Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Babel by R.F. Kuang

2502 reviews

imlfox's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery

leof55's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence

georgiataylor's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Clever concept and plot but a bit heavy handed

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt

laurenleigh's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Once again, I’m in awe of Kuang’s talent. The hard magic system in this story was excellent and so interesting. It’s really more magical realism than fantasy, as this book is firmly set in Victorian era Oxford. I have a soft spot for books set in famous old colleges. I was super engrossed in the middle of this text (academic settings, secret societies, all my faves), but the ending really dragged. It took me way too long to get through the last 5 hours. There was also a major event in the end that I felt deserved more attention, more reaction. I think I was more invested in the characters than the plot at that point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Colonisation

Moderate: Terminal illness

ryanandrew23's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief

Minor: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Death of parent

roseltov's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional 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: Complicated

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Truly a beautiful, moving and enraging story about colonialism, language and friendship. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia

Moderate: Violence

alainral's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Colonisation

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

livcashmere's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism

cherryfreckle's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Classism, Deportation

Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

megliz's review against another edition

3.0

challenging mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Parts 4 and 5 of the book were 5 stars. However, I found the beginning to be pretty boring. The magic system was incredible. I loved the idea of magic based on language. I feel like the beginning could be condensed or more focused on the Hermes Society plotline or on the training. The 1st 3 parts were horrible moments, fluff about Oxford, some character moment, little bit of learning, little bit of plot, and repeat. Over and over. Until part 4, where the plot started to fly.

At times, it felt like more reading a textbook with hints of character moments, an actual fantasy fiction book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Suicide, Colonisation