Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

53 reviews

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

reedlaww's review

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring slow-paced

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

2.5

An academically well-written work that introduces the reader to a brilliantly crafted concept of magic, but transforms to a heavy-handed social commentary of inequality, capitalism, and colonialism. 

The pacing is slow, and the general plot-devices are largely predictable. 

The characters are well-written and the commentary is poignant and relevant. But the concepts of the latter portion are nothing new or remarkable to a reader with the aptitude to make it to that hill. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexual assault

bobaduckie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Police brutality, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Cultural appropriation

Spoilers ahead: Betrayal because

Letty shoots Ramy and turns Hermes in

hannah_banana_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? No

5.0

Wow. No words can summary this book justly. The writing, the vocabulary, the very original plot, the over 500pgs with no read dry spots, the raw humanity in the characters, the fantasy theme woven through historically accurate and culturally relevant issues. 10/10. I will be rereading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Xenophobia

kiwij96's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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

3.5

I love a historical fiction book for making history easier to digest through storytelling, and when paired with fantasy it can make things so much more fun. This was...heavy to say the least. Not so much the historical side of things or the etymological side of things, but rather the pacing. The chapters were overwhelmingly weighty and oftentimes the history and linguistics either got lost in the text or came across as info-dumps.

The idea behind the story is fantastic- an insight into 19th century England and colonialism, using translation magic to show the importance of global languages. It was unashamedly uncomfortable at times which is exactly what it should be. But the characters just felt too...self-righteous, or over-clever, and that ruined it for me sometimes. These characters were supposed to be friends yet all they ever did was make each other seem "stupid" compared to their own individual capabilities.

It took me 2 months to get through this and I almost DNF'ed it 3 times because the writing was just so heavy. When I actually had the time to sit and read it properly, I was counting down the pages until it ended. However, had I DNF'ed, I wouldn't have experienced the last 2 sections of the book where the events of the book really came into their own. But it really shouldn't have taken over 300 pages to start enjoying a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism and Drug use

uranaishi's review

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

bookishmaggie's review

adventurous reflective tense

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Excellent commentary on atrocities of colonialism, the self destructive force of imperialism, and the bonds formed among the marginalized in this violent demanding world 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ell_n's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Gun violence, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual assault

thebankofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

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