Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

817 reviews

ivana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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

I should not have read the last 50 pages while on my period 😭😭😭 This was devastating and so so important. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Addiction, Slavery, and Sexual harassment

meerigarum's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

julchen_wei's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Blood, and War

zoemay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

letsea's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Colonisation

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Slavery, and War

dana_scully's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

R F Kuang i am begging you PLEASE let me be your copy editor

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Slavery and Death of parent

annmeyer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

oh man. it took me a while to get through Babel between the length + slow pace, but i found the second half to be much faster and the plot picked up a lot of momentum, so once over some of the early hurdles and more invested, i felt naturally hooked. i definitely cried at the end (even the last chapter's epigraph from Aristotle hit hard), but the subject matter of the book is very heavy throughout overall so mind the content warnings if you're thinking of picking it up. also, it's not all too often that i read a book told predominantly from a MMC's pov (and then enjoy it), but i really liked Robin a lot. most of the key side characters were great, too; i loved their vignettes and only wish we got more.

of what i've read, the plot + themes + magic system felt most comparable to m.l. wang's blood over bright haven.

i'd recommend Babel to anyone open to a long read who:
- is a linguistics + languages nerd
- has intense beef with the British empire (for obvious reasons)
- is a fan of dark academia
- loves a good bildungsroman, especially if radicalization (sans any negative connotation) & revolution are involved

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Slavery and Violence

Minor: Trafficking

mostlykenny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

this was very tense, but so intriguing. A must read for sure !! ⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

i cried hard when Robin was explaining to Victoire that he’d been thinking about death and that it was the only way for escaping and that Victoire would have to leave him behind. That whole conversation messed me up brutally.

megaptera23's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

4.5

Rassen- und Klassenkampf sind sehr gut dargestellt. Als Lesern kann man die Diskriminierung der Charaktere mitfühlen. Die spannende, mitreissemde Geschichte arbeitet Kolonialismus und Kampf für Rechte von PoCs, Arbeiter*innen und Frauen auf und regt zum nachdenken an. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Slavery

zazula's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexism, Slavery, and War

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Death of parent