Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

4 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Is it wrong to move a book up the TBR due to it being listed on a GoodReads challenge? I am glad I read this book but I feel like the challenges are manipulating the readers. Is a book popular on GoodReads because it is good or because I am reading it to tick off one more challenge? 

 

That aside, this is a very good book. The main four characters feel very real and I can empathise with the viewpoints of all of them. It is also an important book. While languages have not been used in the method the book describes with the silver working they have been stolen in a manner not unlike the onebbnn nn nn  h described in the book. The Opium Wars were very real wars that were fought to keep the opium legal in China for the benefit of European trading companies. 

 

We can learn from history and do better, but we have to actually do better. 

 

Stolen labour, stolen land, stolen language, stolen lives. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

lynxpardinus's review

adventurous dark emotional tense

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Pandemic/Epidemic

athryn's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense 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

2.5

I mostly enjoyed this book, especially the first half. I really found the exploration of languages and translation to be good.

It ultimately ended up a bit stale to me, like the author had a really good grasp of the translation and language stuff, and yet wasn't all that great at actually writing historical fantasy. The characters at Oxford really didn't resonate with me as much as I'd like. The constant modern phrasing in the dialogue just felt off. Don't get me wrong, I love a "fuck the British Empire" and "fuck capitalism" book, but this just ... I dunno. It feels overrated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Car accident

aseel_reads's review

challenging dark reflective 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? Yes

4.0

i really enjoyed the social critique this book had on academia, colonisation, empire, knowledge etc. i actually really like the footnotes, there were not too many of them. it was definitely quite slow in the middle and the big thing that happened, i had been waiting all book for it to happen. i think it had a realistic ending and i like the blend of history and magic that the author managed. i do think i didn't care that much for the characters themselves, just their circumstances. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism