History Literature / TheWarOfTheFlowers

* EquivalentExchange: The natural laws of Faerie are based on this: "You want it, you get it, you pay for it." The fairies consider this far more logical than the mortal world's laws of physics.
** This also plays a role in the story. That he betrayed Dowd is on reason why [[spoiler:Dowd was able to defeat and steal the body of]] the Remover. That they betrayed their fellow lords by waking the dragons is why Hellebore and his fellows end up losing.

* HeroicSacrifice: Button [[spoiler: breaks the oath rod holding the goblins bound to the fairy lords, knowing that even though the other goblins will be pleased by their freedom, they will be compelled by tradition to kill him. They do]].

* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: People continually mistake Theo and Applecore for a couple. [[spoiler: Later, Applecore ''does'' get together with Cumber, a fairy Theo's size]].
** In fact, a number of large-sized fairies hit on Applecore. When Theo asks how intercourse would work, he's told there is surgery to address the issue.

** Given the way the physics of Faerie operate, it may be more than that.

** Teddy's was an ''actual'' bear. Don't [[NoodleIncident ask]] about [[NoodleImplements Dolly's.]]

* PowerIncontinence: Streedy.
** Also, [[spoiler: after Theo tricks the irrha into killing the Terrible Child, Hellebore's magic is disrupted and literally tears him apart]].

* ScrewYouElves: The whole climax is basically this trope writ large.
** Being raised human, Theo is frequently irritated when the inhabitants of Faerie try to pull the CantArgueWithElves shtick.

* YourMindMakesItReal: Well, maybe not ''real'', but a mortal's perceptions certainly color how they see Faerie.

* EvilIsSexy: [[invoked]] Hellebore is so attractive that even ''Theo'', a ''very'' heterosexual male, [[EvenTheGuysWantHim notices]].

* {{Bishonen}}: All the male fairy lords are described as slim, pale, and supernaturally handsome.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Theo's birth parents, the Violets, were powerful fairy lords, but their real passion was music. Theo is somewhat upset to learn that the only thing that made him special, his singing ability, wasn't even really ''his''. Although he's an especially talented musician even in Faerie, this talent doesn't play a role in his final victory.

* OurElvesAreBetter: Though the ruling class of Faerie are just called "fairies", they are very close to typical fantasy elves in a lot of respects.

Then Theo is attacked by an undead horror, gets dragged into a magical world by a six-inch tall (and very foul-mouthed) sprite named Applecore, and finds out that not only is the world in Uncle Eamonn's book ''very'' real, but most of it, particularly the sinister Lord [[TheChessmaster Nidrus Hellebore]], seems to want him dead.

* BigBadDuumvirate: Deconstructed. It starts off with Lords Hellebore, Thornapple, and Foxglove forming one, but Hellebore's intelligence, ruthlessness, and force of personality gradually marginalizes Foxglove and demotes Thornapple into TheDragon.

* PurpleEyes: Poppy has them.

* {{Kuudere}}: Poppy.

* ThemeNaming: All the fairy noble houses are named for flowers ... hence the title of the book.

* UrbanFantasy: Though the city it takes place in is part of a completely seperate world, despite its modernity.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: The fairies are powered by mortal belief. As that's waned, they've had to find other sources of power for their civilization, [[spoiler: primarily by draining the magic out of other, live fairies. Hellebore, of course, has a plan to change things ...]]

UrbanFantasy novel by TadWilliams. Theo Vilmos is the thirty-year-old lead singer of a small band in California, whose life is going nowhere until he starts getting hit by the worst string of bad luck imaginable. First his girlfriend has a miscarriage, and then she leaves him, taking the house. He's forced to move back in with his emotionally distant mother, and then ''she'' dies too, and he's forced to sell her house and move to a backwoods cabin. His only consolation is the discovery of an old book written by his mysterious great uncle, Eamonn Dowd, which seems to be part autobiography, part fairy tale and Theo entertains notions of getting published.

* AntiHero: Theo is a Type I-AntiHero. [[spoiler: He develops into a more purely heroic character later in the novel]].
* AnotherDimension: Faerie.

* BeastOfBattle: Dragons. Also, unicorns.

* BindingAncientTreaty: The reason why [[spoiler: the goblins accept their low station in life.]] However, the treaty could have been broken all the time [[spoiler: if the goblin willing to destroy the artifact representing the treaty were willing to die for it.]]
* {{Bishonen}}: All the male fairy lords.

* BrokenBird: Poppy, later in the story.
* ChangelingFantasy: Theo [[spoiler: aka Septimus Violet, is a literal changeling. The Terrible Child is the mortal who was switched out when he was slipped in, and Dowd did the actual switching]].
* ChekhovsGun: Several, but [[spoiler: Theo's nymph-bond]] is probably the most notable.
* TheChessmaster: Nidrus Hellebore and the Remover.
* CityOfAdventure: The City.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The treatment of the goblins closely paralells what both African and American natives suffered at the hands of white imperialists.
** Also, Hellebore sending a dragon to attack Daisy Tower is very similar to 9/11, as the author himself notes (though he wrote that scene before the attacks).
* EarnYourHappyEnding

* EnfanteTerrible: The Terrible Child, of course.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Theo has an amazing singing voice [[spoiler: because he's a fairy.]]

** Teddy's was an ''actual'' bear. Don't [[NoodleIncident ask]] about [[NoodleImplement Dolly's.]]

* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl: Bizarre half-example - Poppy's ''eyebrows'' are white, but the rest of her hair is black. This is a trait of the Thornapples as a whole.

-->'''Hellebore:''' I cannot produce milk, either. Am I supposed to be jealous of a cow?

* CareerKillers: Assassinations are just one of the many services the Remover offers, if you can meet his price.

* TheAragorn: Button.