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A review by jillselwyn
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I have only attempted to read one other Roshani Chokshi novel, and that was The Gilded Wolves. I DNF'd that real quick (personal reasons and certain character portrayals, not necessarily the quality of the story or writing). Now I had sadly come to the conclusion that Roshani Chokshi likely just wasn't going to be an author I cared to read from again, and that's ok, everyone has autobuy authors, and everyone I'm sure has their instant "absolutely not" authors.
Well, then came the news that she would be breaking out of young adult literature and into adult fiction instead. Not only that, but the hype around it being pitched as a "gothic dark fairy-tale," and my curiosity was absolutely piqued. I've kept a general rule for myself that if I didn't like an authors, for example, fantasy book, but then they came out historical fiction, or I didn't like their YA but then they come out with adult, and vice versa, that I should try to see if it was just not a match for the original genre or audience of books I had tried to read by said author. My experience with The Last Tale of the Flower Bride only secured this idea.
Now if anyone is paying any attention to the dates I started and ended the book, it looks like it took me nearly a whole month to read what is a 289 page book (excluding acknowledgements). I will have you know that when I first updated my progress with 50 pages that was on the first day of reading, and then I didn't touch it again until the day I finished it. So really it was just two really spread out days. I will be honest, I did not enjoy the first fifty pages.
It was interesting but I think I just got really tired of the voice of the groom way too easily. But then, when I picked the book back up on March 22, I was starting off with Azure's first chapter and quickly, her chapters were often times twice the length of the groom's, with the groom's becoming much shorter than they were in the beginning. I will also take the time here to note that I am an absolute b*tch for short chapters, so I think that was when I started to actually enjoy the entirety of the book, not just be obsessed with Azure's parts.
The writing throughout was honestly masterful, haunting, atmospheric, gripping, all the adjectives related to these. With that being said, I did have one gripe: the frequency of the Love Test Myths being brought up (ie: Melusine, Eros and Psyche). I figured from the start that it was foreshadowing, I'm sure most readers did. So to be quite honest I'm not sure why the mention of these stories and what happens in them just kept getting added in, perhaps I missed a layer to the novel, and if I did please feel free to point that out to me in the comments. Thankfully, at some point either the frequency lessened or I was just in the thrall of the quicker pacing of the rest of the novel to notice or care anymore though, so I think the most annoyed I was, was truly during that first 50 pages.
The only other complaint I have story wise is that the reveal about the brother at the end felt way too quick, and clean, but then again, while I cared, I was much more invested in Indigo and Azure to care all that much about how brief this part felt in the grand scheme of the rest of the book.
Naturally, we end the book with an epilogue turning the groom, Indigo, and Azure's story into a short fairytale. Of course, the line "in the end, they lived" got me. Any version in any text will always get me. I'm honestly really glad I returned to this book and finished it. While Chokshi's young adult literature may never be for me, her adult work absolutely appears to be, and I hope she writes more adult literature in the future.
Well, then came the news that she would be breaking out of young adult literature and into adult fiction instead. Not only that, but the hype around it being pitched as a "gothic dark fairy-tale," and my curiosity was absolutely piqued. I've kept a general rule for myself that if I didn't like an authors, for example, fantasy book, but then they came out historical fiction, or I didn't like their YA but then they come out with adult, and vice versa, that I should try to see if it was just not a match for the original genre or audience of books I had tried to read by said author. My experience with The Last Tale of the Flower Bride only secured this idea.
Now if anyone is paying any attention to the dates I started and ended the book, it looks like it took me nearly a whole month to read what is a 289 page book (excluding acknowledgements). I will have you know that when I first updated my progress with 50 pages that was on the first day of reading, and then I didn't touch it again until the day I finished it. So really it was just two really spread out days. I will be honest, I did not enjoy the first fifty pages.
It was interesting but I think I just got really tired of the voice of the groom way too easily. But then, when I picked the book back up on March 22, I was starting off with Azure's first chapter and quickly, her chapters were often times twice the length of the groom's, with the groom's becoming much shorter than they were in the beginning. I will also take the time here to note that I am an absolute b*tch for short chapters, so I think that was when I started to actually enjoy the entirety of the book, not just be obsessed with Azure's parts.
The writing throughout was honestly masterful, haunting, atmospheric, gripping, all the adjectives related to these. With that being said, I did have one gripe: the frequency of the Love Test Myths being brought up (ie: Melusine, Eros and Psyche). I figured from the start that it was foreshadowing, I'm sure most readers did. So to be quite honest I'm not sure why the mention of these stories and what happens in them just kept getting added in, perhaps I missed a layer to the novel, and if I did please feel free to point that out to me in the comments. Thankfully, at some point either the frequency lessened or I was just in the thrall of the quicker pacing of the rest of the novel to notice or care anymore though, so I think the most annoyed I was, was truly during that first 50 pages.
The only other complaint I have story wise is that the reveal about the brother at the end felt way too quick, and clean, but then again, while I cared, I was much more invested in Indigo and Azure to care all that much about how brief this part felt in the grand scheme of the rest of the book.
Naturally, we end the book with an epilogue turning the groom, Indigo, and Azure's story into a short fairytale. Of course, the line "in the end, they lived" got me. Any version in any text will always get me. I'm honestly really glad I returned to this book and finished it. While Chokshi's young adult literature may never be for me, her adult work absolutely appears to be, and I hope she writes more adult literature in the future.