It’s hard to know where to start with the characters. Let me take this one in steps because I have plenty of notes made about it, and grouping those under headings seems to be a sensible way to go about things. Is it a political fantasy or is it a fantasy romance? Does it strike a serious tone or is it more humorous? In the end, what it seems is less a well-constructed novel and more a series of tropes tied together with string. I couldn’t recommend it more.A Taste of Gold and Iron is a compulsive read, yet also a book that seems to struggle to find a balance between what it wants to be. I couldn’t have been happier to receive this eARC from Pan Macmillan and I’m so grateful to have read it. It has painfully accurate anxiety rep that I’m so grateful to see on the page, and the sense of patience, support and encouragement that only grew throughout warmed my heart to no end. Queer characters are at the forefront here, in a world that includes non-binary identities among others from the outset, with in-world words for describing them. This slow burn romance is executed to perfection, and the book at large handles ideas of consent, propriety and reciprocity throughout, with the political plot line taking a backseat to the formation and evolution of relationships - relationships that invite characters out of their shells, encourage growth and communication, and involve such care and love and loyalty that I’ve hardly recovered from how beautiful it is. We alternate between a prince who’s made a mistake and his newly appointed bodyguard that hates him for it, and follow their achingly romantic journey of understanding and forgiveness, of duty and love. And the characters themselves… I can’t begin to describe how incredible the work is here. The regal and commonplace clothes alike, the foods from different regions, the palace, city and the wider world, the customs and roles of characters. There was certainly a lot to get accustomed to but it’s exquisitely described, and before long I was picturing it all with ease. The world building is just exceptional here and - hefty though this novel is - I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface of the potential in this world.

That’s what we should be striving for at a time when people need it most. And that, to me, is what fantasy can and should be doing too. It’s relentless and disheartening and makes me think of a line from a musical I love, where a dreamer is described as being able to “make you see what the world could be in spite of the way that it is”. If you’re in any kind of online space you no doubt see the backlash to just about everything, and it feels like it’s everywhere I turn lately. It astonishes me when people greet attempts at inclusion in the fantasy genre with some kind of outrage or argument about logic.

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