This was, overall, meandering and extremely slow to go absolutely nowhere. Lots of digressions on random topics that didn’t serve to improve the characters, my understanding of them, their relationships, or even the world. They were just random info dumps. Sexual tension overload! One of my favorite reads of the year."—Katee Robert, USA Today and New York Times bestselling author The plot was absolute dogshit. No other way to put it. The abysmally weak and dumb villains made me want to smash my head against a wall. Some reviewer commented on how the economics and politics part of the plot was delightful to read. Did we read the same book?? Have they read The Traitor Baru Cormorant?? There was zero, none, filch political intrigue in A Taste of Gold and Iron. Also, the fantasy aspect was lame af. There was terrible world-building, no explanation or depth to the touch-tasting metal powers. The fantasy element was more of a part of the setting than the plot.

Lastly The ending! The incredulous, perfidious, scandalous ending! You played me. You gave me hope, then broke my heart and trampled on over my heart...You unfaithful, cruel Ending! Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Librarians Group is the official group for requesting additions or updates to the catalog, including: I challenge everyone to read this and not want them to be happy. The yearning, the soft, gentle caresses, the stolen secret moments of intimacy. There are moments dedicated to the feeling of brushing the hair of the person you love, of delicately grazing hands, of every fibre of your soul screaming as you pull away from the person you really want to devour. The wait was so worth it. I wish the ending was longer and would have loved an epilogue. As someone who hates long books, that should tell you a lot about A Taste of Gold and Iron. Give me more!This also ruined action scenes - what should have been a tense fight scene got dragged into some distant-feeling academic process of fighting forms. He’d confided his fears to Tadek—another of the kahyalar, who he had known for some time, and who he had once been … close to. Tadek, who was so easy to talk to, even about matters Kadou barely dared to whisper aloud to anyone else. A sweeping fantasy romance inspired by the Ottoman Empire, A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland is perfect for fans of A Marvellous Light and The Goblin Emperor. He rolled his eyes at her, and let her see it too, and she grinned. It was better out here, away from the palace and the court—easier to pretend they were both still children or adolescents, just the prince and the crown princess, with very few concerns beyond tutors and scholars harrying them at every moment, kahyalar fluttering nervously around them while Zeliha announced some new adventure and dragged Kadou along after her.

Truly, though,” she said, “I can’t imagine having a baby without six kahyalar to help. And even then, they always disappear just at the wrong moment. Can you take her? My arms are about to fall off. She’s deceptively heavy.” 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. But the ending — all I can say, to avoid spoilers, is that I found it a very strange point at which to stop telling the story. Especially since a decision had just been made that didn't make sense to me. I needed either more info about why it was the right choice, or more story to follow it — or, ideally, both. It was just... weird. It helped convince me this was a 4-star read, rather than 4.5 or 5. Witty, clever, and often extremely funny, Rowland’s tale of a prince who doesn’t want power but has it anyway—and must survive all the risks that brings with it— somehow manages to be both soft and hard-edged, clever and kind. And sexy! Very much that too.”—Jenn Lyons, author of The Ruin of KingsOkay, I am going to be serious now. The ending was good. But it seemed rushed to me. The author wrote a big book, teased us with such a foreplay like environmental, blessed us with an epic romance. Compared to all of these, the ending was rather underwhelming. They didn't even go all the way...physically I mean (cough cough). So, yeah, this lovely couple deserved a better ending. Hell! I deserved to a cuter ending. I thought we would get to see lots of romantic scenes once the political situation was put to rest. But we got nothing. Absolutely nothing. I'm disappointed. I really hope that the author will write a sequel. The romance part is rather uncompelling, the plotting really stupid and shallow - calling this fanfic is probably insulting to fanfic a In truth, this book is just one more forgettable gay romance in the sea of forgettable gay romances that make up the Tor frontlist. The writing is cringey, the romance is meh, and the world is empty of any real vitality. All of it is in service to this idea that if you just write a book like it’s a fanfic, people will automatically love it. Tordotcom Publishing is thrilled to announce that Ruoxi Chen has acquired Alexandra Rowland’s A Taste of Gold and Iron, a historical fantasy novel pitched as The Goblin Emperor meets Magnificent Century. The two-book deal, for World English rights, was brokered by Britt Siess, formerly at Martin Literary, now at Britt Siess Creative Management. Someone had seen him talking to Tadek at the Visit. How could he explain? Was there any explanation that would be sufficient?