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rnbhargava's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Xenophobia, Car accident, Cursing, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Trafficking, Violence, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Stalking, War, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Confinement, Death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Rape, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship
All the themes said to be triggers are present, particularly the race and religion ones. There’s a scene where it appears that female characters could hypothetically be assaulted. The racism and discrimination on religion angles are throughout the book. The major theme of the book is reconciling existing within educational institutions in the west while the same people you’re learning from are harming your original homelands, whether you remember them or not, and the moral plus political repercussions of that.goose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Suicide, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Classism, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Physical abuse, War, Islamophobia, Gun violence, Slavery, and Vomit
Other tags that Storygraph doesn't have:smalljoys's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Slavery, Colonisation, Classism, Death, Toxic friendship, Murder, Torture, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Blood, Alcohol, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Abandonment
afraidofwhat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Drug abuse, Racism, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, and Vomit
Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Gore
sophiesmallhands's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Colonisation, Classism, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence
Moderate: Police brutality, Torture, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Islamophobia, and Physical abuse
Minor: War, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
lilmor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Abandonment, Grief, Racism, Physical abuse, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Death, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Police brutality, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, War, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Torture, Addiction, and Violence
sharrikloves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Classism, Violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, Racism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
Moderate: Car accident, Ableism, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Drug use, Death, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
This is an important read, but will be extremely triggering for AAPI + BIPOC readers.zgale98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Grief, Suicide, and Gore
spineofthesaurus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Blood, Colonisation, Violence, Xenophobia, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, War, Body horror, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Torture, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Deportation, Islamophobia, Medical content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Ableism, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Trafficking
Minor: Excrement, Infidelity, Car accident, Alcoholism, and Addiction
saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The fact it took me six months to actually get this review written is appropriate, a book called Babel leaving me speechless.
Babel drove me into the cliff of insanity. It is a dark academia novel heavy on both the dark and the academia. Its magic system focused around linguistics in an alternative history where translators work literal magic. At the center of it is a found family doomed by the narrative that absolutely destroyed me and the main character, Robin Swift, who is a poor little meow meow. The first half of the narrative is slow, getting the reader familiar and comfortable with this cast and world before throwing you off the aforementioned cliff of insanity as the second half is a metaphorical avalanche built up from the first.
It mainly discusses colonialism, and here is where I’ve seen readers get the most divided over the story. My interpretation is not that Kuang was preaching the reader, but rather that the characters are contradictions. They say a lot about fighting colonialism, but they struggle to actually turn that talk into actions, specifically with how much of their privileges they are willing to give up and what methods are the most effective. When the stakes heighten in the second half and they have to actually put their talk into practice, it is no longer a debate and lives are on the line as they try to figure out how to strike in a way that hits the most important people.
With all this praise, I will critique the historical inaccuracies. It opens with an author’s note about the intentional inaccuracies and I found the excuses kind of weak, mostly chalking up to Kuang wanting the characters’ experiences to reflect her own at Oxford. They’re mostly small details and I don’t see why she couldn’t have just stuck to the actual history. The dialog is also a little too modern. These mostly didn’t bother me, but I do think the world building would have been stronger and I imagine these inaccuracies might annoy people who really know this history.
Babel was my favorite book of 2023, or my Roman Empire to use a very 2023 term. It’s an extremely clever and shocking dark academia fantasy that follows a tragic cast of translators dealing with colonialism in academia.
Graphic: Violence, Racism, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Torture, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Death, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Child abuse, and Religious bigotry