Reviews tagging 'Death'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

1506 reviews

rosalie_dsa's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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This book made me racist against the British.

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Content Warnings

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

sinamile's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

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How do I mark something as 20/5 because holy wow R. F. Kuang can write. I don't even know how to begin to explain how in it I was with this book. Every word had me in a childhood and it refused to let go and I didn't want it to let go. I cannot wait to consume everything Kuang releases because yrrrrr because yho because wow! 

And the narrators didn't have to go as hard as they did. But they did. They did that for us! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

sinamile's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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How do I mark something as 20/5 because holy wow R. F. Kuang can write. I don't even know how to begin to explain how in it I was with this book. Every word had me in a chokehold and it refused to let go and I didn't want it to let go. I cannot wait to consume everything Kuang releases because yrrrrr because yho because wow! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

eliasmarina's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism

Moderate: Death, Slavery, Colonisation

Minor: Death of parent

kat_r15's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation

Moderate: Hate crime, Suicide, Grief, War

Minor: Death, Slavery, Trafficking, Death of parent

joy_s's review against another edition

4.0

challenging hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Classism

anyas_book_graphs's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

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This book is a compelling exploration of resistance to colonization. It resonates very strongly in this day and age, portraying the perspective of the oppressed in a human light. This book was beautiful and heartbreaking and thought provoking. Its ending was not satisfying, but much like real life, the endings of true revolutionaries rarely are. I think this book is a good conversation starter for people surrounding revolution, resistance, and why peace is often not an option. Amazing work; no notes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Colonisation, Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Sexism, Grief, Death of parent, War, Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Slavery, War

breannatodd's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, Classism

annabluee's review against another edition

5.0

dark informative 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: Yes

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A very interesting take on a fantasy!  Heavy emphasis on race, class and politics with a cool magic system and a diverse cast. Honestly my favorite read so far this year :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

jordkuba's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I like the concept, I like the writing, I like the plot.
I really enjoyed the first third, because the theory behind translation is interesting to me. (I would have liked more in depth discussions of those parts, but I realise this book is not the place for that!)

What I'm struggling with are two things:

One, the silver/magic/translation system felt not as fleshed out as I would have liked. Maybe I was looking for too much, and it isn't necessary for the story, but I was missing something concrete about it.
Secondly, I read somewhere (referring to Yellowface) that Kuang would be a phenomenal writer if she trusted her readers a bit more. There were definitely parts in Babel where I felt that; Kuang tends to spell out the points she makes to an extent that can almost feel belittling.

Babel is first and foremost about colonialism and how its horrors disproportionately affect people of colour. It made me consider aspects I hadn't thought about before, it evoked empathy and anger and frustration in me.
It did all this without explicitly saying "Colonialism is bad". And it still did say this! In almost those exact words, but no less obvious.

Still, great book, would definitely recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Violence, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, Classism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent

Minor: Toxic friendship