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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
A fun and easy read! The romance was a true SLOW burn but I loved their love and the side characters were amazing!
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
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
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
The back half of this book was 1 million stars but the beginning was so slow and boring I couldn’t rate it higher than a 3.5. The plot was so mid to me and I didn’t care about any of the politics. But the romance??? Oh I ate it up. It was a SLLLLOWWWWW burn. The banter, tension, and yearning was amazing. The yearning was so good I wanted to be catapulted into the sun. I honestly wish the conflict with their relationship was the main point of the book but the relationship took a backseat to the plot for soooo long. I don’t mind the romance being secondary to the plot when I’m engaged in the plot too, but with this one, I really was only invested in the romance and it took way too long to satisfy me.
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
Even a day by his side is worth a lifetime of misery.
★
Be forewarned that this is going to be a bit of a long, ranty review because dear god this was terrible. Thoughtless, shallow, and tone deaf - A Taste of Gold and Iron is contender for one of the worst books I've read in a while. Let me start off by saying that I did not go into this expecting some sort of grand sweeping story. I was simply looking for a good time aka a lowkey "feel-good" fantasy-romance with a relationship I could root for and a decent plot but this failed on both fronts. Usually as soon as I feel like a book is not going to be my cup of tea I dnf it immediately but for this I decided to push through the entire thing just so I could be sure I wasn't missing out on something considering how much people loved it. Never again. That was precious time wasted that I will never be able to recover.
➺ The "plot": or lack thereof
A Taste of Gold and Iron opens with Kadou, a prince of the most opulent kingdom in this world, being "exiled" by his sister the sultan after entangling himself in a suspicious hunting accident. Meanwhile, with the assistance of a handsome
I am willing to let a lot of plot shenanigans slide because it's fantasy and a little suspension of disbelief is expected, but the amount of disbelief suspending that had to be done here was of acrobatic proportions - to the point of getting in the way of my enjoyment of the book. A Taste of Gold and Iron has literally some of the most insultingly bad political intrigue and manufactured drama I've ever read.
Take for example one scene in particular that was just so beyond ridiculous that I had to keep myself from yeeting the book then and there. During what is likely the climax of the story, Kadou and Evemer are abducted by the big bads who are about to kill Evemer. In an attempt to save him, Kadou lies and says that Evemer is in fact a nobleman and worth a lot of dough in ransom. The big bads then decide to bring in a "truth witch" to determine if our heroes are lying. Why they would go through this whole charade in the first place rather than just keep them both alive is beyond me. So anyway what do our heroes do to evade this? They get married! The villains of course just let them wander off to this little corner of the room to conspire by themselves. They proceed to whisper these wedding vows to each other and then evade the truth witch because Evemer is now a prince. And then, to make matters worse, once they are locked up in the wine cellar they spend the longest time just considering how they're going to get this marriage annulled in the future rather than idk trying to ESCAPE and NOT DIE. I get it. This is in part a lighthearted romance and we're gonna have to be served a little cheese now and then, but the book is filled with events like this.
Yet another instance that frustrated me to no end was when the royal family and some of their kahyalars (who are servants/soldiers/everything in between more on this later) are hiding out at this safehouse after an assassination attempt. *gasp* They start talking about Evemer's romantic history. This is of course the perfect time for this conversation to happen but also prime opportunity for the other characters to explicitly spell out their sexual preferences for you so that we can congratulate the author for being so inclusive because oh look! There's a
➺ The setting: devoid of life
The Araşti mercantile empire was vast and robust enough that their currency could be used nearly anywhere around the Sea of Serpents and in many places further beyond, because everyone, everywhere, knew that an Araşti coin was a coin you could trust. If a merchant in Imakami, Map Sut, Oissos, Aswijan, Mangar-Khagra, Kaskinen, or N’gaka was offered an altın, they would know exactly what its relative value was.
Name dumping =/= fantasy worldbuilding.
The particular location of this world that A Taste of Gold and Iron takes place in seems to be inspired by the Ottoman empire. The author spends a decent amount of time detailing clothes, foods, architecture and YET, how can a book filled with so many descriptions feel so...empty and lifeless? Even the most heavily emphasized worldbuilding concept, the kahyalars, were a little strange to me. They are kind of like this world's equivalent of superhuman janissaries who are capable of doing really anything from discussing philosophy and history to acting as doctors. For example, Evemer is a talented bodyguard and fighter, first in his class of cadets, but also a...hairdresser? Why would a personal bodyguard to the royal family spend any amount of time learning how to groom his majesty' luscious locks when his every waking hour should be committed to perfecting his ability to kick ass? Heaven knows Evemer needed it considering the amount of times he ended up having his own ass kicked requiring him to be saved by his prince.
We also have a matriarchal society, "body, law, love"-fathers, random lectures on economy, temples dedicated to various gods...there were just so many tiny things that felt like the author just threw them in there because oh right it's a fantasy book. What we end up with is a haphazard collection of worldbuilding tidbits that never come together to form any cohesive whole. A Taste of Gold and Iron, like so many fantasy/fantasy-romances coming out these day, is just so lacking in any sense of true magic. I'm not so much talking about literal magical elements in the setting so much as the grand sense of wonder and beauty you feel about the entire story.
➺ The characters: a circus
Sometimes, I can overlook a fantasy romance plot being nonexistent if the characters are compelling enough. Sadly, this was a story full of caricatures who were just as depthless as the abysmal plot.
It would help his nerves if he could manage a few bites, but . . . No. No, he couldn’t do it. The idea of having to spend energy on chewing was unaccountably upsetting and pushed him right to the edge of tears.
Kadou the prince, like I mentioned earlier, struggles with anxiety, panic attacks, and the tendency to catastrophize. One positive aspect of this book as many reviewers have pointed out already is actually the author's choice to depict these struggles. I especially appreciated how Kadou was never magically "cured" of these things by the end of the story. Besides this though his character is soooo frustratingly dumb and tone deaf. Kadou is viewed as a cowardly prince but really is oh so noble not only the best prince ever but ALSO a good man uwu...for doing what? The absolute bare minimum in viewing his servants as people rather than machines to attend to his every whim? Please.
Evemer wanted to close his eyes to let it wash over him, but—his lord. Oh, his lord. Evemer would look as long as he could, he’d hold the image of those deep eyes in his heart while they strung him up by his neck, or cut off his head, or tipped poison down his throat, or took him down to the harbor and tied him to a rock and pitched him overboard, or slid steel into his gut. However they thought to do it. Evemer would look and look and look, and he’d close his eyes as soon as they took him out of the room, so that he could tell Usmim that his lord was the last thing he’d seen in life.
Evemer is a brick wall and has the personality of one too. He is stoic, strict but has a soft spot for babies, his mom, and, eventually, his lord. How cute. He is a kahyalar who is given the privilege of "disobedience" at one point. How much more interesting/entertaining would it have been to have Evemer at least ONCE question the absoluteness of his prince's orders. Instead, his character development consists of him initially being annoyed with the prince to him becoming another royal fanboy, willing to sacrifice anything and everything in an instant without a thought in service to Kadou. My apologies if he actually did at some point decide to use his own brain towards the end, as that is when the audiobook had lulled me to sleep.
Kadou's sister Zeliha, an apparently brilliant sultan, comes across as incompetent most of the time. How can she for even a minute entertain the notion that Kadou (freaking KADOU who the average courtier views as "spineless" and "cowardly" and who Zeliha has been "close" to her entire life enough to know her brother's struggles) of all people has any aspirations for the throne? She then literally turns around and says later on that Kadou is the second most precious thing to her after her daughter...excuse me??? Oh wait, it's to advance the plot.
All of these characters are such clowns. With the exception of commander Eozena, who is amazing and I love her.
➺ The romance: tepid
When you pair ridiculous characters together what do you expect to get if not a romance that is twice as ridiculous.
This is supposedly "enemies to lovers" in the sense that Evemer has a vague sense of dislike for Kadou in the beginning because some of his friends died in service to the prince. You know, like they were trained to do their entire lives.
This is also supposedly "slow burn" in the sense that the two main characters stew in their feelings for more than half of the book, don't communicate with each other about them, and then decide to go from 0 to 100 in the relationship department.
I get the bodyguard romance appeal, I really do. I too am 100% here for it. But I was not personally a fan of this dynamic here. I mean Kadou is literally just like MINE about Evemer at one point. Evemer, like I said before, eventually just gets to a point in his character development where he is willing to do anything and sacrifice anything without question for HIS LORD. I think the author was aiming to make these gestures grand and romantic, but it all just comes off as weird and extreme to me.
There was a shriek of wood—Kadou had pushed his chair back from the table. He strode across the room and grabbed Zeliha by the elbow. “What are you doing? You can’t,” he said. “You can’t have him. No.” She shook him off. He grabbed her again. “Sister,” he said, an edge of desperation coming into his voice before it dropped to a whisper, “This one’s mine.”
Also, I find it a little strange that the big sex scene at the end was glossed over because the author spends so much time leading up to this à la fanfiction-style. I personally don't really care for sex scenes or whatever, but if you're going to go with the fanfiction angle why not just go all out. It all sort of smells suspiciously of big trad publishing decisions here.
All of this brings me to the question that had been brewing in the back of my mind the entire time - who is this book for exactly? The "plot" is insultingly bad to the point where I can't imagine any fantasy reader getting enjoyment out of it. If you're in it for the romance, there are also so many more either well-written or feel-good love stories out there. There's really nothing here for anyone besides possibly the anxiety rep. If you want to read a similar book about princes and bodyguards, fealty and courtly machinations, just check out Reforged by Seth Haddon because that reads like a masterpiece compared to this dumpster fire. If you want a story more light on plot and bigger on character dynamics and witty humor that still features an m/m romance then maybe pick up Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher. Am I being a bit too harsh and uncharitable? Maybe. But I am yet again in the middle of a big reading slump and am a little tired of these lifeless, middling, "safe" queer books that publishers have been putting out recently.
Kicking my feet and giggling after this book.
I won't lie, I was a little hesitant at first about this story. It's not a fast start, and Rowland takes their time with setting up the world and getting the reader acquainted with the structure of our character's life. And even though the pacing stayed fairly consistent, it's such a beautiful experience as the story goes on. Everything was written with such care and poise. I ended up just falling in love with everything about this book.
I loved the characters in this series, I loved the world, I loved the romance. Swoon.
Honestly, this might become a comfort read for me because there is just so much tenderness in this book that was totally unprepared for.
I won't lie, I was a little hesitant at first about this story. It's not a fast start, and Rowland takes their time with setting up the world and getting the reader acquainted with the structure of our character's life. And even though the pacing stayed fairly consistent, it's such a beautiful experience as the story goes on. Everything was written with such care and poise. I ended up just falling in love with everything about this book.
I loved the characters in this series, I loved the world, I loved the romance. Swoon.
Honestly, this might become a comfort read for me because there is just so much tenderness in this book that was totally unprepared for.
I finished this book at 2 am today and I'm finally emotionally stable enough to write a review. I may enter a reading slump because I simply don't think I'll ever read a book that is better than this. I loved everything about it. The main thing, of course, is the relationship which was SO amazing. Like I loved the characters separately and together like oh my gosh I would read a thousand books about them. A classic enemies to lovers with forced proximity if you will. A classic king and lionheart relationship. I'm making a playlist with them now. I'm obsessed I'm scaling the walls I'm running in circles like I can't stop thinking about this book I'm twisting it around in my mind much like a rotisserie chicken. I love this book with literally all my heart but I'm being sooooo normal about it.