Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

904 reviews

fronk10's review

adventurous challenging informative mysterious sad fast-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

4.0

An excellent and thought provoking read. I loved the characters, and Robin’s journey was so interesting to watch. It also has such a unique magic system that I adored, I just feel it got a little bogged down in semantics sometimes - but they are language scholars after all! A hard read at times, but a necessary one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, War, Racism, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Death of parent, and Child abuse

penofpossibilities's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

the first half was incredibly slow paced and at times a drag to get through. If it wasn't for some long train rides with nothing better to do, I would've taken much longer to finish. The last quarter or so was really exciting though! I even got emotional and started crying near the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Racial slurs, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Blood, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Cultural appropriation, Ableism, Xenophobia, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Colonisation, Classism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

Moderate: Addiction, Vomit, Islamophobia, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Slavery, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Child death, and War

carlapastor's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This is my second read of the book and I found that I had forgotten so much about it. How Rebecca manages to create a world, half fantasy half truth (sometimes couldn't tell the difference) and make such a strong critical book is amazing. First time I read it I picked it up randomly but it is truly one of my favorite books. 
Also, I don't think it was ever dense. This is one of those books that just make you want to keep reading. If I'm honest, I hope next time I read it it's not before bed, because I just can't put it down.

One of the few 5 stars I've read in my life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Cursing, Racial slurs, Slavery, Colonisation, Drug use, Murder, Sexism, War, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction

philososquid's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-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? No

4.0

This book was certainly an adventure. I was very excited to read it, because I love light fantasy, and I love linguistics. When I learned about how magic works in this world, I was so excited. And I loved all the footnotes going into explanations about all the language.

I loved reading about the academic life of Robin and his classmates, and it was so exciting to include the Hermes society in Robin's life. I think RJ Kuang is skilled at world building and describing everything I'm her world clearly (though this is my first book by her). 

I was so excited reading this book, seeing where it would go, but to be honest, that feeling fizzled out at the end. I think the story ended kind of quickly, considering all the build up. Perhaps the first 3/4 of the book could have been condensed, and we could have learned more about the Hermes society

before it was basically blown up, and all the members were killed

. 

Additionally, while I agree it's important to acknowledge the racism that all the characters experience, seeing as most of them are non-white, I feel that the author just beat us over the head with this message. I think I could have gotten the message even if it wasn't explicitly written over and over again how this white character was terribly racist towards this character of color. It just felt juvenile, like the author couldn't trust us to get the message unless she said it very clearly, over and over again. 

I gave the book 4 stars because for the most part, I enjoyed it and was excited to read it. But to be honest, I am disappointed how it ended. Not the plot, per say, but the way it happened, if that makes sense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, and Racism

annamary54's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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

I am at a loss for words right now. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It also doubled my vocabulary. I have been contemplating going back to school for linguistics, and this book made me want to go even more, until it didnt. And at the same time this book had everything and nothing to do with linguistics. Incredible topical time for me to be reading the this (although I’m sure you could stay that about any time). I’m just thinking of the protests happening at colleges around the US calling for a ceasefire. Very much resembles the back half of this book. I will say, it was a slow start for me, only because I started reading this when I was in a reading slump and the world building was just a lot of translation. Once I got about 40% of the way though, things started picking up. I really was going to give this 4.75 just because it was so hard for me to get into it, even with my love of language, but book five was so good I had no choice but to give this 5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Police brutality, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Hate crime, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

elisabeth23's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Slavery, and Colonisation

Moderate: Classism, Violence, and Suicide

etherisapoet's review

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, Suicide, and Racism

very_mellifluous's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-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

5.0

godDAMN this book was incredible. For fans of The Magicians, Ninth House, Jhumpa Lahiri's In Other Words, dark academia, linguistics slowburn revolutionary politics with a touch of whimsy. 

The finish is still fresh in my mind and it hurts to think about too much. Possible revisions of this review to come as it percolates. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, Racism, Colonisation, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

kitkathw871's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

I love RF Kuang's writing and how massively intelligent you can tell that she is. The book is well researched and makes you miss being a student with the way she writes about linguistics. I've not met anyone who's been able to write narratives about these specific racial themes the way that Kuang does and it makes my personal experiences feel seen, even in her book's faraway setting and context. This book is sharp, fantastical, and a reflection of its author's best qualities. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, War, and Violence

nie_fertig's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Babel is like Maus where I believe everyone should read it just for the intense experience and understanding. It's so incredibly wild how different the two acts of the book are, as it starts out pretty calm, although with a definite disturbing undertone (I hated the professor from the beginning for being so manipulative and abusive toward Robin, the main character). It's particularly calm when Robin starts college, makes friends, and studies and learns in his classes (btw kudos to the author for RESEARCHING linguistics omg you'll learn more about the overall study of language from this book then from a 300 level undergrad linguistic college class), but then it slowly comes crashing down and I won't spoil too much, but there's a sudden moment where everything gets extremely dark and Robin and his friends lose everything they've worked for, but I won't say it was their faults--not even Robin's fault--nor will I say losing all their privileges was particularly a bad thing because they escaped the biased, white privileged system where they'll never fully receive respect because they're not white (besides Letty and hoooboy her character and what happens,,,,)
I don't want to spoil anymore, but it's absolutely worth the read and I will say here and now ROBIN X RAMY !!! 🥺🥺🥺

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death, Sexism, Colonisation, Drug use, and Death of parent