Reviews tagging 'War'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

934 reviews

h_preadsagin's review against another edition

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

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

4.25

I greatly enjoyed the book. The first half is more linguistic heavy but it picks up the pace as you get further in. The author heavily foreshadows. While it didn’t necessarily take away from the story, there wasn’t much that happened that I was truly surprised by. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

ekgranstro's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, and War

tenderdispatches's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and War

chloemakesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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

Devastating. Clever. Awesome. Irritating. Absolutely one of the best books I've ever read. All the possible plot holes and character foibles can't take away from the world building, masterful construction, and conceptual prowess. Achingly confrontational, righteous, and disappointing. I have several critiques (slow start, Letty... Just Letty, Robin was fairly boring, killing off characters, heavy handed ending, anachronisms, some lack of device clarity) but I can't argue with choices that were clearly made thoughtfully, intentionally, to serve and make her point so masterfully. I think this is actually magical realism, not fantasy, and I loved the footnotes. Injected some much needed humor and self-deprecation/meta-commentary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexism, Torture, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

alixlowe'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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

fleur____'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

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

fiiracha's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Suicide, 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