Reviews tagging 'Death'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

1048 reviews

adriennemrn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I love the juxtaposition of academic form (ie. footnotes that take up the whole page) with a somewhat epic story about violence and rebellion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

missmaddie's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Misogyny and War

sofii_825's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

screaming, crying, throwing up 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Racism

Moderate: War

iloponis's review against another edition

3.0

i cant really pin down why the book didn't enrapture me the way i expected it to, but i think its a combination of too much worldbuilding (the first 40% of the book is just an overview of the classes, the campus, etc) and not enough character development. not a bad book by any means, just doesn't match up with my personal preferences 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

_marycappiello3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sas_lk's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this less than I thought I would have, but I still enjoyed it. I think there are 3 main reasons why this wasn't a 5 star for me.
1- The pacing was a bit off, I felt that we spent too much time with some scenes, and not enough with others.
2- The friendship of the characters never felt truly real to me; it felt more like telling than showing, so I never felt like I could truly "feel" the depth of their relationship. And that only worsened throughout the book to the point where in the 2nd half of the book, it felt like nothing anymore.
3- I was expecting it to be more mind-blowing in terms of the discussion of colonialism. Don't get me wrong, I think the writing was brilliant in terms of making you feel that constant dread that colonialism makes you feel when you slowly start understanding the reality of how things were. However, if you already have quite a good understanding of colonialism and its depth, then this book isn't so mind-blowing which is unfortunate. 
I feel bad for saying this, but I think once more books like these (that discuss colonialism in fiction like this) get published, I think this book will go under a little bit.

Either way, I think my expectations were simply too high. However, I still enjoyed it.
Although now I want to study more languages in depth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Islamophobia, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Toxic friendship and War

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

bwoo's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

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