Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

546 reviews

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

rip robin swift you would have loved twitter
rip ramy mirza you would have loved comedy specials
rip griffin lovell you would have loved action movies

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Racism, Torture, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Death, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Addiction, War, Sexism, Slavery, and Misogyny

amaralh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Slavery, Racism, War, Murder, Grief, Classism, Colonisation, and Blood

_lazyreader_3565's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

Things started getting sad when Letty killed Ramy (I think that’s how you spell it).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Murder, and Racism

Minor: Slavery, War, Gun violence, and Torture

lillianreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense slow-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

3.5

Rating this feels really hard because I liked the plot and the characters but the writing and construction of the story made it hard for me to connect fully with what was going on.

I can definitely appreciate the message R.F. Kuang is trying to convey and I liked the discussion of colonialism, the empire etc. But the story felt too much like a lecture at times and the description of the silverworking was very confusing and went on for too long in my opinion. The way the story is told made it really hard to connect to the characters and made them feel kind of surreal. That got better towards the end but it couldn't make up for the distance created in the beginning and middle. 

All in all, I think R.F. Kuang might just not be for me but I can still appreciate the story of Babel and how it handles the topic of racism, colonialism, slavery etc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Racism, Violence, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, War, Sexism, and Death of parent

nisaak's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this book at the beginning for the love of words and translation and a magic system that's based on words. It was very, very long and got really dark and I felt like my first reaction was naive.
I listened to the audiobook version which helped make some of the words in languages other than English and French come alive in my ears.

I was supportive of the revolution that happened towards the end of the book. I was supportive of the Hermes Society. If it had been real, I hope I would have chosen to be there to help Babel fall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Gun violence, War, and Child abuse

mollyelyn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction and Drug use

Minor: Alcohol and Blood

devirtualized's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Sexism, and Torture

emilietje's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

What a ride.
I enjoyed the research and knowledge that went into this book, especially when I started reading it. As a sinologist, it’s very fun for me to read Chinese translations or recognize the Chinese-foreigner struggles of the 1800s. But after a while it tired me out quite a bit and I ended up skipping paragraphs here and there. It’s a lot of information, a lot of complex words and thoughts and analogies. And frankly, I am not that big-brained <3
I think my biggest gripe is that I never ended up being incredibly emotionally immersed, even though I thought this book would do that for me. Robin as a main character is a rough journey to process, and I think I’ll keep thinking about him for quite a long time. Reading somebody reach such a breaking point in their life is a lot. I’ve seen people sob over this book, but it was just a couple tears here and there for me. Big thoughts, small emotions basically, despite the amount of struggle and grief in this book. Good media is media that can make me emotional, and I think Babel only did that a humble amount.

Regardless of everything I said here, it's gonna be a book that will stay on my mind for a good while at least. Here's to some good ol' discourse on colonialism!
(Finished my March book on the very last day, kinda slay of me to pull through <3)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Death

pianoman543's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Drug use, War, Suicide, and Gun violence

scytheria's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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: Racism, Death of parent, Grief, Sexism, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: War, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Violence, Trafficking, Suicide, and Slavery

Minor: Toxic friendship, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Police brutality, and Islamophobia