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A review by beforeviolets
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
emotional
funny
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? Yes
4.5
Thank you so much to TOR for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Firstly, let me apologize. I know y'all usually get really detailed and critical and articulate reviews from me. This is not going to be one of them.
Let me begin by giving you the AO3-style tags that this book was announced with:
- exquisitely beautiful prince/hot stoic bodyguard
- chronic anxiety
- oaths of fealty
-washing each other’s hair and talking about ethics
- found family
- what we owe each other
- enemies-to-lovers
- kissing to avert suspicion
- hurt/comfort
- slow burn
- there’s only one bed
yeah. YEAH. And I can not emphasize ENOUGH how well this book delivered on these tags.
Okay so essentially I'm obsessed, I'm in love, I'm unhinged, feral, off-the-walls with passion for this book and I can't create intelligible thoughts about it. So... here's my attempt at reviewing it:
The romance? 10/10. Tension??? 100/10. The angst!!!! 1000/10. THE UNDYING LOYALTY TO A POINT OF NEAR SELF-DESTRUCTION BECAUSE THEY CHERISH EACH OTHER SO MUCH? Breaks. The. Scales.
The characters are SO lovable. We have our anxiety-ridden prince who’s secretly a badass and our late-bloomer stoic bodyguard who’s internally a little high-strung. (Also the prince is the only one that can read the bodyguard’s emotions???) Yes PLEASE. Their romance is beyond-words-amazing. Genuinely one of the best romances I have EVER read. The way that other people love Delilah Green is the way I love this book.
The banter is just exquisite!! I found myself having to put the book down so often just because I couldn’t stop laughing. And I don't just mean a giggle here and there. I was full-belly laughing repeatedly throughout the book. The side characters are such a staple part of the story’s tone and often add so much lovely and well-earned humor. (Especially Tadek, who though he started the book off on a bad foot, became my favorite character by the end of it. He reminded me of Taako from TAZ or Tal from The Unspoken Name in his character type, and y'all know I always love those characters.)
When I first saw the tags listed above, I was most excited about the "kissing to avert suspicion” - and don’t get me wrong, it was everything I could’ve hoped for and more - but I was surprisingly taken in by the "oaths of fealty" and the “what we owe each other” conversations. These were fairly new tropes to me, but they really cut straight to my heart. Some of these moments had me in literal tears.
Quick little break from the rambling to air my grievances (aka the 3 reasons that this isn’t QUITE a five star read): :
1. Despite the fantasy world and the constant made-up words, the ruler of the land was called the “sultan” which gave me an ick, considering its a word specifically used for Arab countries. It made it feel bordering on appropriative and it just easily could’ve been a different word.
2. The political plot was mostly shit. I would say it was predictable, but that genuinely feels like an understatement. But the romance plot line was so good it kind of didn’t matter.
3. The ending felt cut just a little short. There was soooo much buildup and it left me hanging just a bit. Like things are resolved? But i would’ve killed for one more chapter or an epilogue. After the impeccably long slow-burn, it just felt a little too rushed.
Despite its flaws, this is certainly a book to love. The characters and their romance really just take center-stage and the rest of the plot just becomes a blur in comparison. And does a plot REALLY matter when you have a god-tier romance? I literally fell asleep last night just replaying my favorite scenes over and over again in my head.
If I haven’t convinced you yet, let me leave you with some quotes:
"If you have power over me here and now, it’s because I want you to have it. I’ll give that to you, and anything you ask for. I’ll give it gladly. Command it of me and it’s yours.”
"It was an exceptionally clear night, and the starlight was silvery on his dark hair, and the candlelight made his skin glow warm, and his eyes were bright and unafraid for the first time in days, and then he smiled like the sudden rise of the king-tide, and he was the most beautiful thing Evemer had seen in all his life, and probably the most beautiful thing he’d ever see.”
"How could he deserve this? How could he ever possibly hope to repay this kind of loyalty? He hadn’t earned this. He would never be good or strong or devoted enough to have earned this. This was beyond anything that Evemer would have expected from his liege—from any liege, even a perfect one from legend. It was too much.
“I’m not worth this,” he whispered.
“You’re worth it,” Kadou whispered back, simply.”
CW: violence, murder, mental health, panic attacks, death, injury detail, drugging, blood, sexual content, childbirth (mention)
Firstly, let me apologize. I know y'all usually get really detailed and critical and articulate reviews from me. This is not going to be one of them.
Let me begin by giving you the AO3-style tags that this book was announced with:
- exquisitely beautiful prince/hot stoic bodyguard
- chronic anxiety
- oaths of fealty
-washing each other’s hair and talking about ethics
- found family
- what we owe each other
- enemies-to-lovers
- kissing to avert suspicion
- hurt/comfort
- slow burn
- there’s only one bed
yeah. YEAH. And I can not emphasize ENOUGH how well this book delivered on these tags.
Okay so essentially I'm obsessed, I'm in love, I'm unhinged, feral, off-the-walls with passion for this book and I can't create intelligible thoughts about it. So... here's my attempt at reviewing it:
The romance? 10/10. Tension??? 100/10. The angst!!!! 1000/10. THE UNDYING LOYALTY TO A POINT OF NEAR SELF-DESTRUCTION BECAUSE THEY CHERISH EACH OTHER SO MUCH? Breaks. The. Scales.
The characters are SO lovable. We have our anxiety-ridden prince who’s secretly a badass and our late-bloomer stoic bodyguard who’s internally a little high-strung. (Also the prince is the only one that can read the bodyguard’s emotions???) Yes PLEASE. Their romance is beyond-words-amazing. Genuinely one of the best romances I have EVER read. The way that other people love Delilah Green is the way I love this book.
The banter is just exquisite!! I found myself having to put the book down so often just because I couldn’t stop laughing. And I don't just mean a giggle here and there. I was full-belly laughing repeatedly throughout the book. The side characters are such a staple part of the story’s tone and often add so much lovely and well-earned humor. (Especially Tadek, who though he started the book off on a bad foot, became my favorite character by the end of it. He reminded me of Taako from TAZ or Tal from The Unspoken Name in his character type, and y'all know I always love those characters.)
When I first saw the tags listed above, I was most excited about the "kissing to avert suspicion” - and don’t get me wrong, it was everything I could’ve hoped for and more - but I was surprisingly taken in by the "oaths of fealty" and the “what we owe each other” conversations. These were fairly new tropes to me, but they really cut straight to my heart. Some of these moments had me in literal tears.
Quick little break from the rambling to air my grievances (aka the 3 reasons that this isn’t QUITE a five star read): :
1. Despite the fantasy world and the constant made-up words, the ruler of the land was called the “sultan” which gave me an ick, considering its a word specifically used for Arab countries. It made it feel bordering on appropriative and it just easily could’ve been a different word.
2. The political plot was mostly shit. I would say it was predictable, but that genuinely feels like an understatement. But the romance plot line was so good it kind of didn’t matter.
3. The ending felt cut just a little short. There was soooo much buildup and it left me hanging just a bit. Like things are resolved? But i would’ve killed for one more chapter or an epilogue. After the impeccably long slow-burn, it just felt a little too rushed.
Despite its flaws, this is certainly a book to love. The characters and their romance really just take center-stage and the rest of the plot just becomes a blur in comparison. And does a plot REALLY matter when you have a god-tier romance? I literally fell asleep last night just replaying my favorite scenes over and over again in my head.
If I haven’t convinced you yet, let me leave you with some quotes:
"If you have power over me here and now, it’s because I want you to have it. I’ll give that to you, and anything you ask for. I’ll give it gladly. Command it of me and it’s yours.”
"It was an exceptionally clear night, and the starlight was silvery on his dark hair, and the candlelight made his skin glow warm, and his eyes were bright and unafraid for the first time in days, and then he smiled like the sudden rise of the king-tide, and he was the most beautiful thing Evemer had seen in all his life, and probably the most beautiful thing he’d ever see.”
"How could he deserve this? How could he ever possibly hope to repay this kind of loyalty? He hadn’t earned this. He would never be good or strong or devoted enough to have earned this. This was beyond anything that Evemer would have expected from his liege—from any liege, even a perfect one from legend. It was too much.
“I’m not worth this,” he whispered.
“You’re worth it,” Kadou whispered back, simply.”
CW: violence, murder, mental health, panic attacks, death, injury detail, drugging, blood, sexual content, childbirth (mention)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail