waywardbooksandrecs 's review for:

The Flowered Blade by Taylor Hubbard

3.5

adventurous dark emotional hopeful relaxing slow-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

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There was a lot to like about this book, and the places where it missed for me, I know some readers will really enjoy.

Where The Flowered Blade most excelled was with its blossoming romance, soft melancholy tones, and HEALTHY dose of hurt/comfort. It's really refreshing to find a book that plays more into a gradual shift of trust and of feelings rather than instant lust or love. This book definitely did that! While the MCs may have found each other striking in the beginning, they didn't become quite obsessed with each other until a significant amount of time had passed and they'd truly started falling for each other. That being said, I wouldn't call this a slow-burn; at least, it didn't feel like one to me. There was some smut pretty early on, and as for the emotional side of things, I wouldn't say there was a lot of yearning in the typical sense. The characters were also rarely apart, and they had a LOT of cute and touchy moments with each other without there ever being a slow building wind-up or a "will they/won't they" feeling to it. Which was fine by me! While I enjoy the occasional slow-burn, the pace of the romance in this book was, again, refreshing. 

I also largely enjoyed the character arc of Silvyr. While I found his shift from, "I must escape!" to "there's no point trying to escape" abrupt — and I would have liked a little more fire from him in this sense — I found his character development and acceptance of himself and who he was with all accompanying strengths and weaknesses to be satisfying to read. His character really goes through a LOT, but by the end, no amount or suffering would change the person he had become.

All of this goes to show that the character development as well as the writing were really very good. I found that once I picked up The Flowered Blade it was easy to absorb several chapters before putting it down again.

Though, while I found it easy and not UNENJOYABLE to read, there was a big chunk in the middle that dragged. Days in the lives became monotonous, and, at times, it felt the author struggled to come up with something for the characters to DO. Yes, I appreciated the slow growing admiration between the love interests, but I also feel like I could have gotten that same feeling with a large portion of the book cut out. Actually, I know I could have because I was there already when it started to drag with nothing really happening for SEVERAL chapters, many dozens of pages, before something of actual significance occurred. 

There were also times I questioned the characters' intelligence, such as when it got to a point where attempting the use of an assassin would have been the obvious choice but it never crossed anyone's mind, despite their repeated assertions that they would try anything to avoid war - yet war would be inevitable at this point without some extreme measure. Without getting into spoilers, there was also a section towards the end where a certain character was "making a plan," and was determined to do something, but it was only with the help of an unlikely ally that he was actually given the means to do the thing and had had no actual plan to fall back on otherwise. There were other, similar scenarios here and there through this and particularly towards the end, and while I don't need characters to be geniuses, unless 'mild dullard' is an intentional character trait, I'd rather they have more logical point A-point B sense.

Regardless of these critiques, I DID actually enjoy the majority of this read. A queernormative society is my preference, and the unblinking acceptance of Silvyr and his identity was refreshing. His simple, unquestioned existence made me wonder, at times, if any of the other, side characters were trans, and, while nothing was ever implied that they were, I liked the idea that they very well could be, as there would have never been any reason to bring it up.

Overall, this was a fine read, and while there's more to be said in both the positive and negative for A Flowered Blade, I'll leave it there and allow you to make your own judgements. Be aware that the majority of the intimacy in this read was dubcon, ESPECIALLY the first two encounters where things started out very aggressive (but enjoyed by the characters). Even the later encounters where both parties were clearly very enthusiastic, Silvyr was still Brokil's captive, so, technically, full consent was impossible. There's also a lot - a LOT - of hurt/comfort, emphasis on the HURT. Torture as well as familial physical, mental, and emotional abuse. So check your triggers before journeying! But if you're looking for an emotional, Achillean, fantasy romance with soft tones and a gradual falling in love, you may have come to the right place.