Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

20 reviews

wheatlyre's review against another edition

I didn't have enough time to read it, and need to return it soon. It also has been taking me a long while to read, and whether or not it's just my mood the past 5 weeks, but it takes me a while to feel motivated to actually read it. Once I read a paragraph or two I get sucked in for a couple 10-17 pages, but I've been busy and just haven't been able to really get into it in the right way. (Again, just my experience with it so far, and it might not necessarily have anything to do with Babel in particular.) The writing is more advanced than the typical YA novel, but not as period-accurate as a classic Literature novel, still leaning more to the YA style.
I have enjoyed it so far, with a couple parts in particular sticking out to me, especially [spoiler cw:

child abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse

]

when Robin is beat by the Professor for the first time. The way he describes his surprise and the numbness he felt during it was heart wrenching, and the way the professor was described as both detached, reserved, and aloof, yet swift and graceful, was incredible. I'm unable to describe with words how affected I was by it. I'm also in awe with how amazingly the author characterizes Robin through the way he reacts to the abuse, brushing past it and refusing to think about it for anything more than, 'I don't want that to happen again'. The rest of Robin's teenage years were brushed past, which, while I feel it to be a loss for me to see more of his adaption to life in London, I understand from a storytelling point as a reflection of the monotony of his years there, and could possibly be echoing off how the single beating affected him.

The writing in that part is just so beautiful, and I've frequently found myself coming back to that moment. I just wish we got a bit more of his musings.

I really enjoyed his reflections on the professor and cook's disagreement about scones.

Once again, I have not gotten too far in the book, but I have liked it quite a bit so far.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Confinement, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Terminal illness, and Colonisation

Minor: Trafficking and Slavery

all content warnings mentioned were put in intentionally by the author and are seen clearly to be character flaws or problematic.

rainbowalcremie1995's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

Overall, this was an enjoyable book for people who want to read a fantasy story about academia that acknowledges the ways academic institutions can be both helpful and harmful to the societies they’re a part of.  

I really enjoyed the magic system that was introduced in the book.  Although the characters in the book may have to study for hours on end to master it, it wasn’t too complicated for a reader to understand.  

I don’t really have an individual favorite character in this book, but some of my favorite parts were whenever Robin and his cohort were just hanging out and talking about their studies, and it made the things they went through together near the end of the book a lot more impactful.  I feel like at times, the characters in this book work best when they’re bouncing off of other characters.  I really liked Griffin as a foil to Robin, and Letty being the odd one out of her friend group.  I was surprised at how much Robin grew as a character by the end as well.  In the first half of the story, I found him a little passive, acting as a camera to the more interesting characters in the story.  Now that I’ve finished the book, though, I think this flaw may have been intentional, and it makes it a lot more satisfying to see him come into his own by the end.  

I think that the pacing could be a little awkward at times, and there were definitely parts of the book that I felt could have been arranged a little differently.  For example, I thought that the Hermes Society being introduced so early in the story made certain reveals about Babel’s true nature a lot less impactful.  In fact, I would say that a pretty big weakness of this book is that most of the plot twists very predictable. 

I saw Letty’s betrayal coming from a mile away, as I’m sure most readers did.  I think that her POV chapter coming after the betrayal was also unnecessary, it didn’t add anything to her character that we didn’t already know.

 

In addition, it sometimes feels like the book is too afraid of subtext and has to make the themes explicit in both the main text and the many footnotes.  Which is a shame, because there were a some good lines in this book where a member of the faculty or an older student would say something normal but extremely sinister, but very few of them were allowed to hang without a footnote butting in to say, “By the way, they just said something racist.”  I guess not everyone reading this book will have the same background knowledge coming in to it, but I wish that the buildup to Babel not being as great as it seems on the surface had been more gradual.  

Despite the book having a bit of a slow middle, I thought the last third of the book was pretty good.  I was up until two in the morning yesterday just to see how it ended! 

I wish that the Hermes Society and the older students who were members got some more character development before they died.  I am glad that Victoire got a little more character development near the end as she helps Robin start the strike.  The progression of the strike and the descriptions of society breaking down as the result of one academic tower no longer maintaining the silver was well done, as was Robin’s final descent into violence that leads up to his death.  At first, I was surprised that the strike ended tragically, with Robin and almost all of his allies in the tower sacrificing themselves to blow it up.  However, it’s still a hopeful ending, and it probably would have been a little too neat of the strike had completely changed society overnight without any bloodshed.

 

I can’t judge this book on how well it works as a piece of historical fiction, as I’m not too familiar with the history of the Opium Wars, and I only speak English.  As a fantasy novel, I can say that I had a fun time reading it, and although I think this book is a little too long for me to ever want to read the entire thing over again, I think it definitely earns four stars from me.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexism, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, War, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Torture, and Death

Minor: Terminal illness and Death of parent

imds's review against another edition

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Suicidal thoughts, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Misogyny, Torture, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Sexism, Islamophobia, Murder, Racism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Classism, Colonisation, Grief, and Physical abuse

laurenleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

4.0

Once again, I’m in awe of Kuang’s talent. The hard magic system in this story was excellent and so interesting. It’s really more magical realism than fantasy, as this book is firmly set in Victorian era Oxford. I have a soft spot for books set in famous old colleges. I was super engrossed in the middle of this text (academic settings, secret societies, all my faves), but the ending really dragged. It took me way too long to get through the last 5 hours. There was also a major event in the end that I felt deserved more attention, more reaction. I think I was more invested in the characters than the plot at that point.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Gun violence, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Terminal illness

moond4ncer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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

Best book I've read in a long time. Intriguing, clever, really well crafted. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Addiction, Classism, Racism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Grief, Misogyny, War, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, and Sexism

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Misogyny, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Trafficking, Vomit, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Torture, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Slavery, Drug abuse, Gore, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, Antisemitism, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Islamophobia, Police brutality, Self harm, Abandonment, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Deportation, Medical trauma, Drug use, Emotional abuse, War, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Confinement

mishasbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Hate crime, Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Racial slurs, Slavery, Child abuse, Colonisation, Drug use, Bullying, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Islamophobia, Gun violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, and War

lamoore72's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Blood, Racism, and War

Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Suicide, Classism, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Racism, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug use, and Murder

tbd24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

this book was my niche exactly so I feel a little biased but I liked it a lot. The writing was very good and evocative, I found myself literally gasping aloud or beginning to sweat during tense parts of the book. Very good character writing and development, though I was a little disappointed

Rami and Robin were only ever subtext, I would have been a bit more satisfied if they had a proper conversation about it, even once, especially since they were gonna die in the end anyway so what did the author have to lose. I feel like the reason it was never explicit is because the author didn’t know how to write a conversation like that and still keep the historical realism, though others have done this well. idk, it just disappointed me

. Overall, the only reason this was not a five star read for me was the pacing was a little bit too sporadic for my taste. There were drawn out moments that I wish had been shorter and quick fly by scenes that I wish we could have relished in. But other than that, loved it, and will defs read again

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Murder, Domestic abuse, Torture, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Trafficking, Addiction, Islamophobia, Ableism, Toxic friendship, War, Slavery, and Sexism

franzivagen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Racism, Colonisation, and Sexism