Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland

30 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.

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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.

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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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Violence, Sexual content, and Death of parent

purely_romantic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Death of parent

Minor: Grief

Detailed descriptions of anxiety and intrusive thoughts sometimes leading to panic attacks

20sidedbi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Blood, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Animal death

shannnne_reads_words's review

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Death

Minor: Death of parent and Vomit

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. 

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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

turtledonut's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual content and Death of parent

cait's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Classism, Alcohol, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Death, and Kidnapping

maregred's review

funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cursing

Minor: Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Violence