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salie's review against another edition
- 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
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
michaelayount's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Death
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Pedophilia
Minor: Suicide attempt
booksbutmakeitgay's review against another edition
4.5
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
city_girl_writer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment
natashaleighton_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Death, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Grief, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Bullying
Minor: Child death
daniquevdijk_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Grief and Gore
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
“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.”
➽ The Last Tale of the Flower Bride was an intense, enchanting book! I know there are a lot of mixed opinions on it, but I personally found it very compelling. The story is all about the mysterious, wealthy Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada, who is forced to come back to her childhood home with her late husband. The husband is never named, but he gets a POV where he recounts his marriage to Indigo and her strange behavior. The second POV is set in the past as we follow Azure, Indigo's childhood best friend. Definitely check the content warnings for this book, as it has some very dark moments! I personally preferred Azure's POV as it was more interesting. We see her very unhealthy, codependent and volatile friendship with Indigo, which is meant to make us feel uncomfortable. Indigo's a complicated, twisted girl who can give you the world, but also tear it down if she feels like it. I loved how many morally grey characters were in the book and how the line between magic and reality began to blur! The ending had some amazing plot twists!
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Body horror
Minor: Domestic abuse
howlinglibraries's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
You said: "If you pry, you'll destroy our marriage." But oh, my love, you lied.
I'm disappointed to say that I didn't enjoy The Last Tale of the Flower Bride until the final 15-20%, and even then, it never redeemed itself from a dreary, bland start and characters that I found it impossible to care about.
We start off with the bridegroom's POV as we learn how he and Indigo came to marry, and it is a painfully instantaneous romance that holds no chemistry or depth whatsoever. Instead of character development, the narrative was comprised primarily of one fairytale reference after another, and I felt like I was being beaten over the head with blunt metaphors. As someone who typically loves purple prose, this was a rare experience in which the writing veered far past whimsical and into the territory of downright pretentiousness for me.
After a bit, the story begins to alternate between the bridegroom and Azure, his wife's childhood friend, and while the plot developing within her segments was far more interesting, I struggled with the fact that the writing did not differ in any way whatsoever between their inner monologues.
On top of the previous issues mentioned, I feel obligated to mention how predictable the twist was; I literally guessed it within the first 10% of the book, even down to the outline of how it played out in the end. I typically don't knock off stars for predictability because I know I'm the type of reader who guesses twists often, and that doesn't always act as a negative against the writing; still, in this case, it only added to my boredom. I would have set this book aside early on, if not for the fact that I became determined to see if I had guessed correctly.
It genuinely hurts me to write this review because The Last Tale of the Flower Bride held so much potential and I think, in another writer's hands, it could have been a perfect read for me, but the writing is what held this story back in every possible way. I can fully understand how this book has been popular with so many readers in the brief time since it was released, and I expect it will find a great deal more fans from here on, but unfortunately, I'm not one of them.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
✨ Representation: Indigo, Azure, and Tati are BIPOC (no specific mentions of their ethnicities, one brief mention of Azure being uncertain of her ethnicity)
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Terminal illness and Gore
ohennui's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content
scarlett_f's review against another edition
- 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
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.