A review by bookswithcesco
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland

5.0

A Taste of Gold and Iron was so refreshing to read. I had a lot of fun with this book. I don’t find queer fantasy books often and whenever I find one I always read the blurb. The idea of this entire story was fascinating to me and I hadn’t read a Prince/Bodyguard story before this. What I knew going into this was it was going to be the slowest of slow burns and that there was going to be maximum levels of mutual pining. It absolutely delivered and if this sounds interesting to you then I will already recommend this.

What made this book good for me were the characters. These characters have a place in my heart and I loved them from start to finish. Kadou and Evemer are just the sweetest and deserve the most.
The plot is very basic and simple to follow and understand. As much as I love a plot heavy book with a ton of story to tell I didn’t mind the simplicity of it here. Is the villain super easy to spot and the ending really predictable? Absolutely. Does that play and fault in the story? I personally didn’t think so.
The fantasy aspect for this is really interesting but very subtle. This isn’t a high fantasy by any means, you’re not going to get a ton of wolf building and amazing adventure scenes but you do get a great setting and the world building is on point for what it is. The magic here is so subtle but the idea is brilliant. I enjoy a story where I don’t have to think too hard about the magic system. The way it works here is just enough to make the plot work and explain a lot of how the politics work in the story. I would have loved to see more of the magic but it didn’t set me back at all.


Overall I adored the romance and overall story and simplicity this book has in it. The characters are amazing and although the length of this book can be overwhelming to some it is really well paced and was a joy to slowly read through.