I think this may be my last Roshani Chokshi book. She is an acquired taste and just not for me.
My biggest gripe with her books (but this one specifically) is that the world building is always there, but the character development is not. And for me that is a MAJOR deal breaker. I really think authors can (and must) do both. I cannot possibly appreciate the world being explained to me if the characters are uninteresting themselves, which was the case here for me. I liked Last Tale of the Flower Bride much more because I think I could appreciate it as a short story more than a full fledged novel, but this one just could not hold my interest for 400 pages.