The Last Tale of the Flower Bride

I hadn't read anything by Roshani Chokshi before, but after hearing a lot of praise for her YA novels over on Book Twitter, I decided to start with her adult debut, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride. The beautiful cover and the plot instantly caught my attention while browsing NetGalley, so it was a pretty automatic request. And I'm so glad I did, as this rich, dark and unique tale was SO good.

I'm honestly in love with Chokshi's writing. It is flowery and almost poetic without ever feeling pretentious or heavily constructed. The prose flows really smoothly while at the same time perfectly painting the picture and building the atmosphere. It's clear when reading that the book has a strong foundation in the Western literary canon, show more effortlessly weaving together the storytelling traditions of old and gothic romance elements with mystery and a dash of magical realism to create a classic tale for modern readers. I loved seeing how expertly the author played with old tropes and storytelling conventions to build an engaging plot and deeply flawed, difficult characters. I particularly liked the choice to reverse traditionally held roles, with Indigo being the centre of the story and the keeper of dangerous secrets, while her husband The Bridegroom remains the unnamed narrator seeking to uncover her mysteries. It was a refreshing take on classic fairytale characters (think Bluebeard) in their original, dark versions. There are also multiple references to these stories throughout, which added a layer of depth to the story.

The story is told in dual POV and in alternating timelines: in one, we follow The Bridegroom in the present as he starts being curious about his wife's past and decides to look for answers as they visit her childhood home; in the other, we follow Azure, Indigo's best friend from childhood who mysteriously disappeared, to watch the two girls grow up in the House of Dreams. Both storylines were great, each adding something to the story until the whole picture became clear. Hints were dropped throughout and the foreshadowing was very well crafted, but I still didn't put all the pieces together until the end. The Bridegroom was somewhat less full as a character compared to the female ones, but it felt like a deliberate choice (much like keeping him nameless) and worked well within the story. We still get to see and understand rather a lot about him and his past, although Indigo and Azure remained far more interesting to me. Listening to the audiobook, Steve West was a marvellous narrator, really helping to bring those gothic vibes through, which massively improved my experience of the Bridegroom's chapters.

Now the female characters are where this book truly shines. They were richly drawn, complex and flawed in a way that is hard to come across (or at least, I haven't really recently - if you have any recommendations, please tell me in the comments!). The relationship between Indigo and Azure was fascinating, even if deeply toxic, and it was easy to understand their attraction to the faerie world and what they call the Otherworld. Their coming-of-age story is rich with subtext and really shows what it means to be a teenage girl on the verge of adulthood in a complicated, and sometimes very dark, world. Feelings take centre stage in this book, the ones that are expressed and the ones kept hidden, love and obsession intertwining until it is hard to recognise where one ends and the other begins.

I could talk about this book for a lot longer, but I won't to avoid spoiling it all. Safe to say that, even in February, this is already a strong contender for best read of the year. Now I'll have to catch up on all of Chokshi's other works!

CW: This book contains mentions of death, toxic friendship and relationship, sexual harassment, domestic and emotional abuse, pedophilia and blood.

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way. show less

This was beautiful and haunting, terrible and magical. I did not know what I was getting myself into with this one and man was I in for a ride. It was so incredibly good. It was so evocative - I loved the very weird relationship between Indigo and the Bridegroom, how they spoke in riddles and fairytales. And I loved the build up of the relationship between Azure and Indigo and how messed up and odd it was - the magic of it and the sheer badness there too.

Chokshi built a beautiful and magical world in this novel. But it is the characters and the complexity of their relationships that really got to me. They are so incredibly messed up but also intricate. I highly recommend this!

When a book has a line like this on page 8: “Some individuals are like portals, the knowing of them makes the world a far vaster place” you just know it is going to be exceptionally good... and it sure was.
This is a story about love, hate, friendship, motherhood, marriage, deception, horror, faeries, wonder creatures... and the stories that we tell ourselves to be able to cope. What a book!
The story is told by the Grooms bride and Azure, both of whom are deeply connected to Indigo. But who and what is Indigo to them? Why is she so secretive about her past, that she threatens her husband to leave him if he decides to do some investigating?
I truly don't want to say more because I would be giving so much away, but I really recommend show more this book form the bottom of my heart. It is all kinds of wonderful rolled up into one. show less

This novel is difficult to describe - two teenage girls are inextricably tied to the "Otherworld" and each other. Flash forward to the future, where one of the girls is married and trying to keep her husband from digging too deeply into her past. This book was dreamy and creepy and good.

dnf @ pg 119

I’m not in awe of Indigo like everyone else in this book is. She ain’t no divaaaaaa!

I wanted to be pleasantly surprised that instead of the romance you think this is going to be. instead, it hinges on a female friendship.

But seriously, I didn’t mesh well with the long-winded purple prose. Instalove is to be expected for fairytales, but I feel like the man (and Azure) were terribly codependent on this chick who made them feel special. Because I didn’t care for the characters, I wasn’t invested in the mystery.

I’m guessing Azure falls romantically in love with Indigo at some point, Azure tries to body snatch Indigo’s life, or Indigo accidentally loses Azure and never forgives herself.

Overall, I don’t have an show more interest in continuing this, but the story excelled with setting a luxurious, gothic tone. It really leans into the magical opulence of the supernatural. I also liked the cover. show less

"A sky of azure and a sky of indigo walked hand and hand into the Otherworld, but only one came out."

I wanted to love this, I did. I wanted to feel the enchantment and be swept away in a mystical story. I thought this was a re-telling of a certain fable so I was ready to hunker down on this chilly, rainy summer day and and get a dark lyrical story. And the writing does have a melody. It's well written and enchanting. But somehow the story never caught me. I found myself irritated by the meandering, as it didn't give me much of a marriage and, instead, spent page after page on the story of 2 girls who were so entwined, they didn't see their edges. I think if this had been the story of the girls, I might have loved it more. If it had been show more much more about the marriage, I would have really loved it. But I think the split of the two muddied the waters and left me wanting more of both. show less

Very fairytale, with evocative flowery language throughout. The plot between the two girls feels like a version of the possessive crazy woman trope, but it is done well. The ending reminded me of Behind Her Eyes, though this isn't nearly as crazy. I really enjoyed this, but it could have drawn me in better with more depth to the characters.