a taste of gold and iron alexandra rowland

While the world-building was wonderful, I must admire the author’s efforts for a different reason. If you’re looking for prose that makes you see things so clearly in your mind, that lifts scents and images from the page, let me introduce – A Taste of Gold and Iron. Everything about this novel was so vivid. The world was excellently crafted, and I could easily picture the architecture, the streets, markets and alleys, the beautiful and intricate court, the statues, and the unburdening temples. Seliha was the queen I was hoping for, and everyone would have been doomed if it weren’t for Eozena’s cunning political movements. I adored how the women of the novel – primarily Eozena and Seliha – wielded their power without hesitation. The idea that ‘body-fathers’ only had claim over their children if women chose to grant them that power was so intriguing. I loved the concept of same sex arranged marriage, and how casually those elements were introduced. This made the political world-building so interesting. I loved the seamless use of different pronouns, and the normalisation of sexual and gender fluidity.

I will never get tired of reading fantasy stories that are void of any queerphobia, and all the nasty aspects of our own world. There are so many elements I could praise, but the most important part of this story is how queerness is normalised. Sometimes a book can feel like it was written for you, and I felt that every single time I sat down to return to this astonishing world. This book has everything that I love about stories. Now that I am an adult, I prefer to read about people my own age, and it fills me with so much joy to see novels like A Taste of Gold and Iron being published. I grew up reading all the big YA fantasies and was disappointed every single time I didn’t see myself represented in the stories. Queer fantasies will forever hold a special place in my heart.

A taste of gold and iron alexandra rowland