Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

64 reviews

takarakei'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

4.5

I can definitely see myself rereading this book. It's a bit of a fever dream on a first read, and knowing where it was going, I think it would make an interesting re-read. 

A story that weaves together between chapters in the past and present all surrounding the life of Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada, told from her husband's pov and her childhood friend in the past. Very atmospheric and character driven, the plot is really just the mystery of Indigo as a person being unraveled. Super creepy, eerie and unnerving at parts. Like being in a nightmare (but it's not horror persay). I found I really couldn't put it down! 

It's rather a hard book to describe, so if the synopsis sounds good I recommend you try it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

tamara_joy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, and Medical content

thoughtsontomes's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

A layered dark fairy tale of love and toxic friendship. Mysterious. Lyrical. Eerie. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, and Blood

paintedgiraffe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

Wasn't expecting the purple prose -- good thing I love purple prose! -- but everything else is just what I expected. Death, freaky omens to do with animals, secret abuse. Everything was right on the money. A couple of parts did make me tear up.

BIG WARNING: All the relationships in this are toxic and are not to be envied/emulated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Classism

angelmoo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, and Blood

shubka's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Blood, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

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

gracescanlon's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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

5.0

Deliciously eerie throughout with a wonderful ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest and Violence

jeyjeyyy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Blood, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

lou_loo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is an eerie, gothic, dark fairytale.
We follow the story from the point of view of the Bridegroom and Azure.
This story is beautiful yet terrible; it is fascinating and disturbing; scary and haunting. It feels like a fairytale, like a story of magic and fantasy, but it is also a story of abuse, neglect and manipulation. We never know if what we are being told is real or not. We hope it is only magic; if it is not, it's horrifying and scary, showing us how terrible the world can be. If it is not magic, it is gaslighting, abuse and manipulation.
Azure's mother once told her:

"If she kept you around, she would break you into little pieces. You'd never be able to put yourself back together."

Azure found herself stuck somewhere between magic and reality, between the world she wanted to discover and the world Indigo wanted her to stay in.
Roshani Chokshi is an amazing writer, her prose is gorgeous and poetic; she keeps us hanging on a thread for the whole book and each time we think we'll understand the secrets, we find ourselves going deeper and deeper without seeing how it could end. The characters are complex and intriguing, I loved the meaning and role behind each character and how they represented archetypes from fairytales, and the personification of the House of Dreams was the completion of the ambience, it let the eerie vibes be complete and transported us into this mysterious world.
The best way to go into this book is knowing as little as possible, and I'm glad I picked it up ignorant.
This book is a 5/5 star and I'll remember this story for a very long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

sappix's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis