Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

105 reviews

karapillar's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Gaslighting, Violence, Abandonment, Grief, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Murder

Minor: Incest, Gun violence, Drug use, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Alcohol, and Vomit

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

cursed_sapphire's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Murder

liv_easton's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Abandonment, Death, and Pedophilia

Minor: Child abuse, Self harm, and Child death

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Alcohol, Blood, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Bullying, Incest, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

alloftaysreads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

wlreed312's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

Loose retelling of Bluebeard with lush writing and a mystery at its heart. You get alternating chapters from the perspective of the bridegroom in the present and the childhood best friend in the past. There is some truly beautiful writing, but I was ultimately left wanting a little more depth on the character of Indigo. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Pedophilia

Moderate: Emotional abuse

mariavdl's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Bullying

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

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, and Blood

mad_books_'s review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Great plot twist. Toxic girlhood meets fantasy. The two different timelines created good tension

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.5

The prose was a bit much at a few parts but not so overwhelming that you have no idea what's going on. This was positively mysterious, kept me gripping the pages to find out what was really going on. Both moving and bone-chilling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual harassment