Early review: A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
This book really hits the ground running. It introduces the main character and his complicated situation in a blazing info dump of a first chapter. It took me a while to get the hang of things, especially who was who among the cast members. (But I’m not very used to reading fantasy.)
This is one of those books that gets better and better as it goes on - the way the plot thickens and the romance develops, it was hard to put down. I really fell in love with the characters and they definitely kept me turning pages. I was surprised to discover so much humor in the book. It’s a serious tone for most of it but some of the characters are pretty funny - one in particular was especially enjoyable. It was far more character-driven than I’d expected. And the pace was surprisingly swift for such a long book.
I liked Prince Kadou from the start. He’s sweet, sensitive, dutiful, and a loving, loyal brother. He also suffers from panic attacks (which he attributes to cowardice rather than trauma), anxiety and abysmally low self-esteem. I found him very relatable and sympathetic.
I LOVED watching Kadou and Evemer’s relationship unfold. (The romance is so slow burn that it doesn’t even really begin until halfway through. AND I WASN’T EVEN MAD ABOUT IT.) The dual third person POV worked well here, allowing us to see exactly how and when Evemer’s opinion of Kadou changed. I loved how we see him go from initial disdain to confusion to gradual understanding to attachment to care to desire. Their feelings for one another were based in them getting to know each other and spending so much time together. It was the most natural progression and was very believable.
I enjoyed this universe having gender equality in their society. Women held unquestioned positions of power and there was no male primogeniture in the royal succession laws (meaning women don’t forfeit their place in the line of succession to a later-born brother). I also really liked the inclusive language - usage of non-binary pronouns (i.e. çe/çir) is common in this universe.
Much of the book focuses on the theme of trust. The plot - involving a counterfeiting scheme - revolves around the concept of trust in several ways. As Kadou explains to Evemer, the country’s economy relies on the peoples’ trust of the government to keep its promises, economic or otherwise. Trade relies on trusting one’s trade partners. The sultan and her family rely on the trust they put in their kahyalar corps (military protection). During the course of the counterfeiting investigation, Kadou and Captain Eozena come to realize that someone in a position of authority they had once trusted has betrayed them. They now have to figure out who else was involved - who they can and cannot trust. Kadou personally put Evemer through an extreme demonstration of trust. As a reader, there was one particular character who I, for the longest time, couldn’t figure out was trustworthy or not. How does one ever know for sure who they can trust? In the end, it’s usually a leap of faith. Being made to think about this was something I really enjoyed about the book.
Another theme is the importance of power dynamics in a relationship. The power imbalance inherent in Kadou and Evemer’s romantic relationship (as well as Kadou’s relationship with Tadek) didn’t sit well with me at first. However, I think that since the story clearly takes place in a society that is similar to ones that actually existed a long time ago (at least a couple hundred years before our current one, comparatively; they’ve only recently invented the printing press) I think I can forgive the lack of awareness on the part of the characters of this topic. It does feel in keeping with their time that the ethics of a romantic entanglement between a prince and his servant is not something that would necessarily be on their radar. But Kadou ends up wrestling quite a lot with the ramifications of his having so much more power than the person he’s involved with. Even in a platonic prince/servant dynamic, he acknowledges the differential and the downsides of it for the other person. These struggles only worsen as the story goes on. I can’t go into more detail without spoiling things but it was definitely interesting how this topic was handled.
A couple things I disliked: there were a few important and potentially interesting conversations between Kadou and Evemer towards the end of the book that were recounted after the fact; the reporting very much glossed over the bulk of what was said and I didn’t fully understand the choice to tell rather than show here. I also felt the book ended in a weird place. It left things feeling a little too un-wrapped up for my taste (no pun intended). It seemed like a whole chapter or epilogue was missing. It was a little disappointing. It was a full 5 star read up until (what turned out to be) the end.
Tl;dr - I loved this! Come for the plot, stay for the characters. Will definitely be getting this one for my shelf.
4.5 stars out of 5
Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for providing the digital arc.
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