A Taste of Gold and Iron

Dropped at 35%

Like many reviewers, it wasn't the writing necessarily but the characterizations and lack of world building. This book just didn't seem planned out well. We're dropped into this somewhat-Middle Eastern type kingdom where gender and sexuality is a non-issue, there's elemental magic, and women always hold the highest offices. Sounds great, tell me more. Well, instead, we follow whingey, useless Prince Kadou around while he tries to keep a relationship he doesn't even want with one of his now-fired guard (who is annoying as all get out) while his new guard tries to ignore his own boner for Kadou. And that's all that happens for the first quarter of the book.

This was pretty fun. 3.5 to 4 upon 5. I really enjoyed the first half where it felt like a lot of tropes were being subverted and expectations turned on their heads. I liked learning about the world this was set in, the country seeming to be influenced by Middle Eastern culture. I liked how we had a proper problem at the center of it all that was intricately linked to the economics of the place, and Kadou our protagonist having an exceptional talent for touch-tasting metals as well as knowing a lot about economics. I even liked how the romance began as a slow burn.

I did however feel like the second half was somewhat weaker than the first. Certain tropes started coming in, and then I thought the romantic moments were eclipsing and taking precedence over plot development. The set-up for the underlying political conspiracy was such a huge deal in the first half, but the resolution fell rather flat and seemed resolved almost a bit too quickly in favour of having more limelight on the romance. Some parts felt a bit too draggy while other parts felt a bit too quick. It also felt like development for some other side characters were also very much stunted for the sake of the romance. In particular, I was interested to see how Tadek would fit into the dynamic because I had him pinned as a villain from the start, but then I was pleasantly surprised in Ch 5 when he showed enough genuine attachment to Kadou to acknowledge his part in the hunting incident. By the end, it felt like Tadek got reduced to being a sort of jester-like campy sidekick whose purpose was solely for some comic relief, which seems like such a far cry from the depth of potential he had at the start.

Nevertheless though I did really enjoy this book overall and I was pretty engaged with the romance and the dynamics between the two, and I'd generally recommend this to just about anyone looking for a m/m romantasy. The fantasy element in this one is very light though, with Kadou's touch-tasting abilities being the only hint of magic here and even that only comes into the story very rarely.