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One of my favorite books of all time, this feels like my soul.
For everyone who loves Addie LaRue!
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism, Deportation
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
But that doesn't get in the way of the message: That colonialism, racism, classism and all the other problems mentioned have to be resolved, not only then but in our time and world too.
Therefor I would say some little changes in the style would have made it a bit better but it still is a very important book and touches on topics not many fantasy stories touch upon.
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Classism, Deportation
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail
I just- wow.
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Classism
to that bookstagrammer, whose main gripe with the novel was how all the white characters were flat cartoon villains, just want to say: Abel Goodfellow and Mrs. Piper are RIGHT THERE. not to mention professor craft! pls !!
regarding Letty, (spoiler) yeah she does some really fucked up shit! and up until betraying everyone, the book gives her a lot of grace in terms of portraying her as a complex human who loves her friends and experiences heartbreak and grief ////and also was indoctrinated with white supremacy from birth and therefore will never be able to see her nonwhite friends as fully human in their own right. she even got her own interlude from her POV, where she gets to defend her choices for an entire chapter. the book then goes on to gives her more grace AFTER her betrayal, during Victoire and Robin’s last conversation about her — the line “loving her was like an exercise in hope” continues to haunt me. Victoire wanted so desperately for Letty to see her and respect her Blackness and Haitianness as part of her humanity, and the tragedy of Letty as a character is she never does. she compartmentalizes her friends’ racial/national identities as _separate_from the people she thinks she loves. and then she puts white supremacist colonialist empire before their lives when shit gets real, a well-documented tendency of white women throughout history. tldr; if you think the white villains in this book are all one dimensional or unrealistic, i genuinely don’t think you read this book!
other thoughts: the portrayal of a friend group united by shared academic stress and unhinged desire to succeed? while staying up all night every day eating garbage and losing their minds together? was maybe one of the most viscerally realistic college friend groups i’ve ever read
other !!! things
-the exploration of language was super interesting. it is not a subject i’m well-versed in and i appreciated how it was more than just a magic system, but an actor in the story in its own right
-i liked the footnotes! sue me!!
-i generally really liked the prose
-the audiobook narrators were absolute fire. especially chris lew kum hoi with the bajillions of accents they had to do
-robin? bisexual. definitely in love with rami (probably also had crushes on both victoire and letty at different points) and while i absolutely wanted them to actually get together, i understand why they did not and i respect the choice! even though rf kuang you’re absolutely sick for that face touch the first day they met,
i agree the magic system was maybe a bit underdeveloped but while reading it never really bothered me, however i understand it as a gripe from people who read or write more complex fantasy with complicated and thought-through magic systems.
one more con: i get the complaints about how the existence of silver doesn’t change the 1830s world as we know it, just adds extra flair to the things that actually happened. it would have been interesting to see a more alternate history where this source of power affects the world more comprehensively, but i also kind get why kuang didn’t go that route and instead chose to just use silver/language magic to explore historical british colonialism as we know it.
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War
Minor: Addiction, Deportation
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Classism
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Classism