Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Babel: Una historia arcana by R.F. Kuang

55 reviews

eudaemonics's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and War

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

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

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

scmiller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Deportation

chiwirite's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

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.

goose'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? It's complicated

4.5

I really had fun with this book. It hurt though! Just finished it and I gotta sit with it for a while. It's very heavy at times and like others have stated may have benefited from being divided into 2-3 books instead of one large tome. I feel like then the pacing could have felt unified in separate volumes instead of contrasting with itself as the book goes on. The use of footnotes might be cumbersome for people, for me it was okay. It wasn't handled very well in the digital edition I read on Libby (the asterisk to click on to send you to the footnote at the end of the book was small and hard to press, meaning I'd have to sit and try many times before it worked.) Of course a physical edition wouldn't have this problem. Also have a  dictionary on standby, I came across many words I didn't know (in this case the ebook gets a point in favor because it's easy to highlight something to look it up.) All in all despite minor faults here and there (really wish we got to see more of the other characters) this book kept me rapt and I really couldn't put it down once the stakes got high. I also felt like it somehow managed to juggle a lot of ideas and once and knit them together into a great story, which is a feat in it of itself. Wholly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Vomit, Islamophobia, and War

Other tags that Storygraph doesn't have:

main character death, main character murder

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mollyhardt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Grief, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, and Blood

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

I really enjoyed this one! It felt a bit wordy and tedious at times, which is why I gave it the raiting  I did. But overall I really liked it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, and Deportation

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Excrement, and Car accident