Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

810 reviews

delaneybarry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book seems to be well researched and R.F. Kuang writes skillfully. However, while the story is compelling, it does at times feel like an exceptionally long lecture on etymology and colonization more so than a historical fantasy. The footnotes, a novel in their own right, are also a hefty weight to bear. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ruthlessreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative tense medium-paced

• 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

4.75

An ambitious novel that meets every expectation I had before reading. Kuang is at the top of her literary powers here. The writing style & tone is so different from her previous series, yet her voice comes through clearly. Her experiences at Oxford are clearly an influence to some of the happenings in the novel and Kuang draws from them powerfully to craft a story of the abuses of colonialization, racism, and capitalism that places like Oxford (and, indeed, our own country & lives) are dependent upon to be comfortable & function normally. 

I finished the book thinking heavily on the connotations of these issues in the modern day and in what ways we can begin to make community across racial and class divides to create a more equitable future for everyone. Truly an incredible undertaking on Kuang's part with an equally imposing outcome. My only gripe, if you could even call it such, was that it was a little longer than necessary (IMO) and slowed down quite a bit about 3/4s of the way through until the very end.  So the pacing was a little off and it didn't make me set it down but I could see how it might feel like a slog to others. 

Oh! And I liked the footnotes but I'm a nerd so *shrug*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Slavery, Blood, and Classism

ladystardust1979's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

wolfst4r's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery, Cultural appropriation, and War

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

offthecarousel_'s review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was 60% through, giggling and kicking my feet, and ready to give this book a straight 5 star rating. Then I read the rest of it.

This is a book with some incredible elements. The prose, the characters and their interactions, the incredibly detailed grounding in history... it was all there. 

To escalate the problem from their immediate surroundings to taking on world politics with only 25% of the book left.... it was always going to have pacing issues. The last quarter is way too fast, and highlighted other pacing issues I was willing to let go in the first half. 

I also understand logically how a character can have such a dramatic personality change after a trauma, however... this book did not convince me with the words on the page. The characterizations in the last arc fell apart for me, as I wasn't convinced he would change like that.

I'm so tempted to drop the rating lower because I had such high hopes for this book and then I was extremely disappointed. But a lot of the elements here were genuinely good, so I've given it a four.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Car accident

summerif's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexism, Slavery, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Blood, and Death of parent

emmacartlidge's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, War, and Classism

Moderate: Death of parent

kredeprnz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely incredible. 

It was hard to get into at first, people don't lie when they say it's slow and sometimes reads like a textbook, but after the first quarter it drew me in and I couldn't escape.

The things I originally disliked (character driven, historical context, footnotes) became my favorite parts. I found myself so attached to each of the characters and wrapped into their stories. 

As the story progressed you really grew with it, at least I did. Of course, a lot of the lessons I knew, but hearing them from a far more raw perspective was heartbreaking and eye opening at the same time. Looking now at the world we live in today, Babel is less fantasy than we think. The only magical thing about it is that the silver transforms, that is about it. Much of the basis of this book rang true during the time period, and still today. 

The world building is amazing. The characters are so lovable (and hate able) and complex all around. They felt raw and real. 

I'm so happy I picked up Babel, and it surpassed every expectation. Amazing. Truly, no words exist in the English language to explain my love for this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, and Deportation

agnela's review against another edition

challenging sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Somehow this book, with a strong message, such a shocking ending, managed to be disappointing. 
The magic system was complex and amazing, with author clearly weaving her knowledge about words, languages and translation in it. But the damn footnotes.... The footnotes..... A sure way to make your reader go crazy.
For me the characters were bland, I guess Ramy was the only one who stood out for a bit because we find out he's not telling the whole truth, but everyone else was paper-thin. 
There were good, interesting moments like explanation on how silver bars work, trying to hide the murder, some other parts. But this could have saved us money and some time by being shorter, not having the damn footnotes, and maybe even being set in a completely separate world, while mirroring the same things happening here as colonialism, slavery, war, etc.
I will not remember this book after some time, and I will not think about it or the meaning behind it for much longer after this review.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Slavery

zozibelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Drug use, Violence, Murder, and War

Minor: Addiction, Death, and Death of parent