Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

74 reviews

intoxicatedflower's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

This book was slow, and some parts were hard to understand what the author was trying to convey.

I was thoroughly disgusted with Indigos behavior, especially during the champagne scene. Almost didn’t finish because of how disgusting that scene made me feel.

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Content Warnings

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

ctara2123's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Animal death

Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Murder

northernzephyr's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Violence

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Sexual harassment

koreykit's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

This book is enchanting. Lyrical, Gothic perfection. I love that the audiobook has two different narrators.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

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

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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

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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

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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

orizenda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

honestly I loved this book so much. like it’s fun for fairy tale geeks ((me)) and like twists i didn’t see coming and like beautiful and complicated stories of love. Like the azure narrator bothered me for most of it until the end when everything fit together finally that made me appreciate the like voice acting in this. like it’s a part of the story too honestly. this is becoming a year of great books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and Violence

solntse's review against another edition

dark emotional

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

<i>The Last Tale of the Flower Bride</i> is a lyrical read with beautiful prose. The setting is steeped in magic, and I loved the contrast of the House of Dreams with the outside world. The novel is inspired by gothic works such as Daphne du Maurier's <i> Rebecca </i> and Angela Carter's <i>The Bloody Chamber.</i> I love a Bluebeard retelling, and the folkloric imagery was a treat. I am sure that a reread would peel back layers that I didn't notice on the first read.

That being said, the novel's gothic nature relies on the power balance between the bridegroom and Indigo. The sense of fear and powerlessness is what imbues gothic novels with horror, which is vital for the genre. The Bluebeard tale relies on the isolation and vulnerability of the main character, and I felt that very strongly in the tale of Azure and Indigo. But in the Bluebeard-inspired framing story of the bridegroom and Indigo, I felt the gender reversal didn't have quite the same weight as it lacked the societal mirroring of powerlessness that is present in the patriarchal concept of the wife as property. Some of the horror moments-

such as the hair in the bridegroom's mouth or the starlings in the fan

felt a bit gimmicky. Even on reflection, as I learned more about the story, they seemed tacked on for the sake of it.

Azure and Indigo's story is where the story really shines. The slipperiness between reality and magic was intriguing and fit the author's prose style like a glove. The Otherworld was beautiful, and I ached to be able to walk into the magic of childhood myself. The House of Dreams was a beautiful setting, and the characters' interactions with it were a great use of imagery and foreshadowing. I enjoyed the escalation of tension, the ticking time bomb. Azure's loneliness and fear of abandonment were heartbreakingly realised. The author's depiction of Indigo was unsettling. The toxic friendships, manipulation, isolation and emotional abuse were often difficult to read. 

The framing story of the Bridegroom had less impact on me. In the tradition of <i>Rebecca</i>, the nameless narrator is mysterious and out of reach. The duality of his memories and his questioning of what he remembers and what he has been told were emotional for me as someone who has also

lost a brother.

That being said, some of his character development fell flat. He's a researcher, a well-educated scholar used to tracking down information from archives, but hasn't

looked up the birth records? Apologies if I misremembered that fact.

I didn't feel I knew much about him and found him quite empty as a protagonist and perhaps too passive. I felt quite distanced from him, in much the same way he was when

he watched the ants eating the bird alive without stopping it.

The openings of his chapters mimicked the formulaic style of oral histories and folklore, but it also made it easy to skip past those paragraphs as they were repetitive. Some of the folklore and images included felt like they were included for aesthetics and vibes instead of symbols, which lost some of the impact when they were relevant. 

Overall, a good read with beautiful prose; the gothic and folklore elements were intriguing, and Azure's story was worth reading!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

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