Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

1177 reviews

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

lucakocsis's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective slow-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? No

4.5

I loved reading this book from the first page. The setting and the theme is amazing and the characters are real and lovable. The magic system is interesting, at some points the logic is a bit clunky but overall it's a refreshing take on it. 

I only wish that the second half of the book had dealt with the deaths of some characters a bit better. It felt rushed at times and even though they were the driving force behind Robin's actions after, they somehow still felt a bit inconsequential. I also feel the character change in Robin was too drastic after their deaths but grief can take many forms so I'm not too hung up on it .

Overall I would highly recommend this book but only to those who are really interested in linguistics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Colonisation, Misogyny, Classism, Racism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Suicide and Toxic friendship

Minor: Blood, Body horror, and Gun violence

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

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

bookcasey's review against another edition

challenging 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Gun 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

hellichipmunk's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Torture, Grief, Drug abuse, Suicide, Racism, Colonisation, Death, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Gun violence, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, War, and Confinement

quinn24's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative reflective tense 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

I am absolutely floored. I was so fucking stressed reading this I had to keep taking breaks and honestly I’m a little pissed at how intelligent R.F. Kuang is. Insane. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Drug use, Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Vomit