The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Castenada. He was a scholar of myths. She was the heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after - and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.
But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend, who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens his marriage… or his life.
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A dark and twisty fairytale grounded in magical realism, this book took me on a wild ride. This was very different from Chokshi’s The Gilded Wolves so I’ll say right off the bat, don’t go in with those expectations. It was a very haunting and beautiful tale, definitely darker than her other stories and a unique spin on folklore. I loved the spin on magic in this book. I can’t really go into detail on this without spoiling so I’ll just say, the magic was portrayed in such a way that it kept me guessing on every page and I loved that. I think the writing in past tense and the severe lack of dialogue in most of this book is what made it feel like a much longer read. But once we got 3/4 of the way through, the plot really picked up. It wasn’t what I was expecting in this story and ended up being a lot slower and denser than I was hoping but it still kept me intrigued. I liked seeing this author branch out into a different style of writing and it would be the perfect read for dark fantasy/fairy lore lovers.
The book takes place between two timelines. The present is from the Bridegroom’s POV and the past is from Azure’s POV. I definitely enjoyed the present more and found the flashbacks could be a little dry at times. The Bridegroom’s perspective follows more of a mystery plotline which of course is always more intriguing than glimpses into the past. Whereas Azure’s POV spent a lot of time in a past tense style of writing as if it were a person reflecting on their childhood. Interesting to see what lead them all to the present, but very slow and, to me, over-explained. I want to see things happen, not be told that they had happened. The language of this was also very flowery and the prose was very purple. Typically this isn’t an issue for me but combined with the lack of dialogue it felt like too much at times.
Something I can’t decide whether I love or hated, was the side plots. They were very subtle and, I’m sure, had the main goal of providing a bit of a red herring to us readers in their disconnect from the main storyline. But I found these little side stories so intriguing and I wanted to know more so in that regard, it worked on trapping me more in the story. However, I didn’t like how ill-fit these little plots were. I felt like I didn’t get much answers and that, if not for the mystery factor, they’d be irrelevant. So although I enjoyed them, they confused me so I’m still on the fence of whether this factors into my enjoyment or my frustration when it comes to this book.
I do think the characterizations were fantastic. We don’t get a lot of depth into Indigo or the Bridegroom, our two main characters, yet through their actions I felt like I knew them very deeply. They had such relatable quirks and personality aspects that, even not getting a whole lot of time in their headspace, I felt like they were well-developed. I also really liked the small epiphany’s that came to light for these characters throughout the book and how it changed their reactions/dynamic to the things around them including people and places. The grounding in reality was something so genius in this flowery fairytale. It kept not only the characters but the reader down on earth while still experiencing all the magic the Otherworld had to offer.
All in all, I gave this a 3.5 star rating. I enjoyed it and it was perfectly gothic but I do feel it was a little too flowery and dry at parts to keep me fully immersed throughout the entire book. I don’t know that this is a book for everyone. If you like gothic/dark fairytales, you might love this but know that it’s much more character driven than it is plot driven which can definitely change your reader experience if you’re expecting a lot of excitement/intrigue.