Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

43 reviews

juliatsang's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Blood, Colonisation, Murder, Grief, Violence, War, Racism, Emotional abuse, Death, Classism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide, Addiction, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Slavery, and Drug abuse

shlymiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a great read, a fascinating magic system, and an intriguing storyline. It’s also a hard, heavy read. I’m glad I read it, but be prepared to leave brain space for heavy, real themes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Racism, War, Suicide, Death, Violence, Colonisation, Classism, Physical abuse, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol and Confinement

steffiepie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Drug use, Torture, and Gore

Moderate: Death, War, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Main themes include imperialism and language

shymoon's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Trafficking, Racism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Racial slurs

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-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

This book is amazing. It feels classic, riffing on so many known qualities of well known books yet it still does its own thing. The history and ideas are implemented so intelligently that this fantasy feels more historic fiction than anything. The fantasy is really more for quickly explaining action and technology. The magic is in the language, the languages help define the characters and their dynamics with each other, it’s thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time.

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Content Warnings

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.

asifsyed's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Slavery, Misogyny, Grief, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Torture, Police brutality, War, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cordiaelly's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Racism, and War

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

mary_juleyre's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Racism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and War

midnightgremlin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Colonisation, War, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Racism, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Death, Slavery, Sexism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Murder

bealmg's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Let me start by saying that I had high expectations about this book based on two things: the themes (language and power? Sign me up) and the initial rave reviews. I had not read The Poppy War trilogy, but had also heard a lot about it and knew it was a beloved fantasy trilogy. So, Babel was my first encounter with RF Kuang's writing. And I have a LOT to say about Babel.
Starting with what I thought was really strong: Kuang's writing. As soon as the book started, I was transported to its setting. I loved reading her descriptions of Oxford since they are so vivid and rich. I also thoroughly enjoyed the lectures on etymology and language (I could probably read an entire book of hers solely about these things). And, despite the novel's flaws, it kept me fully engaged with it.
The story is told through the eyes of Robin Swift, the main character, a Chinese-English young man who is brought up by an Oxford professor to study at Babel, Oxford's prestigious translation institute. I liked Robin's voice, how well Kuang expressed his doubts, fears and hopes, and I thought that his ambiguity 

towards violent vs non-violent action

as well as his inner struggles with his mixed-raced ethnicity were really well done. As far as the other characters are concerned, I wished they were more developed, particularly Robin's friends (who at times felt very one dimensional to fulfill their assigned roles in the plot).
Speaking of plot, it lacked something. I think, for me, this is because of the magic system Kuang introduced in Babel. While the magic silver bars sounded promising at first and I was intrigued immediately, I was disappointed by the execution of this concept. As a metaphor for how language shapes the world around us, the silver bars worked. As the motor of the industrial revolution? Not really. Nothing changed in Babel's magical world vs the real world - the industrial revolution and its innovations (as well as the increased poverty and inequalities) still happened, unchanged. The only switch was that, instead of the slave trade and labour being the financial source behind the industrial revolution and the power of the British empire, it was silver bars that connected words from different languages. In the end, this magical element was not enough for me to believe in the book's plot, since its underdevelopment hindered the strength of the story and its ending.
Another thing that I didn't like was Kuang's extensive use of footnotes. While I generally don't mind footnotes if they're used ocasionally to clarify certain things, Kuang used footnotes to overexplain things, to provide characterisation and to lecture the reader. And although I believe that, sometimes, you need to shout 'racism' when something is clearly racist, this was done excessively throughout the book. It's as if Kuang doesn't trust her readers to understand her message. To add to this, there were so many characters whose only function was to say 'this is racism, this is colonialism, this is bad', which felt really repetitive and lacked the nuance and subtlety I think would've worked best in a historical fantasy novel. 
Speaking of historical, the discussions about these issues used language that, I think, was far too modern for a novel set in the 1800s. Although this didn't bother me too much (except a few REALLY modern expressions and phrases), for a book that focuses on language, translation and the power behind words, it didn't make a lot of sense to have 19th century characters using 21st century words to discuss racism, colonialism and power. 
All in all, despite its flaws, I think Babel accomplished what it set out to do: get people to talk about the role that language plays in colonial relations. I think Kuang's main accomplishment was to translate incredibly complex concepts about language, linguistics and power relations to a more accessible format that readers all over the world will engage with. And that is, in my opinion, quite a feat. I just wished the execution would've been better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Classism, Colonisation, Violence, and Gaslighting