Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

70 reviews

aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Death of parent, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Classism, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Death, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Police brutality, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

tbd24's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.75

this book was my niche exactly so I feel a little biased but I liked it a lot. The writing was very good and evocative, I found myself literally gasping aloud or beginning to sweat during tense parts of the book. Very good character writing and development, though I was a little disappointed

Spoiler

Rami and Robin were only ever subtext, I would have been a bit more satisfied if they had a proper conversation about it, even once, especially since they were gonna die in the end anyway so what did the author have to lose. I feel like the reason it was never explicit is because the author didn’t know how to write a conversation like that and still keep the historical realism, though others have done this well. idk, it just disappointed me

. Overall, the only reason this was not a five star read for me was the pacing was a little bit too sporadic for my taste. There were drawn out moments that I wish had been shorter and quick fly by scenes that I wish we could have relished in. But other than that, loved it, and will defs read again

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Murder, Domestic abuse, Torture, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Trafficking, Addiction, Islamophobia, Ableism, Toxic friendship, War, Slavery, and Sexism

abril6's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Racism, Death, and Domestic abuse

norea999's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

My opinion of this book is not at all objective, it just holds a very special place in my heart. Aside from that personal story it’s attached to, it’s just brilliant. It’s dark, it’s important and it’s about language. Who wouldn’t love that? Essentially Kuang managed to put all of the thoughts that I ever had about language and translation into words, for example that  every language is based on its own ways of thinking and concepts, for which there can be no precise translation in another language. love love love

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

jelliestars's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Torture, Colonisation, Gun violence, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Murder, and Misogyny

Moderate: Gore, Torture, Child abuse, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Classism, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, War, and Addiction

Minor: Child death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Trafficking, Car accident, Genocide, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Vomit, Confinement, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, and Panic attacks/disorders

audreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-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

Such a beautiful book. I started out expecting dark academia with some social commentary and was taken on a journey so much further than that. I’ve rarely loved a protagonist so much as I loved Robin. My heartstrings were tugged in every direction.

Despite being about language and often delving into etymology, the book is in no way pretentious. It’s quite the opposite. Accessible literature is the key to liberation and Kuang shows us that with both the character’s journey and with the book itself. At times I did wish some footnotes were simply in the text above, as I lost my place every time I checked one. However, the footnotes did bring an even more intimate touch to the book and were sometimes helpful.

Spoiler

If I really scrape my brain to find anything not to like about the book, it is only in lack of setup for some key plot points. First, Letty. That witch. I’m not going to say I didn’t expect her to turn on them. Of course I did. But I felt it would have been more in character for her to simply turn them over to the police or call her dad and never show her face until the end. Killing Ramy??? (cried forever btw) I get she was in love with him, but she just doesn’t seem like she’d have it in her to directly do it. I mean that to say she’d take the cowardly way, but still betray them by turning them in. Even with that being said, I 100% agree with hammering in the point of the privileged white woman who will do anything to look like the victim while destroying others.

The other part I felt needed a better setup was Robin and Victoire’s storm on Babel. It felt a little underwhelming and to be honest I don’t think so many people would be so easily convinced to go along with occupying the building, especially not Craft who we had never heard express discontent with Babel before, even though she knew everything they were doing. And I didn’t really get why they were so protected from the police. I know why they couldn’t kill them, but why couldn’t they enter the building? Not questioning the plot at ALL here. I think it’s so important to show strikers as the assets they are. Just commenting on some things I felt were a little confusing. All in all, these comments are just me coming up with the only tiny complaints I possibly could! The book is incredible!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Torture, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, War, Suicide, and Racism

Minor: Slavery

The list of content warnings seems long, but most of these things are tied intrinsically into the class themes in the book, on large scale and personal level. I’m very sensitive to triggering content and there were only a couple parts of the book that were hard to read. I try to include all content warnings to help people like me, but don’t be scared away from this book at all! Kuang handles everything in the best possible way.

solarel's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

The first third of this book was an interesting dive into an academic and magical world. The rest of it was a slog. Plot twists occurred but felt more anxiety inducing than exciting. The last quarter of it that ramped up to the climax was just a passage of days and weeks where nothing happened at all. 

Conceptually the book discussed important themes with no subtlety, but there was nothing there to keep attention to. A bit disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, War, Death of parent, Classism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, and Domestic abuse

griffin_7's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Violence, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Vomit, Hate crime, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Colonisation, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Forced institutionalization

kai_okay's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Slavery, and Domestic abuse

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-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

This book is amazing. It feels classic, riffing on so many known qualities of well known books yet it still does its own thing. The history and ideas are implemented so intelligently that this fantasy feels more historic fiction than anything. The fantasy is really more for quickly explaining action and technology. The magic is in the language, the languages help define the characters and their dynamics with each other, it’s thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Xenophobia, Car accident, Cursing, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Trafficking, Violence, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Stalking, War, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Confinement, Death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Rape, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

All the themes said to be triggers are present, particularly the race and religion ones. There’s a scene where it appears that female characters could hypothetically be assaulted. The racism and discrimination on religion angles are throughout the book. The major theme of the book is reconciling existing within educational institutions in the west while the same people you’re learning from are harming your original homelands, whether you remember them or not, and the moral plus political repercussions of that.