Reviews tagging 'Death'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

1454 reviews

kmaffett's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Classism

Minor: Hate crime

ewaikah's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

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i have never read anything like this.
even though i found it extremely hard to get trough, due to, in my opinion, unnecessary debauchery, this work is sheer magical; the way reality is portraid in that fictional world was shockingly exact. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation

memoriast's review against another edition

5.0

medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Blood, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol

rock_gnome's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic

doctorbrew's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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what the fuck rebecca 🥲

(returning after a night to process this)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic

dridds's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Death of parent, Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Slavery

tessvosper's review against another edition

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

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

victoria25's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This book is a mixed bag. Similar to the Poppy War, the book is split up into several arcs or ‘books’ and takes a long time character and world building. This felt unnecessary at times and made the book read almost like a story about the history of languages, etymology. This was interesting, but could be shortened in my opinion. For me, the book only started to pick up in the last two hundred pages or so and took a turn towards more action which almost felt like a whole new story. I also found the ending unsatisfactory and giving us no real conclusion to the problems the characters fought for and we, as readers, got invested in. 

That being said, Kuang paints Oxford in the mid-1800s vividly and guides us through an alternate world in which silver combined with language has magical powers. I liked how the silver was used to mirror the Industrial Revolution and gave a bit of whimsy to the story. 

I feel as though Robins character switched too suddenly and I don’t think death for all of them was the only option. I am kind of dissatisfied and disappointed by this ending. There is still so much in the air about whether England went to war or whether they actually changed anything. Letty’s arc was very well done and it shows how some white people (speaking as a white person myself) can not see the intersectionality of suppression. >

Kuang’s writing remains impeccable and immersive. For people who love magical realism, very fleshed out characters, high stakes, etymology, and history this book is perfect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Murder

raptorq's review against another edition

5.0

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: Complicated

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I would give this 10 stars if I could.

Frankly, required reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, War, Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicide, Religious bigotry

braincrowd's review against another edition

5.0

dark reflective

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation