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A review by valpyre
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
funny
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
2.25 stars rounded down
uhh i was pretty excited for this at the beginning -- a bodyguard romance!! hate that turns into love!! it all sounded fun to me, and my enthusiasm for the start of this is what gets it at least 2 stars.
i was definitely overwhelmed by the exposition at the start of the book, but i was willing to deal with its intricacies and get into the worldbuilding. unfortunately, i found the lore all over the place -- the two main deities that are revered in this world are constantly referenced, but we only got a vague story of their actual mythology close to the end, which was awkward. a lot of the worldbuilding was like that -- a mention of things and no further explanation. like this planet has two moons?? and vague mentions of rules about consummation but no clarity as to how that would actually affect a union? maybe that's supposed to be immersion, but it just left me without a foundation.
i also found kadou very inconsistent as a character, and evemer was very flat. i didn't feel that these two ever truly developed as people and the romance suffered as well because of it. once we got to around the 80% mark, i wasn't enthusiastic about this, but felt like i just needed to see it through to the end.
just not the vibe for me
uhh i was pretty excited for this at the beginning -- a bodyguard romance!! hate that turns into love!! it all sounded fun to me, and my enthusiasm for the start of this is what gets it at least 2 stars.
i was definitely overwhelmed by the exposition at the start of the book, but i was willing to deal with its intricacies and get into the worldbuilding. unfortunately, i found the lore all over the place -- the two main deities that are revered in this world are constantly referenced, but we only got a vague story of their actual mythology close to the end, which was awkward. a lot of the worldbuilding was like that -- a mention of things and no further explanation. like this planet has two moons?? and vague mentions of rules about consummation but no clarity as to how that would actually affect a union? maybe that's supposed to be immersion, but it just left me without a foundation.
i also found kadou very inconsistent as a character, and evemer was very flat. i didn't feel that these two ever truly developed as people and the romance suffered as well because of it. once we got to around the 80% mark, i wasn't enthusiastic about this, but felt like i just needed to see it through to the end.
just not the vibe for me