blood, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, and Drug use

smasson13's review

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It wasn't bad. But it wasn't good either. 

This story felt like a hundred threads being picked up at the authors convinience. As though nothing was quite fully explained, drawn out, or developed. 

A few things that I struggled with (potential spoilers head): 

1. What was the world building in this?? Did I miss a map that should have been there? Why was nothing ever explained? 

I'm still so confused about why they had weird powers in their world at all, none of that seemed to be helpful really. And because it wasn't developed well, the cute part with their door hinge bracelets just felt randomly added?? 

2. Lack of character development. Ooofff. This was rough. I felt like I didn't know anything about these characters, no deep back story, no emption, no depth. Like there was what, 2 sentences?? between Evermer and his mother? Even Melek got like stabbed and kidnapped but I know nothing about their character?

3. This plot was all over the place. The first 250 pages was slow! Then we had a good 100 page chunk that was interesting as they investigated. But the moment Evermer and Kadou hooked up, the plot magically got wrapped up with barely any effort or difficulty. Like just send the horse and capture the criminals, have a trial and be done. All within a few pages. Do we even know their sentence?? 

4. Sudden powerful and angry kink? What? 

I read it all, will not reread, but I did manage to get through it? 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use, Cursing, and Death of parent

ninjamuse's review

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcohol, Murder, and Drug use

Minor: Suicidal thoughts