Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

46 reviews

awildeasriel's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Violence, Torture, Child abuse, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Death, Racism, Misogyny, Murder, and Slavery

Minor: Grief, Alcoholism, Classism, and Religious bigotry

crybabybea's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Well, I'm disappointed.

First of all, the dark academia aspect was done very well. It felt atmospheric, grand, with a hint of mystery. It felt gloomy in a really fun way. The settings outside of the tower itself were less immersive, but the majority of the story takes place inside the tower anyway so it wasn't too distracting. The dark academia vibe was a genius way to explore a story about decolonization and racism. The magic system was inventive and interesting, and I liked how it stood as a metaphor for the industrial revolution.

The characters were just okay. We get to see Robin, the main character, the most, and I felt really attached to him by the end. The other characters had interesting stories that I felt didn't get explored enough. I understand this book leans in to its literary side, and the characters and arguably the entire plot are just allegories for bigger issues, but I think this made the character work suffer and it made the explosive ending pack less of a punch. Don't get me wrong, I loved the ending, and I still cried, but some of the other moments that were meant to be heavy-hitting fell flat because I didn't feel the connection to the characters. The found family aspect didn't feel fleshed out enough because of this as well.

I think the character work is a side effect of Kuang's tendency to overexplain things rather than actually have things happen. Some of the messaging was so on the nose that it felt pedantic and almost condescending at times. I wanted to read this book to challenge my thinking, and I hoped it would leave me with lots of thoughts to reflect on afterward, but everything gets explained to you so plainly that it completely ruins the amazing research and work Kuang put into telling the story of racism and colonization in academia. I mean, there were literally times when something racist or sexist would happen, then the narrator would have a whole paragraph to say something like "Robin wonders if this white person realized how racist they were being". It got irritating... I felt like I was on Sesame Street. I will say the writing itself was done very well, the prose was accessible despite the scientific, historical, and literary references used, and I appreciated a lot of R.F. Kuang's comments and her sarcastic footnotes.

The last issue is the pacing, which I think is also a side effect of this "telling not showing" issue. This book only gets good around the 60-70% mark. It had an extremely slow start with very little intrigue. We spent a long time in lectures and I felt not enough time was dedicated to furthering either the charcters OR the plot. It was a lot of sitting around and waiting. I don't mind books that have a hill into a snowball second half, but I almost put this book down multiple times because nothing was happening, then one minor action would happen and I would finally think we were going somewhere, just for it to slow down again. 

All these issues made for a really weird reading experience where I absolutely dreaded picking the book back up, then when I started reading it was just fine and I wanted to know more, then it would get boring and the cycle repeated. I expected more from the rave reviews but left feeling like its potential got wasted. I still do think it's a good read overall, but it could have been better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Murder, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexism, Blood, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Gore, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Genocide

keltaklo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Sexism, Death of parent, Grief, Racism, Racial slurs, Classism, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, Drug abuse, and War

Minor: Torture, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Deportation

quendolen's review against another edition

reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Death, Violence, Grief, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug use

ayoung720's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

What a fascinating read. Taking the context of Victorian-era England and using the expansion of Empire and the complexities of language as the foundation for a fantasy novel is a truly inspired move and one that I found to be the basis for an amazing tale full of well-rounded characters, heartbreaking betrayal, and stunning acts of bravery. While there is a section of the book that slightly drags - about 150 pages of their time as students, where we get many a dialogue about the complexities of language and why certain languages are more capable than others in expressing certain ideas - it all builds up to a very satisfying conclusion. There's a moment about 2/3 of the way through the book that you never expect the main character to be able to pull off, and the fact that he does really sets up the final third brilliantly. I still don't completely understand how the magic system works - I get that it manipulates the nuances of translation, but I still don't understand how it causes the desired effects - but I think that each case of use is explained well enough to be able to gloss over the final details. Kuang is one of my favorite authors ever since I read Poppy War and I can't wait for more! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

Minor: Blood and Alcoholism

finn_1312's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad 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: Death, Genocide, Grief, Sexism, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Gun violence, Colonisation, Racism, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Hate crime, War, Slavery, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Islamophobia

millerkg9's review against another edition

adventurous 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

Easily one of the most important books ever written. Kuang managed to convey the intersecting dangers and conflicts of various types of privilege clearly without being patronizing or repetitive, making this an impressively valuable read for anyone, regardless of background. The characters and world building are carefully, beautifully constructed, and the plot and pacing are basically perfect. Absolutely brilliant, in every conceivable way. 

Only complaint I really have is that we don’t actually see the repercussions of

Babel falling.

They’re strongly implied/theorized of course, but I would’ve like to see them on the page. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Grief, Xenophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Racial slurs, War, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Deportation and Alcoholism

forced deportation is explicitly and implicitly threatened throughout the novel, but not actually acted upon as far as I remember.

thewrongalice's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, and Alcoholism

eleanora's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Classism, Islamophobia, Slavery, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Police brutality

Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, and War

kiwij96's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I love a historical fiction book for making history easier to digest through storytelling, and when paired with fantasy it can make things so much more fun. This was...heavy to say the least. Not so much the historical side of things or the etymological side of things, but rather the pacing. The chapters were overwhelmingly weighty and oftentimes the history and linguistics either got lost in the text or came across as info-dumps.

The idea behind the story is fantastic- an insight into 19th century England and colonialism, using translation magic to show the importance of global languages. It was unashamedly uncomfortable at times which is exactly what it should be. But the characters just felt too...self-righteous, or over-clever, and that ruined it for me sometimes. These characters were supposed to be friends yet all they ever did was make each other seem "stupid" compared to their own individual capabilities.

It took me 2 months to get through this and I almost DNF'ed it 3 times because the writing was just so heavy. When I actually had the time to sit and read it properly, I was counting down the pages until it ended. However, had I DNF'ed, I wouldn't have experienced the last 2 sections of the book where the events of the book really came into their own. But it really shouldn't have taken over 300 pages to start enjoying a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, War, Xenophobia, Grief, Classism, Death of parent, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

Minor: Alcoholism and Drug use