Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

45 reviews

raegoetz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Beautifully written. The pacing of the story was just right and I found it difficult to put down. I will definitely be rereading this in the future to find all the little details I missed the first time around.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Sexual harassment

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, and Violence

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Child death, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Gore, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abandonment and Classism

Minor: Incest

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Sexual content

Minor: Abandonment, Terminal illness, and Pedophilia

There is implication that Azure's mom's partner has or wants to get sexual with Azure but few explicit details are given. It is mostly subtextual so those who get it get it and those who don't will probably just find the character super creepy.

salie's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Gore, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Classism, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, and Death of parent

booksbutmakeitgay's review against another edition

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

scarlett_f's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Blood, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Animal death, Grief, Gun violence, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, and Stalking

With a flower bride comes flowery language.

just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 

An adult fiction fairy tale from a beloved YA author, described as "a sumptuous, gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales." Yes, please. And bonus, I had access to the audiobook thanks to Libro.fm, which had a full cast (does it count as "full cast" if it was just two narrators, one for each POV?) narration with just the right vocal ambiance.  

 

Once upon a time...a man and a woman meet and get married. The man has researched myths and fairy tales for years, after a childhood memory (or was it a dream?) leaves him believing in the magical and unseen. The woman, Indigo, is an heiress with a dark secret, who, in exchange for her love, made the man promise to never dig into her past. Sounds like a fairy tale, no? As with all fairy tales though, secrets come out and promises are broken. After happy years together, the unnamed groom and Indigo must travel back to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, to say good-bye to the dying aunt who raised her. Within the grand and ancient halls of the House, the shadows of Indigo's past lurk, and despite his best efforts, the dying aunt, Tati, lures the groom into finding the truth of Indigo's secrets, and discovering what happened to her closest childhood friend, Azure, who disappeared suddenly and without a trace years ago. And his discoveries threaten to unravel not only the balance of their marriage, but perhaps even their lives. 

 

Phew, this was atmospheric AF. Like, everything else (characters, plot, etc.) was fine, solid. Nothing spectacular, but definitely enjoyable. But damn, Chokshi casts a spell with her words. This novel is haunting from the very first page, even before you have any idea why/how you feel that way, and it never lets up. It's darkly mysterious and vibrantly magical. It's creepy and manipulative and gaslighting undertones slowly become overtones as the reader's anticipation of the finale(s) grows. And this is only enhanced by the way that Chokshi gorgeously blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, making the reader ask over and over if there is *real* magic in this story or if it all stems from an internal hope and childlike imagination and the power that people can have over one another. The writing and way the story unfolds left me on the edge of my seat straining for a conclusion/answer to this "is it magic or not" question up until the very end and I am so impressed by the way that line was walked with such perfect literary tension.  

 

There is an incredible infusion of fairy tale references throughout, from myriad cultures and periods, and all of the darker variations and varieties. It was interesting because some references were explicit, naming stories and characters (some of which I knew and some of which required me to do some Googling, which I love), and some of which were more reflections on fairy tales as a genre/literature in general. I really enjoyed some of the literary theory and analysis included, as Chokshi explores some connecting themes in fairy tales, like the nature of oaths, where does the power of love come from (happiness and smiles or screams and fear), the casual cruelty of fairy tales juxtaposed with with the careful distance the story-tellings tyle keeps you at (which allows you to not be overly affected by it), and more. Plus, as the plot comes to a head - the reveals of the dark secret of Indigo's past, Azure's story, and the truth of the magical event in the groom's history that made him believe in fairy tales to begin with - we are treated to a front row seat unfolding of how fairy tales are our way of escaping reality, both for fun and as a refuge (for when we must escape reality in order to protect ourselves). 

 

Like I said, the plot and character development are good - very much like a fairy tale in the way they are paced and built - a solid foundation, if not spectacular, foundation for an unfolding novel. But this book truly shines in the spirit and aura. If you are looking to fall completely into the energy and ambiance of a novel, to get lost in it and leave the "real" world behind, then let this be the one. 

 

 

“Some individuals are like portals, the knowing of them makes the world a far vaster place.” 

 

“…the lightless space between what you cannot believe is a truth and what you know must be a lie.” 

 

“I have since learned that marriage is nothing more than a spell strengthened by daily ritual.” 

 

“If you combed through enough fairy tales, untangled their roots, and shook their branches, you would find that they are infested with oaths. Oaths are brittle things, not unlike an egg. Though they go by different names depending on the myth - troths and gels, vows and tynged - there is one thing they all share: they must be broken for there to be a story. Only a shattered promise yields a rich, glittering yolk of a tale.” 

 

“Only grief can make time change its tempo like that, expand seconds to centuries, with only our eyes marking the distance crossed.” 

 

“There is always a peculiar distance to fairy tales. They are denuded of urgency, rinsed of true horror even as the words relish in gore. Love is presented to us as something that must be as vast as a horizon  and just as unreachable.” 

 

“Sometimes you are lured not by the promise of safety but the safety of knowing that here lies a sure thing.” 

 

“That’s why magic kissed our bruises, coddled our hearts, and then sent us on our way. Magic hoped we would carry its echo out into the world, for we were never meant to stay here.” 

 

“In the end, a fairy tale is nothing more than a sense of hope. Hope lures and tricks. It tempts with shining thrones, exquisite nectars, and loving arms. It whispers to us that we are extraordinary. Exempt. Thus lured, we follow its path. Sometimes we are led to riches. Other times, we are led astray. But this hope never hides its shape, and for its honesty we reach for it and pull its sweet and stinking furs up to our chins, for to live without it means living without magic.” 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Child death, Death, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

Minor: Alcohol

saliwali's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Grief, Child death, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, and Medical content

chaptersofamylea's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

"Besides, some girls aren't meant to be found. Memories make their own houses, even more magical than this one, and that's where girls from the past live."

3 ⭐️

The writing style was beautiful but I think in some ways it got lost within its purpose and made it a little hard to read. I did guess the ending and found it a struggle to read because I knew what was going to happen. I loved all the tid bits of all the fairytales though. 

TWs: paedophilia, child neglect, death of a family member, depiction of injury, drugging, murder

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Murder