jelliestars's review
- 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
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
- 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
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!
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
- 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
Conceptually the book discussed important themes with no subtlety, but there was nothing there to keep attention to. A bit disappointing.
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
- 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
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
- 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
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
- 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
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.asifsyed's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Slavery, Misogyny, Grief, Drug abuse, and Gun violence
Minor: Torture, Police brutality, War, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
jokeater's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, War, Death, Racism, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Medical content, and Misogyny
Minor: Slavery and Islamophobia
julieyael's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What made me rate 4 is the world building around silverwork and the translations.
I am naturally in love with languages, ethymology and linguistics. So to have them at the center of a fiction book was a dream come true.
What I liked about this novel:
- the general theme
- the reasearch done by the author to give a good foundation and credibility to the world and story
- the academic settings, with lots of details
-the footnotes, which may seem too much explanation but actually give the reader a nice idea of the background and the events on the side, without adding to the actual text of the story.
- the general writing (it was my first book by this author)
What I thought could have been improved:
- the characters are a bit shallow to my taste. It’s hard to relate and find a coherent personnality in any of them. I love a good character, but these all seem more like quick steches rather than full illustrations, if you understand what I mean.
Some of them are just names thrown at you, and some important characters don’t seem to have a clear purpose.
- the redundance of making the point that « white men are evil, colonization is bad, all people have rights ». Yes, it’s important and it’s a main theme of the novel.
But once the author had explained that once, she could have been more subtle in the 500 other following pages. The point is made clear, but it’s the way she does it that feels redundant and sometimes a bit condescending.
- there were some lengths in the middle of the book, but I am happy that the ending turned better. (Even if some things feel a bit too easy)
To conclude this rather long review: I am glad that I read this book, but not sure if I would read it again (it was more than 500 pages, and with some flaws)
I may have been slightly generous on the rate, so I might reconsider in a few days when the dust is settled😁
Anyway, I strongly recommend the reading, it’s worth the read, even with the imperfections😊
Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Death, Gun violence, Death of parent, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Grief, and Toxic friendship
signeskov's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Torture, Misogyny, Colonisation, Child abuse, Blood, Sexism, Racial slurs, Islamophobia, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Grief, Racism, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Addiction
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Slavery, and War