Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

3 reviews

rachel101's review

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kshertz's review

challenging emotional informative 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? No

5.0

Wow this is an incredible book. It starts with colonization and we follow this small boy and there’s some magical realism. But really there’s so much more. There’s history, coming of age, revolution, the realism of change, power, and corruption. I was enthralled and couldn’t put it down. Absolutely a beast of a book but one I will be highly recommending often. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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

4.5

The scholarship behind this book is astounding. I wish I knew a quarter of what Rebecca Kuang knows about languages and history. 

Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy for her to impart that knowledge and the first third of the book is too didactic. The story speeds up considerably when we’re focused on Robin and his cohort, and their scholarly exploits. 

I was repeatedly surprised that offhand comments about people and events were based on what had actually happened. The merchants in Canton, the Chinese commissioner, the 20,000 barrels of opium (without quite as much theater) - all were true. The Rebecca Riots, Peterloo - all repeated instances of England crushing the lower classes. And all the etymologies were real, nothing made up to fit the plot. 

I really liked this book and am looking forward to reading The Poppy War trilogy sometime. For alternate histories, this one is superb. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Classism