Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

48 reviews

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad 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: Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Racism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Death, Classism, Torture, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Gore, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Slavery, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, War, Misogyny, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Blood, Hate crime, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Islamophobia, Body horror, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Child death, Drug use, Bullying, Mental illness, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Vomit, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Rape, and Sexual violence

nyssbomb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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: Death of parent, Child abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, War, Alcohol, Classism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Medical content

winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-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

One the best books ever written.
One of my favorite books of all time, this feels like my soul.

For everyone who loves Addie LaRue! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Suicide attempt, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Ableism, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, War, Addiction, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Body horror

mekowaletti's review

adventurous challenging slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Medical content, Death, Abandonment, Murder, Classism, Racism, Misogyny, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Sexism

Minor: Drug use and Slavery

donatio's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? No

4.75

I had some minor difficulties with the book, namely that action took its time, that action scenes felt somehow slow and that none of the characters ever considered changing their position. At first I adored the slow writing because it was a great introduction into fairy-tale Oxford but when action was called for I would have wished for less lingering. 
But that doesn't get in the way of the message: That colonialism, racism, classism and all the other problems mentioned have to be resolved, not only then but in our time and world too. 
Therefor I would say some little changes in the style would have made it a bit better but it still is a very important book and touches on topics not many fantasy stories touch upon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Sexism, Misogyny, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Child death, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

kumquats87's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-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? Yes

4.25

While I do have some issues with elements of the ending, I was completely on board with book. I related to Robin to a concerning degree, and the gothic, dark academic mood was everything I wanted. A dark academia that actually examined academia as a weapon of empire; as producers of “knowledge” used to subjugate, to maintain power relations and the status quo. Incredible.

I still want to know what happened in Burma.

Yes, there were footnotes. Yes, some characters could have been developed beyond the role of ideologue. Yet I also wanted to jump on the decolonisation train. (Sure, I wanted to do so beforehand, but that’s besides the point.) I felt sickened while reading this, so for me, it did the job.

Now, my final point. This was far funnier than I thought it would be. While it is not a comedy by any means, the dark humour in this book was right up my alley.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Bullying, Death, Slavery, Child abuse, Hate crime, Torture, Racism, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Deportation, Blood, Gaslighting, and Islamophobia

Minor: Alcohol, Police brutality, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

hanz's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, and War

Moderate: Addiction and Drug use

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

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