How far would you be willing to go to protect the one you love? In The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi, love is portrayed as a feeling that is both exhilarating and suffocating.
The book begins from the perspective of the Bridegroom, who describes the strange condition of his marriage with the wealthy and beautiful Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada: she demands that he won’t question any part of her past. Our other narrator, Azure, is Indigo’s childhood best friend, an ordinary mortal allowed into a world of magic.
Despite taking place in modern times, the writing style is poetic, every intricate metaphor weaving together to create the magical, dreamy setting that feels removed from the present-day. Much of the book takes place in the House of Dreams, Indigo’s ancestral home; with the supposed power of granting wishes, it becomes hard to separate reality from fantasy. The pacing is slow, scenes steadily unfurling like scenes from a movie. The Bridegroom’s obsession with fairytales lends the story a dark charm as he starts to explore the inconsistencies in Indigo’s explanations.
Azure on the other hand, is a highschooler adopted as a de facto soulmate by the orphaned Indigo. Her and Indigo are two halves of one soul, plotting to join the world of fairies when they come of age.
At times, I did find the Bridegroom’s perspective lacking and somewhat one-dimensional, especially as he pored over similar reflections again and again. I found myself preferring Azure’s vivid adventures within the Otherworld, and her own development into a person separate from Indigo.
Indigo, though prominent throughout the novel, remains a mystery to the very last page. She is controlling and selfish, as Azure and the Bridegroom note, yet even the reader cannot help hanging on to her every word. It is a clear visual display of the all consuming nature of unbalanced codependent relationships, where one party is left unhealthily craving the approval of the other. It is fitting then, that she fades in the end, as both characters reclaim their agency.
Filled to the brim with mysterious twists and centered by a thrilling love, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is worth the read. As the Bridegroom and Azure discover, we often end up craving the butterflies and unsteady emotions that come with love, but Roshani Chokshi’s cautionary fairy tale reminds us that we risk losing ourselves in the process.
4.5/5
