A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland Review

Updated: Aug 31, 2022

Title: A Taste of Gold and Iron

Author: Alexandra Rowland

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Publisher: Tor

Pages: 512

Release Date: 1 September 2022

*This post may contain affiliate links so I may earn a small commission if you purchase through the link. As a BookShop.org affiliate I earn only from qualifying purchases at no cost to you. You can read the full disclaimer here

Hello fellow book lovers, today I’m sharing my review of Alexandra Rowland’s newest book, A Taste of Gold and Iron. A detailed, historical epic that’s full of political intrigue, assassination attempts and an LGBTQ+centred, bodyguard romance that I genuinely enjoyed.

Synopsis

Kadou, the shy prince of Arasht, finds himself at odds with one of the most powerful ambassadors at court—the body-father of the queen's new child—in an altercation which results in his humiliation.

To prove his loyalty to the queen, his sister, Kadou takes responsibility for the investigation of a break-in at one of their guilds, with the help of his newly appointed bodyguard, the coldly handsome Evemer, who seems to tolerate him at best. In Arasht, where princes can touch-taste precious metals with their fingers and myth runs side by side with history, counterfeiting is heresy, and the conspiracy they discover could cripple the kingdom’s financial standing and bring about its ruin.

Review

This was a really well developed and well written LGBTQ+ romance and I loved how normalised all of the LGBTQ+ relationships and gender fluid pronouns were. It is set in a world surrounded by politics and royals but the way in which royal adjacent events such as arranged marriages were handled was really intriguing (and it’s not all cis-het marriages either.)

The world building is incredibly detailed and utterly vivid which I loved, though it is pretty light on the fantasy aspect—some characters can sense or “taste” different metals as well as rare individuals who know when people are lying; but aside from this there’s no other fantasy elements which I was a little disappointed by. As such this reads more like a political/ mystery romance than fantasy so do bare in mind if you do pick this one up.

That being said I did really enjoy it, the extraordinarily detailed world building and the deliciously slow-burn, bodyguard romance were great too.

Kadou was such an endearing character and despite trying to deal with severe anxiety and near violent panic attacks almost single-handedly;his unwavering loyalty to his friends and loved ones (even in the face of danger) made it virtually impossible not to love him. He definitely goes on journey throughout the novel but it’s a good one.

Kadou’s attempts at befriending the stoic Evermer were absolutely adorable and I enjoyed watching Evermer’s perspective (and negative opinion of Kadou) slowly thaw into an utterly swoon-worthy romance—trust me the chemistry between them is literally off the charts!

I was also swept away by how much I loved the supporting characters—specifically Eozena, Tadek and Evermer’s mum who I’d absolutely loved to see more of. The mystery behind the conspiracy and the person responsible was rather easy to guess but, there were still a few twists amid the action filled scenes I definitely didn’t see coming which I very much enjoyed.

Overall, a really fun, heartwarming LGBTQ+ bodyguard romance that political intrigue and mystery lovers are bound to enjoy.

Also, a huge thank you to Blackcrow PR and Tor books for the arc.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

About The Author

Alexandra Rowland is the author of several fantasy books, including A Conspiracy Of Truths, A Choir Of Lies, and Some by Virtue Fall, as well as a cohost of the Hugo Award nominated podcast Be the Serpent, all sternly supervised by their feline quality control manager.