Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang

1096 reviews

bookswithcuppatea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is an exquisite book. As someone who loves languages, and the fascinating gaps and overlaps in meaning across languages, the whole idea of Babel was extraordinary. Words, the tension between match pairs across two or more languages, creating magic! 

The four central characters, the cohort of students in a particular year, with their fierce and fragile friendships, drives the novel. 

An insidious investigation to the power and pride and wilful blindness of colonisation, of using others for the benefit they offer at a cost to them and benefit only to power...

The tension builds slowly, and once events really started to escalate it was hard to look away!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

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. 

---

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

alyssoflife's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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

I loved the elegant magic system, learning about translations and etymology, and the political underpinnings. The traditional usage of awesome comes to mind

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Racism and Sexism

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

---

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

letsea's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Colonisation

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Slavery, and War

seforaflorian's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

annmeyer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

oh man. it took me a while to get through Babel between the length + slow pace, but i found the second half to be much faster and the plot picked up a lot of momentum, so once over some of the early hurdles and more invested, i felt naturally hooked. i definitely cried at the end (even the last chapter's epigraph from Aristotle hit hard), but the subject matter of the book is very heavy throughout overall so mind the content warnings if you're thinking of picking it up. also, it's not all too often that i read a book told predominantly from a MMC's pov (and then enjoy it), but i really liked Robin a lot. most of the key side characters were great, too; i loved their vignettes and only wish we got more.

of what i've read, the plot + themes + magic system felt most comparable to m.l. wang's blood over bright haven.

i'd recommend Babel to anyone open to a long read who:
- is a linguistics + languages nerd
- has intense beef with the British empire (for obvious reasons)
- is a fan of dark academia
- loves a good bildungsroman, especially if radicalization (sans any negative connotation) & revolution are involved

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Slavery and Violence

Minor: Trafficking

mostlykenny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

this was very tense, but so intriguing. A must read for sure !! ⭐️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

i cried hard when Robin was explaining to Victoire that he’d been thinking about death and that it was the only way for escaping and that Victoire would have to leave him behind. That whole conversation messed me up brutally.

irammy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative reflective 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

I absolutely devoured this book and was quickly immersed into this world, which at first glance didn't seem to differentiate from Victorian england. Despite being a work of fiction it was a great way to learn about the history and motivations between colonisation and abolition as the book attempts to provide a (fictional) perspective from voices that aren't often represented in history textbooks. The interspersion of real historical quotes particularly aided this. As a mixed race person I can relate with Robin's conflict between trying to blend in versus fight for the rights of the oppressed. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

megaptera23's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective tense 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? Yes

4.5

Rassen- und Klassenkampf sind sehr gut dargestellt. Als Lesern kann man die Diskriminierung der Charaktere mitfühlen. Die spannende, mitreissemde Geschichte arbeitet Kolonialismus und Kampf für Rechte von PoCs, Arbeiter*innen und Frauen auf und regt zum nachdenken an. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Slavery