Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

87 reviews

dwjnv's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Classism, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, War, and Body horror

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Vomit

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

tahsintries's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Racism, Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Torture, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Addiction, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, and Hate crime

Minor: Infidelity

lauramparis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Classism, Grief, Gun violence, and Sexism

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Racial slurs, War, and Blood

hedsek's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

I found this book really gripping, amazingly well written and super insightful. The whole idea of the silver working and the role language plays in it is really interesting and also appeals to me personally as a linguist, and it was clearly very well researched. The overall treatment of how people respond to oppression was also well thought out and I thought it was gripping to read about the different ways in which the main characters dealt with it. However, one thing I really disliked about this book were the footnotes. They served many different goals and it was very unclear from what perspective they were meant. I feel like they also implied that the author didn't really trust readers to understand the difference between fiction and reality and sometimes even that certain racist views expressed by characters are indeed racist and not factually true. This was mostly in the beginning of the book, though, and it did not take away from my enjoyment of the rest of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Suicide, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Violence, Grief, Racism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Classism, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Blood, Slavery, and War

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Deportation, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Islamophobia

zoevjester's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative 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

4.0

Set in 1830's Oxford, with insight to silver trades, opium, translators' guild, and told with full, in-depth characters who shine through the story, and told through a modern lens. Beautifully written, though bitter-sweet in its ending, it is open-ended with the potential for follow-up if wanted. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Violence, Cultural appropriation, and Death

Minor: Abandonment, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Trafficking, Vomit, War, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

jo_brekker's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

The chances of you being beaten by a book is low, but never zero.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, War, Violence, Classism, Murder, Grief, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Colonisation, and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Islamophobia

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Police brutality

bookishfaye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

Speechless 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Bullying, Classism, Death, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, War, Addiction, Blood, Grief, and Slavery

criticalbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Car accident, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Deportation, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Chronic illness, Death, Gaslighting, Medical content, Misogyny, Police brutality, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Sexism

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

to be added

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Hate crime, Colonisation, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent and Alcohol

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

eralbesu's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Reading this book made me feel smarter. I felt like I learned something, even though I’m fully aware this is historical fiction, it felt educational in a sense. As a victim of colonialism, it challenged me to think of it in a way I never had before. 

RF Kuang is so impressive as a writer. It’s inspiring and challenged me to go deeper with my own writing. 

I really enjoyed this novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Islamophobia, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Drug use, Death of parent, Deportation, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Death, and Medical trauma