A Taste of Gold and Iron - Alexandra Rowland

Title: A Taste of Gold and Iron

Author: Alexandra Rowland

Publisher: Tor, 2022 (Hardcover)

Length: 500 pages

Genre: Adult; Fantasy

Started: September 3, 2022

Finished: September 5, 2022

Summary:

From the inside cover:

Kadou, the shy prince of Arast, 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 that results in his humiliation. 

To prove his loyalty to the queen, his sister, Kadou takes responsibility for the investigation of a break-in at one of their guilds, with the help of his newly appointed bodyguard, the coldly handsome Evemer, who seems to tolerate him at best. In Arast, where princes can touch-taste precious metals with their fingers and myth runs side by side with history, counterfeiting is heresy, and the conspiracy they discover could cripple the kingdom's financial standing and bring about its ruin. 

Review:

I heard a lot of good things about this book and pre-ordered it months ago. It was so good that I got through half of it in one sitting by staying up until 3am and would've kept right on reading but forced myself to get some semblance of decent sleep. 

A Taste of Gold and Iron takes place in a fantasy world reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire (but with a stronger matriarchal influence) where certain people are able to "touch-taste" metals and know their composition and where they originated from just from touch alone. Prince Kadou (pronounced just like the French "cadeau") has just become an uncle, and he couldn't be happier; not just because the sultan"s (his sister's) child is beautiful, but because her birth places him farther down the line of succession to the throne the anxious prince does not want. When his missteps with the sultan's lover inadvertently lead to insult and several deaths, Kadou must atone by uncovering the mystery behind recent counterfeiting and a break-in, which he suspects are connected. He is appointed a new bodyguard, Evemer, who immediately dislikes the prince due to the deaths he was responsible for, and begrudges his new position serving someone so careless, flighty and negligent. 

Some people have criticized this novel saying it contains fanfiction tropes, but in my opinion not all fanfiction writing is inherently bad, and though there are indeed tropes, they're crafted exceptionally well and fits seamlessly into the story. This is definitely more of a book focused on character development and the relationship between Kadou and Evemer as opposed to a more plot-driven story, so if you enjoy those types of stories, this book is for you. 

The relationship between Kadou and Evemer is one of the better definitions of a slow-burn romance I've seen recently: Evemer needs to discover Kadou's true nature and be less judgemental, and Kadou needs to let himself want things at all. The romance is handled incredibly well and doesn't feel rushed or too slow at times. 

Aside from Kadou and Evemer, the secondary characters are great and add a lot of comic relief. Tadek had me laughing at all of his lines, Melek is adorable, and Tenzin, the truth-telling witch introduced towards the end of the story has probably one of the funniest lines in the whole book. 

I love the diversity of this novel. The world resembles the Ottoman Empire, so everything from the food to the clothes is respective to that area of the world. The level of detail the author goes into with just the clothing alone was beautiful (it made me jealous of Kadou's wardrobe). Gender is well-represented here, with non-binary characters existing with unique pronouns, and the fact that Zeliha is sultan at all and with the different levels of fatherhood described, it was welcome change from your typical fantasy. Also, Kadou's anxiety and panic attacks are handled sensitively and well, so that was appreciated too. 

Recommendation:

If you're in the mood for a well-written fantasy set in a unique world with some good, well-written fanfiction nods, pick this one up. 

Thoughts on the cover:

So. Freaking. Gorgeous. The cover artist deserves an award for this one, it's so, so pretty. 
 

Babel - R.F. Kuang

Title: Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

Author: R.F. Kuang

Publisher: Harper Voyager, 2022 (Hardcover)

Length: 525 pages

Genre: Adult; Fantasy/Historical Fiction

Started: August 26, 2022

Finished: September 2, 2022

Summary:

From the inside cover:

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he'll enroll in Oxford University's prestigious Royal Institute of Translation - also known as Babel. 

Babel is the world's center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel's research in foreign languages serves the Empire's quest to colonize everything it encounters. 

Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide: Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?

Babel - a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal response to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance and the use of translation as a tool of empire. 

Review:

This has been one of my most anticipated reads for 2022, and I was super excited to discover that my monthly book subscription box (Illumicrate) had chosen Babel for the August box (yay for pretty special editions, pictures below). Full disclosure, I did not adore the author's previous trilogy, The Poppy War, but I was a literature and languages student in university and had to take courses in the study of translation, so this book's premise was right up my alley. I know readers who aren't language geeks like me might find this book dull, but for those of you who are up for a challenge, you're in for a treat. 

As the sole survivor in his family after cholera sweeps through his dockside neighbourhood in Canton, Robin is given a choice by Professor Lovell: stay in Canton and live a life of poverty, or come to England to study. The professor's investment pays off over several years: Robin hones his already promising academic skills and becomes fluent in Latin and Greek in addition to his pre-existing Mandarin, Cantonese, and English, and is admitted to Babel for their four-year program of study. He meets the other students in his cohort who would otherwise never be allowed to study at Oxford if not for Babel: Ramy, a Muslim man from India, Victoire, a black woman born in Haiti and raised in France, and Letty, a white British woman. 

While Robin is delighted at the heaven that is Babel for a scholar like himself, he can't help but question the way he and his classmates are treated, and how unjust Britain's use of silver is towards the countries it colonizes. When he discovers the existence of the Hermes Society, he is invited to help upset the natural order of the colonial system and try to make things better for the homelands he and his classmates were torn from. 

This is a sprawling novel, covering years and a lot of detail, but the author works her magic and draws readers right in with Robin's story. The setting is both familiar and not, early Victorian England during the Industrial Revolution but a version of England that uses silver inlaid with words that in turn perform magic. The magic system was incredibly unique and fits in well with the context of the novel since only those fluent in multiple languages and who understand the intricacies of translation can make the silver work. There's so many passages where the characters go into the linguistic background of certain words and the nuance of them that it made my little nerdy heart sing. 

I love how the author gives a painfully honest analysis of the academic environment once the story pivots to Oxford: feeling that deep love for learning, but eventually becoming disillusioned due to dealing with the racism and sexism that is inherent in a lot of institutions. The author manages to call out traditional academic institutions as tools of colonialism, and how language and translation isn't usually studied for pure pursuit of knowledge, but for how knowing that language can further the expansion of the Empire. The main quote tagged in this book, "An act of translation is always an act of betrayal" is both a reference to this theme and also a common thought in the study of translation where no translation is perfect because the words simply don't exist to convey certain thoughts in some languages, and never quite does the original justice. 

Each of the four main characters are incredibly well developed and have distinct personalities that evolve over the course of the novel. Though readers see things mainly through Robin's point of view, the third person narration doesn't exclude the other three, and there are interludes from each of their perspectives (one for each) sprinkled throughout the narrative to fill in the gaps. 

This book is part of the dark academia genre, so the story is quite heavy and the ending isn't happy, so consider this fair warning. It will force you to have some uncomfortable conversations in your head about the themes presented, and though I very much enjoyed the book it definitely left me in a bit of a haze after reading. 

Recommendation:

For anyone with an appreciation for languages, or those wanting a no-holds barred criticism of colonialism and academia in general, you've got to read this. 

Thoughts on the cover:

The standard cover is lovely, I love the black and white with the gold accents. Pictures of my Illumicrate special edition copy with the slipcase are below. I love the inclusion of the original cover art on the slipcase and the silver accents.