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nialiversuch's review
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
elenaluisa's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
giulianasbooks's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
El mensaje que quiere transmitir la autora con este libro sí que me ha parecido súper bueno, además que en el libro ves cómo los personajes son tratados y estereotipados por sus razas/colores de piel, así como una misoginia tremenda hacia las mujeres que, por desgracia, aún sigue pasando. Los personajes me han encantado, sobretodo Victoire y Ramy, y me encanta cómo la autora ha plasmado a Letty para representar lo que una persona blanca nunca podría llegar a entender (la razón por la cual llevaron a cabo el desmantelamiento de los planes que tenían entre manos los profesores de Babel con respecto a China) básicamente porque nunca ha tenido que pasar por racismo.
Aunque yo tenía otras expectativas, no es un libro para nada malo, pero ha habido veces que se me ha hecho insufrible, y no es hasta más de la mitad del libro que empiezan a pasar cosas interesantes. Lo del tema de la traducción me ha parecido bastante interesante, eso sí. A eso me refiero a lo de mi relación toxica, porque me parece un libro súper pesado pero que está increíblemente escrito.
Por supuesto, leeré más libros de R. F. Kuang. La verdad sea dicha: ella es increíble.
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The toxic relationship I have with this book is inexplicable. I bought it because of all the hype it had and from the synopsis it seemed like a pretty interesting book. It took me a while to get to it because I had other books on my tbr, but after a few months, I was finally able to read it. The truth is that the author writes incredibly well, her pen is amazing. I know perfectly well that it is a historical fiction book but I had been told that it was a a dark academia with a lot of magic (Harry Potter-ish vibes) but it wasn’t like that at all. On some occasions it even seemed like I was reading my high school history book and the truth is that that disappointed me a bit, since magic appears much less than I thought and honestly, there’s information that could have been omitted from the book (because, in my opinion, it had more pages than needed) and it could’ve been much shorter.
The message that the author wants to transmit with this book is incredible, in addition to the fact that in the book you see how the characters are treated and stereotyped because of their race/skin color, as well as a tremendous misogyny towards women which unfortunately it's still happening. I loved almost all the characters, especially Victoire and Ramy, and I love how the author wrote Letty to represent what a white person could never understand (the reason why they carried out the dismantling of the plans of the Babel professors regarding China) basically because they’ve never had to go through racism.
Although I had other expectations, it's not a bad book at all, but there were times when I found it insufferable, and it's not until more than halfway through the book that interesting things start to happen. However, all the translation stuff was quite interesting to me. That's what I mean about my toxic relationship with it, because it’s such a dense book but it's incredibly written.
Of course, I will read more books by R. F. Kuang. Truth be told: she is amazing.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Suicide attempt and Alcohol
Minor: Drug use
gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Where do I begin. This was perfection in a novel... Bold words, I know.
This straight away reminded me of a recent read, being Jonathan strange and Mr norrel in tone, but I would say more accessible, which is funny because one of the main things I loved about this novel was how academic this was. I've always liked the idea of dark academia but always thought I'd struggle to understand the information, (probably why I leaned away from this for so long), but it was so reader friendly in its prose and so fascinating that I couldn't help pour over every word. It was so surprisingly easy to read that I barely minded the lack of consistent short chapters.
As well as being visceral in the vibe of the genre, it wasn't shy on having substance.
The plot was thick and intricate, with threads of conspiracies and beautiful detailing on the science behind silver-working (the magic system in this world). The conversations on interpretation, colonialism, building into a corrupt Empire was just so powerful to read about.
The victorian setting was lush, filled with jaw dropping descriptions of an imagined Oxford in what you could call this alternate history, and the early tour of the Institue of Language itself was fascinating.
Speaking of language, the etymology was so thorough, fascinating and deep. I loved seeing how different languages connected, and in this case, paired together to create something quite magical, yet equally dangerous in the wrong (and of course, powerful) hands.
Our characters..Oh what can I say that hasn'y been said before?
I Ioved the friendship demonstrated here, especially between Robin and Ramy. Seeing our main four characters explore Babel from their varying and diverse perspectives and as novice scholars of language was such a delight.
I appreciated getting interludes of the other threes upbringing and history, because the story is mainly told from Robin's perspective, so it was nice to change it up a bit and appreciate a bit more of the other characters. Even if we didn't have that, I could never accuse Robin, Ramy, Victoire and Letty of being flat characters. They felt real.
The whole time, pacing was brilliant. This was especially noticed at times when I was listening to the audio.
I feel like I learned so much during my time in this world. I'm left heartbroken and in awe at the sheer aduacity of excellence R.F. Kuang had in crafting this whole piece together. Coming into this as the first novel I've read from this author, I now understand that all the praise is well deserved and I look forward to trying out her other novels.
A note on the audio - the voices and accents the narrator could flit between was so impressive. He sounded like a BBC news reporter for the first time, but this was quite endearing as time went on.
I loved blended reading this one (physical and audio). It felt like my own little match-pair.
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
Minor: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Car accident, and Alcohol
shaipanda's review
- 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
It got a lot darker in the last 200 pages which I didn’t fully expect so definitely be aware of that but this is just a masterpiece of a book.
R F Kuang is ridiculously skilled at writing about things that she has done incredible amounts of research and study on and this is a great example of that
Just an amazing and incredibly impactful read that I will be thinking about for the foreseeable future
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Kidnapping, Abandonment, War, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Vomit, Police brutality, and Alcohol
nils_0's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Suicide, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt
edgaranjapoe's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Trafficking, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
nyssbomb's review
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism
winterwoodbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
One of my favorite books of all time, this feels like my soul.
For everyone who loves Addie LaRue!
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Deportation
midwest_girlyreader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Classism