Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

234 reviews

nadia_luq's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, War, and Xenophobia

steffiepie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Drug use, Torture, and Gore

Moderate: Death, War, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Main themes include imperialism and language

dragongirl271's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Misogyny, Child abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use and Child death

booksandcat's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I absolutely adored this book. I've seen other reviews mention a change halfway through, and I agree with that - the first half, focusing more on translation and learning, was definitely my favourite over the last half, which focused more on violence and attempted revolution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Gun violence, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, and War

funcabbage's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Murder, Sexism, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Drug use and Child abuse

scorpioness's review

medium-paced

4.0

It was good, it got slow, and the writing kind of fell flat to me because it just felt like it was trying to capture everything exactly and a little scientifically instead of poetically, but the ending saved it and the message was so powerful and relevant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, War, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Drug use, Slavery, and Murder

bloodbrooxv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

Rebecca did it again.

I loved this book from the very first page: you can see how much the author cares about the subject, and the way she manages to reconcile and express her love for the academic setting with an honest, raw and unfiltered critic about colonialism is masterful. As in tpw, Kuang addresses these issues in an extremely deep way, without neglecting the most brutal details. 
I really liked the characters, even if sometimes I’ve found the co-protagonists a bit flat. Robin, on the other hand, is characterized beautifully. His motivations are clear and evolve naturally during the course of the story, and its inner change is as inevitable as necessary. 
I especially loved the second half of the book, mainly because I think that the first half has some pacing issues. Probably the only narrative choice I didn’t appreciate was the way the author used footnotes: they contained very interesting information, but in my opinion they were far too fundamental for the complete understanding of the story, and they compromised the flow of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Death, Racism, Violence, Sexism, Racial slurs, Blood, Torture, and Child abuse

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Slavery, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Religious bigotry

Representation: chinese mmc, black fmc, indian mmc

jelliestars's review

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

missmali's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Violence, Racial slurs, Suicide, Colonisation, Racism, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Bullying, Drug use, Death, and Sexism

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

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