Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

56 reviews

beccam22's review

5.0

This book is not what I was expecting by the pitch I’ve always been told. The marriage is not hinging on stories told by the wife and what he learns from her stories, she doesn’t tell her own story until the last chapter so why use that in marketing?

This book is about female friendship, the indescribable love of childhood friendship and the darker side of knowing someone so truly that you know every way to hurt them the most.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Self harm, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Classism, Dysphoria, Pedophilia, and Eating disorder

the two young girls mention only eating pure foods and not eating lunch but only snacks like an apple for lunch. They compare bodies in a few scenes. Azure has a step father who lusts over her more than her mother(his wife) and it is heavily implied that he imagines Azure while having sex with her mother because he can’t have her. There is also a scene where she is drugged, unconscious, naked on their bed and he is touching himself watching her while her friend takes a photo of him. Her mother is jealous of her daughter and leaves her while she is 18 but not yet graduated to be with him so the daughter can’t “tempt” him. The husband was abused as a child and his brother died but he was told he never had a brother, the mother removed photos and they gaslight him into believing he made up his brother to the point that he thinks he is the only one who remembers him so surly he must be in fairy. He is able to remember what happened to his brother but it is not explored as much as I would have liked, it was very much a side-side plot. In the end it is revealed that indigo has been azure since graduation, indigo died technically by an accident but she was plotting their suicides for years. Azure then is able to take indigos identity until her husband reveals the truth and stays with her to learn her story. Hence “indigo” being the flower bride until he is able to really learn who azure is.

speculativeshelves's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Beautiful prose, gothic storytelling, and full of fairy tale/folklore/mythology references – of course this was going to be a five star from me. While it draws on many fairy tales, this story feels like an original fairy tale of its own and I was enchanted from the start.

Roshani Chokshi creates the perfect unsettling gothic fantasy atmosphere for this story that carefully walks the line of magical wonder and horrific dread. I especially loved that the House of Dreams felt like its own character. The gothic fairytale vibes expertly work to explore themes of abuse and self-identity in fascinating ways.

This story is told in two timelines with two different POVs – the Bridegroom (whose storyline has a slight "gender-bent Bluebeard retelling" feel) and Azure (whose storyline tells the tale of obsessive friendship) – and I enjoyed them both equally. The way they wove together in the end was unexpected but perfect and I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Eating disorder and Sexual content

shubka's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Animal death, Murder, Child abuse, and Sexual harassment

karenschlesser's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Bullying

gracescanlon's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Domestic abuse, Death, Bullying, Alcohol, Child abuse, Abandonment, Infidelity, Grief, Physical abuse, Body horror, and Sexual content

Minor: Incest and Violence

callistag1's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Pedophilia

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Death

reddsb00ks's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Bullying

startjpw23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is a dark fantasy. It centers around a woman named Indigo. People are strongly attracted to her. The story is actually told in the first person by the two other main characters in the book. The first is never named. He is called the Bridegroom in the chapters he narrates. Early in the book, he and Indigo are married. The other main character, Azure, is a childhood friend of Indigo's. The Bridegroom's chapters are in the present time. Azure's chapters are set in the past. They detail Indigo's and Azure's friendship during their youth. All three main characters have a love of fairy tales. I was kept off balance by magical occurrences in the story. I often wasn't sure if an occurrence was actually magical, if it was in the imaginations of the characters, or if it was wishful thinking. This book has a lot of dark moments. I have heard that expression that a book is vibes. I think this book is partly vibes. I loved the dark atmosphere the author created. I didn't like 2 of the 3 main characters. But I always wanted to know what happened next. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a dark fantasy that kind of keeps you off balance. And pulls the reader in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Animal death

wishbea's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Classism, Physical abuse, and Gun violence

volanscore's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I enjoyed some bits of it but wholly, it was like drinking water that couldn’t quench my thirst. There are only two narrators and one (the bridegroom) has such an underdeveloped story that I felt I’d rather read without his chapters. There was so much to be explored about the state of his memories, what happened to him, his escape, but really, there was no development because the story was all about Azure so then why waste time even giving us morsels of another character’s story. The plot-twist was much more disappointing than I’d hoped for the ending. There were so much language that made Indigo seem satanic (references to horns on her head,, it’s obvious really) that I’d imagined that there would be even a small turn with dark fantasy where Indigo was actually some sort of fairy grim reaper or something like that. It really fell apart for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Abandonment and Animal death

Minor: Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Child death, and Child abuse