At the beginning of this story I found it a little hard to fully follow, like most fantasy stories, but I think there was especially a lot of vernacular to familiarize yourself with in this story. I loved the writing style in this story, though, and I also really, really liked the characters. And once I familiarized myself with the world/got up to speed, I was thoroughly immersed in this story. Overall, it was really good and I highly recommend you check this out when it's released--especially if you are a fan of fantasy romance!

Thank you Tordotcom for this arc!!

This novel took of IMMEDIATELY. I was absorbed in the pages from the first. Kadou is absolutely too precious for words. Evemer, his guard, is also quickly introduced and I devoured these 480 pages HUNGRILY. Kadou, the Prince, is one among his people who can touch-taste metal. He discovers fake currency and possibly a conspiracy. Who will believe him though when his fear soaked mind has caused out of hand problems his sister the Sultan wants to temporarily exile him for? The character depth and their growth in this book floored me. I was so in love with the intimacy in which these characters were written. The slow burn and pacing was perfect. Not once did I want to sit this book down, or feel disconnected.
The PROSE. Absolutely breathtaking. The way Alexandra wove words together and made hand brushing, and eye contact feel deeply intimate is a marvel.
The raw and vulnerable humanity in this book made the story and plot what it was. Alexandra made me CARE so much and characters I thought I hated, I adored so fiercely by the end.

The culture and familial themes were so atmospheric. The romance and friendships made me weak in the knees. The plot was cleverly threaded in and paired well with the character driven story. There’s non binary representation and panic attacks. There’s queer love and enough spice to satisfy. I didn’t even need it with how satisfying the characters were written. A guard and his prince. It was everything I wanted and MORE.

When I say this book is brilliant…I mean EVERY SINGLE SYLLABLE!!!!!

(Thank you so much Tordotcom for gifting me an ARC of this ABSOLUTE masterpiece. I will be putting it in a glass case ASAP.)

“You have a great well of power to draw upon should you wish it, but I have strength enough to match you. Use as much of your power as you like—you will not move me from your side.”

A Taste of Iron and Gold was an immaculate romance filled with tasteful banter and humor. It was gleaming with beautiful prose and top-tier storytelling. What an absolute TREAT.

The characters. Let’s start there. They were SO distinct and alive. Kadou, Evemer, Tadek, Eozena, Seliha, even Siranos ALL were their very own characters; not one could be mistaken for the others. Kadou was the softest prince I’ve ever met. I wanted to shield him and hug him, to enjoy his view points of coins and other interest he has. I loved his flaws and how he eventually came to embrace them, how he handled them in tough situations. Just…HIM. Evemer was absolutely amazing. Everything you would expect in a bodyguard; uptight, rigid, taciturn, obedient. It really left me wondering how in the hell he could become the princes lover but somehow Alexandra made me LOVE him. They really managed to turn such a typical character into such a UNIQUE boy whom I love 😩. Tadek? A tricky one. My buddy-read partner was settled on him being a Tamlin-esque situation and I was right there with her until out of NOWHERE, he became the most hilarious KADOU/EVEMER STAN. Instantly became a favorite after that. Something in him shifted and I found myself being absolutely obsessed with this unhinged gay.

The writing was incredible. It started off a bit dense and I was a little intimated by the start because of that. Luckily that feeling seemed to die down because the writing became less about the world and more about the romance. So if you find yourself feeling intimidated I promise it’s a fairly easy read after a few pages.

I just….This book left me speechless. I loved the romance, I loved every single chapter more than the last and just the way this book played out was PERFECT. I need so much more from this world and these characters. I am a vampire for more content. I can’t control the hunger 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩.


Also I have one question. That ending though 👀. What does it mean?!!!

Thank you @NetGalley for the ebook ARC.
Torn between a 3 and 4 out of 5 but rating 4 because my qualms aren't enough to keep me from rereading it in the future.

My initial thoughts upon finishing were that overall I enjoyed the book with some issues/difficulties around how it started and ended. The beginning was very fast and furious with not enough details to really get a strong footing. Eventually enough things took place to make me forget about the questions/issues with how it started. The ending wasn't terrible but I wasn't fully satisfied and it almost feels like it was left open for a sequel.

Thinking about it more to write the review I find myself feeling even more unfulfilled. Dont get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, and if it does turn into a series I would definitely be picking up the next book. My reasoning for being unfulfilled generally settles around the worldbuilding. There's a lot of potential here but it didnt feel fleshed out enough. There were legal (cultural?) terms hinted at around the sultans baby that never got fully explained. References to different government relationships or holdings that didn't get context. Along with gender(?) terms used without context. Hopefully by the question marks its clear there are pieces I could assume, but it's not made clear so those assumptions could be totally wrong.

I just couldn't get into the politics of this story. Court intrigue really only does it for me in certain circumstances. I should have noted all the comparisons to the Goblin Emperor, which, though an excellent book in its own right, was not one that could hold my attention. A Taste of Gold and Iron was the same - I kept getting caught up in cool details of the world (a unique, Ottoman Empire inspired society) and losing track of what was driving the characters and plot. Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but I'm also a bit tired of the incessant A03-style marketing of books. I feel like it infantilizes characters and boils down genuinely interesting and complex stories to a few flashy aspects of the central romance. I liked the romance in this story, but wasn't blown away by affection for either of the main characters, which probably also contributed to me liking the story less. As much as this story is political, it falls firmly into the camp of "fantasy romance" rather than "romantic fantasy", another genre style that doesn't much appeal to me. The one thing about this I absolutely LOVED was the thoughtful and well-portrayed depiction of Kadou's panic disorder. It is rare I see this disorder explored in fiction, much less fantasy, and I thought it was very respectfully presented.

HIGHLIGHTS
~top-tier, capital y Yearning
~there is *kneeling*
~and *hair-washing*
~dude is *not* the babydaddy
~a love, and service, out of legend

When I was a teenager and had no income of my own, upon turning the last page of a book I loved I would immediately go back to the first and start a second read. I haven’t done that in years, especially since I became a Proper Book Reviewer with ARCs to read (which come with deadlines), but – A Taste of Gold and Iron is a book I immediately want to reread.

This is a lush, sumptuous, ornate story full of desire and yearning; poignant, breathtaking, and utterly gorgeous. A Taste of Gold and Iron doesn’t just live up to its stunning cover, but actually outshines it.

(I know. Have you seen that cover?! I know. But it’s true! This book keeps all of its cover’s promises and then some!)

Kadou is a beautiful prince whose life, viewed from the outside, looks perfect. Under the surface, however, he suffers from what modern readers will immediately recognise as clinical anxiety and panic attacks, and a dread of confrontation – or accidentally doing harm – that makes him immensely sympathetic, even if he wasn’t also compassionate, honourable, and fiercely protective of his people (and he very much is). He considers his anxiety to be cowardice – which is a believable but incredibly sad interpretation in a setting that lacks our modern understanding of mental health – but he’s got to be one of the bravest characters I’ve ever seen.

Evemer is one of the khaya, an elite force who serve the royal family in all kinds of capacities before, often, graduating to government posts – and Evemer is the elite of the elite. He’s a perfectionist, rigidly adhering not just to the letter of the rules but their spirit too, upright and uptight and Unamused. After the prince is involved in a devastating scandal, Evemer is assigned to Kadou – of whom he does not approve at all.

Kadou can tell. It’s not fun.

And yet…and yet, these two slowly come together, like twin stars being drawn into each other’s orbits. What starts as ashamed misery from Kadou and simmering contempt from Evemer becomes, via Rowland’s masterful literary alchemy, something impossibly rich and shining; lead into gold, and we don’t need Kadou’s touch-taste magic to tell us how it tastes.

What surprised and delighted me was how (legitimately) complicated Rowland made it, and how long it took for Evemer and Kadou to get there; this is the slowest of slow-burns, soft and lush and thick with queer yearning. Reading A Taste of Gold and Iron was a little like watching a caterpillar turn into a butterfly; an impossibly slow, yet inexorable, transformation. And knowing it’s going to happen does not make it any less marvellous – or hypnotising. Watching Evemer’s slow dissolution into flame, magma moving beneath that icy-perfect surface, discovering his own longing and desire, his capability for desire…learning the starry-eyed ideals locked away in his heart, how badly he wants a relationship of khaya to prince like those in the legends and epic poems… Or: watching Kadou reveal himself, piece by piece, layers drifting to the floor like silks…discovering for ourselves the strength he doesn’t believe he has, the strong iron core beneath the soft gold… And the two of them circling each other? Coming closer, working together, defending each other?

<As if his very heart wasn’t lashed to Kadou like a ship to the compass star.>

It sizzles, is what I’m saying here. The hair-washing scene! Good gods, I had to find a fan to cool myself down. And it’s all emotional – there’s nothing wrong with packing your book full of sex scenes if you like, but I can’t deny being more impressed by an author who manages to have a scene shimmering with intensity when absolutely nothing overtly sexual is happening. When it’s all honour and longing and being so deeply moved by another person’s gesture that you don’t know what to do with yourself.

<Kadou’s whole body was comitting treason against him now.>

Just. Wow.

<Evemer had been trying very, very hard not to think about it. He would allow himself three minutes of thinking about it later, when he was alone with a locked door and his hands firmly clenched on his knees, and then he would definitively never think of it again.>

Rowland expertly balances plot with introspection, with the result that A Taste of Gold and Iron feels like an impossible indulgence, a delicious, not-guilty-in-the-slightest secret, diving deep into their characters’ characters to languidly plumb their depths in ways that most stories seem to believe they’re not allowed to. I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who was looking for breakneck-speed action, but nor would I be willing to give up a single scene in this book as ‘unnecessary’. There’s so much that would be cut – or be impossible to reproduce – were A Taste of Gold and Iron to become a film, but this book is the embodiment of everything we want out of fanfiction – the emotion and human moments popular media rarely gives us, and that fans thus write for themselves. But there’s no need for fanfiction here (although I’ll be delighted to read any that gets written), because this book skips that part of the process entirely and just gives us all the emotion and human moments we could possibly want direct from the source – and the result is exquisite.

<You’re a godsend. Those words from Kadou that first day at the Shipbuilder’s Guild, the prince glittering on his horse, had swept through Evemer’s soul like a breath of unexpected wind and lit a glow in his heart like a single star on a cloudy night. These words now, Who else can I trust, lit him up like a dozen stars.>

I’d also like to take a moment to mention the representation, because besides none of the cast being white, as someone on the spectrum myself I read Evemer as also being somewhere on the autism spectrum – the adherence to rules, the tendency to take things literally, counting things to calm himself down, etc. It would also be easy to read him as demisexual. And then we have casual pansexual and asexual rep on-page, a handful of nonbinary characters, and Kadou’s anxiety and panic attacks, and it’s just – it all adds so much more depth to the story and these characters. And makes me, personally, so happy.

Ultimately? Rowland keeps us hooked with gorgeous prose and an immensely loveable cast of characters; with fabulous jewellery and lovingly described clothing; with personal confrontations and political intrigue; with flashes of unexpected humour and intricate, skillful worldbuilding; and with these two men, their rich inner lives, and the relationship that forms between them. There’s something to adore on every page.

4/5 stars!

This book drew me in from the start, and I loved Kadou immediately. I think the way his anxiety was written (tw: depictions of anxiety attacks) is one of the best versions I have read that I could best relate my own anxiety too.

As with many fantasy books, getting a grasp of the world in the first few chapters can be a little overwhelming, but the overall world building was enjoyable and well fleshed out. I do wish we had seen a bit of the “touch tasting” that is harkened to in the title. The bit that was did get in relation to the plot and the romance was quite cool.

The romance was a nice slow burn; I loved reading the slow change in demeanour and thought that happened on both side.

I did feel as though the end was a little drawn out in the miscommunication piece between Kadou and his lover. I wish we had seen a bit less miscommunication and a bit more of what happens when everyone finds out their true relationship.

Tadek was a great source of humour, and I love melek as well. Even the side characters felt well fleshed out and likeable (or dislikeable).

Overall, would definitely recommend this one!

This book was SO GOOD. I was absolutely enchanted by the world-building -- it felt deeply organic and also very original, not like many of the contemporary high fantasies I've read in the past 5-10 years. I also loved the way the plot advanced: part political fantasy, part character growth, part romance. It just worked SUPER well for me. And oh my goodness, the characters were so interesting and pretty much all of our central characters went through a lot of growth in compelling ways. Very much enjoyed this one; would recommend to my political fantasy lovers, as well as those looking for a fantasy world with believable lack of sexism & homophobia. Definitely will be pre-ordering and re-reading in the future.

For me, this story is a bit hard to follow. When you start a new fantasy series, there's always a lot of words and slang that you don't understand. But I felt like, with this particular book, it was just....a lot. It really took me out of the story. It was written beautifully, but I kept tripping over names and jobs and the like.

Oh hey, meet my new favorite book of the year…and maybe ever? My writing always feels the clumsiest to me when I’m trying to write a coherent review about a book that I really just want to be screaming unintelligibly about until I work through all of my emotions. I’m going to do my very best to capture everything I loved about A Taste of Gold and Iron, but it won’t hurt my feelings if instead you just picture me creaming enthusiastically at you to just read it.

At the surface, A Taste of Gold and Iron is a fantasy romance about a prince and his bodyguard. If you’re anything like me, you enjoy the romance part of any genre blend more than all of the other bits combined. For me, that sometimes means skimming through the non romance parts because I do not always find them as compelling. To say that was not the case for this book would be wildly understating it. In fact, this book took me much longer to read than it should have because I re read so many parts solely for the pleasure of experiencing those exact words presented in that exact way at precisely that part in the story again. The writing is incredibly beautiful and even the minutiae of every day life jumped off the page.

This book had some of the very best anxiety and depression rep I’ve ever read, not just from the perspective of Kadou who suffers from them, but from all of those around him taking care of him. It’s set during a time and place where the vocabulary and understanding for mental illness are not available, and yet, Kadou’s guards and friends manage to have the most caring and thoughtful conversations about it and how it informs their care of him.

And don’t even get me started on Evemer, who should be studied extensively by anyone who wants to write the most perfect buttoned up, grumpy bodyguard who ever lived. The way Rowland deploys the use of the word “highness” to mean so many things and the way they have Kadou learn to painstakingly interpret each one is magic. MAGIC.

Gold & Iron is a DELICIOUS slow burn and if it could be consumed like a meal, I know it would be one that could sustain me for years. Also, the characters. Each one is so fully and vividly developed—even the minor ones—that I never confused any of them with another. Also, the way that Kadou’s ex is written was fundamental to my enjoyment of the story. The evil ex trope is so overdone and I love to see it turned on its head so perfectly.

I could legit write a book about how much I love this book. Read it. Pre order it. Request it if you can. Ask your library to get it. Just read it. And then come scream with me about it. Special thanks to Ellen who patiently watched every single video I sent to her of me having big emotions about it. And thank you, thank you, thank you to tordotcom for the absolute privilege of having this early copy. This book is just magic. A Taste of Gold and Iron comes out 8/30.

This book has some of the best anxiety rep I've ever read (at least it's true to my personal experience with anxiety). Add in a deliciously slow-burn MM romance between a prince and his bodyguard, most excellent worldbuilding, a super inclusive cast, and an amazing story, and this is my favorite read of the year so far! A MUST READ!

Thank you, Tordotcom, for allowing me to read A Taste of Gold and Iron early!

This was my first time reading something by Alexandra Rowland, but I really enjoyed their writing and the flow of the novel. I loved the court's intrigues, the romance and investigation. Of course, my favourite part was the romance. Kadou caught my heart and did not give it back.

[omitting summary]

A Taste of Gold and Iron is a beautiful, lyrical work that lives up to its comp of The Goblin Emperor, though decidedly less lonely and more queer. Each character is complexly layered, and I was surprised and delighted to see this extend beyond the POV characters to Kadou's sister and lover as well as antagonists. You get a strong sense of each characters distinct voice and feelings- from who they are as people to what the value. This is a deeply character focused book, and while romance is important, it should not be overlooked that this is a character study as well.

The writing is graceful and quiet. It is an easy read with a gentle flow, yet it still reads like an adult book. Character internal monologues are easy to follow, and character communication is very direct and well structured. The POV switching is done very well and because each character's voice is distinct, the pacing feels very good.

This is not a book you want to try if you like a fast moving, low politics story. The politics are interwoven with the romance and character building and crucial to each. The rules of the world and society these characters live in are provided over time when needed for the plot. There are few infodumps, but many slow and seemingly inconsequential conservations that may frustrate readers not used to this style. I would liken it not just to the Goblin Emperor, but Traitor Baru as well in this sense.

A Taste of Iron and Gold is going to be a book that you pick up knowing exactly what you expect to get out of it. It's a niche title for a specific audience that will truly enjoy what this book has to offer.

The writing is mature (in the sense that it's written in a sophisticated manner) and the romance doesn't happen too fast, shut t he way I like it. I'm not a huge political intrigue fan, but for those whoa re I'm sure this hits well.

I count myself incredibly lucky to have gotten an ARC of this. A Taste of Gold and Iron is a beautiful book. I have rarely (possibly never) seen such well-handled casual queer representation or such realistic anxiety in a character. No canonically queer people die in this book, and it manages to be a book populated with many queer characters that avoids falling into any of the common queer angst narratives. I loved almost every one of these characters, and if this book had been just character-driven with no more plot than the interpersonal relationships at play here, I'd have read it and loved it for that. However, this is a full-service book and comes complete with a plot about counterfeiting that was so gripping and well-thought-out that I would probably have read the book for that alone too. (This is the more impressive side of things, because I don't tend to read for plot if I don't care about the characters.) In addition to all of these things, the writing is both so beautiful that I found myself wanting to stop and read it out loud and also so hilarious that I kept scaring my cat cackling at it.

This is one of those books that I hate to review because there are so many fantastic things that I can't decide which ones to highlight. It is absolutely superlative.

I cannot wait for this book to come out so I can grab everyone I know and shake them until they read it. Please, everybody, read this book. This is how it's done. Alexandra Rowland is a magician.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4587620049?book_show_action=false

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan – Tor/Forge for providing an eARC in exchange for a review.

In Alexandra Rowland’s A Taste of Gold and Iron, international intrigues, court conspiracies, and treason abound as Prince Kadou and his guard, Evemer, race to uncover the source of the counterfeit coins poised to damage the unimpeachable financial standing that underpins their country’s reputation. An altercation with the body father of the sultan’s new daughter leaves Prince Kadou in disgrace, out of favor with his sister the sultan, and assigned a new kahya intended to manage his behavior. Evemer, the kahya, has dedicated his life to serving the royal family and is less than impressed with the prince he sees as reckless and flighty. To earn his way back into his sister’s good graces, Kadou is determined to solve the mystery of a break-in at the ship builder’s guild that leads to an ever-wider conspiracy in the court.

I requested this ARC purely because the description compared it to The Goblin Emperor and I wasn’t disappointed on that score. Kadou is uncomfortable in his role as prince and the power dynamics it creates in all of his relationships, while simultaneously determined to live up to his responsibilities to his country and his people. His uncertainty and low self-esteem are twined with severe anxiety that he considers “cowardice” and can lead to crippling panic attacks. I loved the arc of Kadou and Evemer’s relationship – they start with Evemer making snap judgments based on rumors and with Kadou sure that Evemer’s disdain for him is entirely earned, but the gradual build of mutual respect and admiration is incredibly satisfying. They’re also both hyperaware of the ethical considerations and power dynamics of their relative positions as prince and kahya (a blend of bodyguard, adviser, and personal attendant), which adds to the tension as they slowly develop feelings for one another without creating an uncomfortable imbalance. I also enjoyed the friendships and family relationships with a well-developed cast of secondary characters, from Kadou’s other kahyas to his sister and Evemer’s mother. The story kept me engaged in a way I have struggled to do with new books lately and I wholeheartedly recommend it as an enjoyable read.

This book is probably the best book I will read this year.
Let's start with the worldbuilding. I was blown away. Everything was meticulously explained as required, the readers were given their own time to form opinions. The whole world in general is fantastic, from the women empowerment to the third gender that is treated just like the "primary" two. The absolutely queer normative world, all the people of colour who are present and have major roles. The way you can understand how every single character was clearly treated with care by the author.
Speaking of the characters - I absolutely adore how they were written. Every single bit from Kadou's anxiety to Evemer's stoicness to Tadek's refusal to believe he has emotions. I felt what they felt, each of the characters are real amd existing before me. Zeliah, Eozena, Melek... Even the villains. They are all meticulously created and maintained throughout the novel, the development is absolutely fabulous.
The romance! Absolutely gorgeous. Intimate, sweet, sexy, EVERYTHING. It was Everything. The relationship between Kadou and Evemer was an honour to see unfold, from their less than satisfactory start to soulmates, husbands, partners in everything. I adore them.
10/10 to this book, the only complaint I have is that I can't read it for the first time again.

A Taste of Gold and Iron had AO3 type content warnings and the plot was incredible! This is a fast-paced fantasy book that takes place in what’s is kind of similar to the Ottoman Empire.

Finishing this book has broken my heart. I found myself truly never wanting it to end. Its pages were filled with so much beauty that I truly am sad to leave this book behind. It surprised me in so many ways and I already know with certainty it will be in my top reads of the year.

For starters, the writing!! The prose in here was absolutely stunning and I found myself constantly pausing to reread lines because they just hit me so beautifully. Rowland puts words together so delicately that they have to be savored. I took my time reading this, It’s a slower paced book for sure (though it is also quite suspenseful and I’m not sure how Rowland managed that!!). A Taste of Gold and Iron is the perfect example of how you can write a slow paced book that isn’t boring. The whole time I was guessing what could possibly happen next and where some thread of the story was going. I loved the slow build we got and spending a lot of time with the characters in meaningful moments (something we don’t often get in fantasy).

I also intentionally read this slowly so I could spend more time with these characters. Kadou and Evemer are simply perfect characters. They come together in the most beautiful of ways, a romance that is painful and meaningful and raw. Getting both of their povs (in third person) was perfect. They both handled the situations thrown at them so differently, but also brought out the best in each other as the story went on. The side characters were great too. I especially love Tadek who I couldn’t get enough of. Melek was a great character.

The worldbuilding of this is just awesome. We kind of just get thrown into it all which I loved. There’s not a lot of explaining of terms and system customs, but Rowland writes in a way that makes picking all of that up really easy. I was fascinated by this world and I would love to see more of it, honestly. I especially liked the idea of the khayalar and their bond with the royals. It was such a cool concept to me. I know this book is a standalone and doesn’t really *need* a sequel, but I would buy a sequel to this in a heartbeat.

My only minor complaint (and it’s so minor that it didn’t bother me enough to effect my rating at all because everything else was so perfect to me) was that I would’ve liked to see a longer scene play out when finally confronting the main antagonists of the story. It felt like that ended really quickly despite all the buildup to it. But again, this is such a minor gripe, it doesn’t matter that much to me.

A Taste of Gold and Iron was quieter than I expected, but no less fascinating for it. Instead of a novel of political intrigue and underground criminal enterprises, we are treated to a narrative about what rulers and those in power owe to their country and their people, and, in turn, what their people can do for them when that faith is established.
Prince Kadou is relieved not to be second in line for the throne anymore, with the birth of his older sister's daughter, but not all of his worries are gone. Burdened with a deeply anxious mind and following a confrontation with his niece's father, he alerts his devoted group of bodyguards to keep an eye on him, leading to an unfortunate accident that results in multiple deaths. His sister, the sultan, assigns him a new bodyguard to keep him in check, Evemer, who is cold, distant, and thinks very little of the flighty and cowardly prince he's been assigned to protect. But desperate to prove himself in the eyes of his sister, Kadou continues an investigation into a shipyard break-in, dragging Evemer along with him. That simple break-in uncovers a conspiracy that threatens the life of Kadou's sister and that of the whole empire, but also peels back the defenses of both Kadou and Evemer, leaving them to question every assumption they've had about the other.
The strength of this novel lies in the romance, and it truly makes you believe it. While marketed as a romantic fantasy, it's much more swoony than magical, and it's for the better. With a tight, character-driven narrative, we get to know both our main characters intimately, with the dual POVs each showing off a distinct voice. We get to watch their evolving viewpoints of one another, from their cutting thoughts to some hilarious moments where they get distracted by each others' collarbones.
Kadou was a particular favorite. I loved him and his complexity. He suffers from what seems to be a panic disorder and obsesses constantly over his role as a prince: what he owes to his people, how one step can cause the death of his citizens or family, how one poor conversation can lead to war. Yet, despite all this, and his timidity and shyness, he's clever and sharp in turn. It leads to some great dialogue and some even better moments from Evemer's perspective, where we see Kadou's wit and intelligence change the scales of his opinion. And also get real horny about it.
And from a thematic standpoint, this is a book that proves that you can tell an ethical, intriguing story from a monarch's perspective. While the fealty is narrowed down on a narrative level to the relationship between Prince Kadou and his bodyguard Evemer, the whole relationship both royals have with their country and each individual citizen in it, even to the people of foreign lands, weighs heavily over the novel. It's excellently done and given the weight it deserves.
This was the first in a two-book deal with Rowland, and I'm desperately hoping that we'll get another book in this world from them (perhaps with Kadou's ex, the light of my life, Tadek?). Even if that's not the case, I'm really looking forward to what comes from them next.