Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

202 reviews

cursed_sapphire's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

If you like a book with pretty prose, good message, but no plot this is for you. 

This is a story of a young girl growing up going through a cycle of abuse through a fantasy-like lens that seems more like a delusional hellscape. It's basically the same event happening over and over as the girl slowly begins to realize that the relationship she has with her best friend is toxic. Also there's a groom looking for answers in the present day.
  The ending was predictable, and this read more like a contemporary novel than a fantasy.

This is a book for readers of contemporary explorations of mental health, female relationships, and growing up who love pretty prose and strong vibes. I would not recommend this to fantasy readers, despite the fact it was marketed as a fantasy. 
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colorcrystals's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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anandaclairity's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

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wishbea's review against another edition

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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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kmmcghan's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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lue_moon's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

I love Chokshi's writing. I know her style is not for everyone but I've been hooked since reading The Guilded Wolves series. I really enjoyed this adult debut.

Quote I'll be thinking about for a while:
Maybe it is about finding someone whose heart is like a mirror, whose love can make you stand the sight of yourself.
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liv_easton's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

Going into this book, I was definitely excited to read Chokshi's prose again, since it's really been too long. While it was beautiful as expected, I do think it got a bit overwhelming towards the middle of the book, which was also about the time I began to suspect the ending of the story—perhaps that's why I suddenly felt a lag. I went back and forth between preferring the Bridegroom's chapters and Azure's chapters, but tended to prefer Azure's more, and I think it was because the Bridegroom felt like less of a character to me and more of a narrator. The story was clearly about Indigo and Azure, to the point that he literally doesn't even have a name. I don't mind that focusing of the story, but it did mean that I didn't really care about his fate, which I think would've driven his chapters more. The last criticism I have is the prologue. I know it was meant to add tension to the book and make the reader immediately wary of Indigo, but I think it just gave too much away and as a result, sacrificed about 79% of my suspense as I read.

Onto the good things! 

For a book about magic, illusions, and belief, Chokshi has perfect writing. Her characters are successful storytellers because she works so deftly, and she really does make an enchanting world throughout the novel. I also wouldn't just call this purple prose, because I think she maneuvers the reader through the story so well—to choose the ending she did and have me satisfied with our main characters is no easy feat, but it really did have the fairy tale *and all ends as it was meant to* feeling about it. I think she could've gone for a more horror-focused character arc if she wanted, but if there's one thing to take away from this it's that Chokshi loves fairy tales, and I think she told the tale she wanted to beautifully. In conclusion: I recommend if you're in the mood for a dreamy, mildly horrific, over-written story. 
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aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.5

sometimes being delulu is NOT the solulu
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immorallybookish's review

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

4.5

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cgreenstein's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

To me, this book felt more like one interested in the lushness of the language than in constructing a plot, fleshing out its characters, or laying out its parameters. The last few chapters were full of action, but I still don't know if this was magical realism or just a string of unreliable narrators, what motivated the present-day female main character to behave the way she does, or have any sense of who the main male character is or why he behaves the way he does. There's a lot of telling us that he loves her and telling us about fairytale tropes, but I don't see any grounds for him to love her or actions that show that love, nor do I see the tropes actually being employed. It all feels unmoored somehow, like the author wants to mention all of these symbols and show that they know all these stories, but doesn't actually hang them on to anything. It's not actually a fairytale story at all-- the story would be the same absent all of the fairytale trappings, which are just window dressing for a coming of age story defined by a toxic friendship and then a modern day storyline about a marriage that isn't given the room to feel convincing. Clearly, this one wasn't for me, as is true of most books that, like this one, value language over everything. If you read for language, this book might be your thing.
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