Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Last Tale of the Flower Bride

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The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

123 reviews

lizy's review

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dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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speculativeshelves's review against another edition

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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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shubka's review against another edition

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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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aelsaj711's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

2.75

This book is actually quite good for the right reader. I don't think I have matured enough as a reader to have read this, which is why I gave it this rating. Reading this is like being dropped into a dimly lit maze and bumbling around in the dark until about the the 75% mark. This is for a specific niche of people, to which, at the moment, I am tangential to. This book is an excellent character study on two people that I think many people might be able to relate to to a certain extent, which I believe is this book's biggest strength. The prose is excellent as well, but it is a lot to process. Even though technically the book is short, it took me as long to read as a book double its length. I suggest only reading this book when you're looking to be confused as you're being led into the depths of The Flower Bride. The pay off was almost worth it for me, but I'm sure for others it might have a higher impact.

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