Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

205 reviews

n_li_re's review

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

Recién terminé este libro y ahora mismo no puedo elaborar una sola frase coherente al respecto. Quizá cuando lo haya digerido un poco vuelva a editar esto y desarrollar por qué me ha gustado y hecho sentir tanto.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Torture, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Car accident, War, and Deportation

starlitpage's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Hate crime, and War

abhay_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Very engaging read but a lot of the parts in a classroom went over my head lol 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

shlymiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

This is a great read, a fascinating magic system, and an intriguing storyline. It’s also a hard, heavy read. I’m glad I read it, but be prepared to leave brain space for heavy, real themes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement and Alcohol

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? Yes

5.0

This is a strong recommendation for complex world building, deep characters, analysis of colonialism, racism and sexism and their inherent ties to academia and the British Empire. It was brutal in its evisceration of both academia and the British Empire, but beautifully written and thoroughly researched. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Sexism, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

hayley98's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and War

Minor: Addiction and Alcohol

deedubb's review against another edition

challenging hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

One of my only 5 stars ever. It is enlightening and exposes the nasty truth of colonialism and white supremacy.

I genuinely could not have predicted the ending. I didn’t burst into tears until robin and victoire separated

I will think about this book often

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sn03's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

bloodbrooxv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

Rebecca did it again.

I loved this book from the very first page: you can see how much the author cares about the subject, and the way she manages to reconcile and express her love for the academic setting with an honest, raw and unfiltered critic about colonialism is masterful. As in tpw, Kuang addresses these issues in an extremely deep way, without neglecting the most brutal details. 
I really liked the characters, even if sometimes I’ve found the co-protagonists a bit flat. Robin, on the other hand, is characterized beautifully. His motivations are clear and evolve naturally during the course of the story, and its inner change is as inevitable as necessary. 
I especially loved the second half of the book, mainly because I think that the first half has some pacing issues. Probably the only narrative choice I didn’t appreciate was the way the author used footnotes: they contained very interesting information, but in my opinion they were far too fundamental for the complete understanding of the story, and they compromised the flow of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Representation: chinese mmc, black fmc, indian mmc