Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

480 reviews

stagemanaginger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.25

No surprise that it’s very well-written. It felt like it took 2/3 of the book for anything to really happen, but because the writing was so good I didn’t mind continuing to read it. The last third of the book is what made it for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Death, Murder, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Violence, War, and Slavery

Minor: Abandonment

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

arieslofi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective 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 don't have a lot of thoughts right now, i'm a little exhausted because this book does mean a lot to me as just a person in general, and i hadn't felt this attached to characters in a long while. the only real complaint i have is towards the end of the book: the pacing feels off, there's a lot of rushed action and i do wish the book was 100 pages longer if it meant it was as natural feeling as the rest of it. (i suppose the beginning could be read as sped-up too, but i didn't feel like that at all!)
the ending isn't my exact favorite, but i did enjoy a lot of it and the glimpse into victoire's past.
anyway griffin PLEAAAAAASE return my fucking calls 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Hate crime, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Death, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Slavery, Physical abuse, War, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

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

bessjoyce's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Slavery, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Drug use

lil_bokchoy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Violence, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Racism, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Homophobia, Child abuse, and Colonisation

fizzieee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Intelligent and clear in its intentions.  Insightful and self-aware in a way I’ve never read before. The magic system is extremely unique and the structure of the novel leans heavily into its academic themes. R.F. Kuang seems to struggle with pacing in their novels, which is why I won’t give this the full 5 stars, but that “weakness” doesn’t prevent me from gobbling up the characters/subject matter of their novels. I’ll be thinking about this one for weeks (maybe years).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Vomit, War, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Death, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

weirdassfanta's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? N/A

5.0

I actually have no words. If you haven’t read this book yet, you need to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Death, Racism, Sexism, Racial slurs, and Slavery

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

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

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