Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

306 reviews

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

jimmy_o3's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

this books hurts. like it’s hard to get into at the start but after you just keep reading and can’t stop and oh my god i didn’t think the characters would impact me as much as they did

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Death, Grief, and Misogyny

evelasco's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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: Toxic friendship, Classism, Misogyny, Death, Racism, Death of parent, Violence, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Slavery, Addiction, and War

rieviolet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative sad 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

5.0

Honestly this book is like catnip for me. A historical setting (with a heavy focus on imperialism and colonialism) plus a sprinkle of fantasy elements, and above all so much about language and translation embedded into the storyline, just sign me up please! 

It is not without flaws. At times the handling of its themes is very heavy-ended, everything is spelled out for the reader and you can see the author's hand very cleary, so much so that you feel a bit pulled out of the narrative. The portrayal of some characters could use some more depth and exploration, in places it felt a little surface-level and stilted. 
The ending is maybe a bit too open-ended for my liking.

That being said, the book is still a marvellous feat of the dark academia genre. I loved the reading experience, it was fascinating and gripping, it kept me on the edge of my seat with its twists and turns and put me on a roller coaster of emotions. Just, why did you have to crush my heart like that, R. F. Kuang? My poor boys.

Language was just difference. A thousand different ways of seeing, of moving through the world. No; a thousand worlds within one. And translation - a necessary endeavour, however futile, to move between them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, Classism, Sexism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Violence, Torture, Grief, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, War, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Addiction, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

chiar_'s review

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Suicide, Violence, War, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Death, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Misogyny, Drug use, and Sexism

ckmariama's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Sexism, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Gaslighting, Death, and Violence

viporras's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Racism, Violence, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, War, and Xenophobia

arieslofi's review

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

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

fizzieee's review

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