Reviews with content warning for Pandemic/Epidemic - Babel: An Arcane History

An original and engrossing read that draws you into its universe. For me it fell short of its elevated reputation, though. It tries to do too much, forcing character arcs that don't feel believable. For me, it was a little too overt with its messaging.

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asainspace's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

A fast-paced, engaging read, great for people who liked ‘His Dark Materials’. I really enjoyed this book, but would have liked the discussion of colonialism to be slightly less heavy-handed - in a book focused on the subtleties of language, a less didactic, more ‘show don’t tell’ approach could have been more effective. Still, I will definitely be checking out other books by this author!

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krows_ink's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

"A permanent dialogue with oneself and an increasingly obscene narcissism never ceased to prepare the way for a half delirious state, where intellectual work became suffering and the reality was not at all that of a living man, working and creating himself, but rather words, different combinations of words, and the tensions springing from the meanings contained in words." - Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, Transcribed by Dominic Tweedie.

Initially, when I picked up Babel I didn't think that I would like it nearly as much as I do now that I have finished. There is something hauntingly beautiful and soul-wrenching contained in these pages. The world feels real because it mostly is. The characters are deeply flawed - each one of them. The writing is exceptional and the use of language use is so profound that I cannot seem to comment on it. Truly, most of my words (ironically) seem to have escaped me even almost 24 hours after completing the novel.

R.F. Kuang's commentary on imperialism and colonialism is incredibly well crafted. Not to mention her exploration of internalized oppression, white supremacy culture, and white feminism. While some may state that the commentary or exploration of these themes felt heavy-handed, I cannot bear to agree. I believe that there are times to be blatant about what you mean and this novel is a perfect example. However, it is not without nuance and room to explore. I will be rereading this book, possibly later this year.

The rest will be marked as spoilers because there are some things I cannot express without possibly delving into the book's later sections.

R.F. Kuang's use of parallels and mirroring of previous scenes in the book blew me away. Everything surrounding Ramy and Robin broke my heart. Not to mention Victoire's backstory and how she was orphaned and the relatability of that to Robin's backstory. To say that I am heartbroken after reading this book is an understatement. A piece of me almost simply wrote "I am empty inside". However, that would be a disservice to this book.

The final scene. The final scene took my breath away. I was a sobbing and incoherent mess as I read it, blabbing nonsense as I broke down all over again reading "She smiles. She says his name." I couldn't have ended Robin's story better. The use of present tense? Amazing. Bringing it back to the first chapter - to the first scene? Heartbreaking. I was so engrossed by these last chapters and felt numb and empty after reading them. Truly one of my new favorites which I consider difficult to earn the title of.

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dragonwriter's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring sad slow-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

5.0

Welcome to an alternate Victorian England, where magic is bound in silver, comprised of a "matched pair" of words, words translated into two languages to accurately capture the intent of the spell. Meet Robin Swift, born in Canton, China, but brought to England by his British Guardian, raised specifically to be a translator and silversmith, to continue the British Empire through the magic of silver. He's kept fairly isolated growing up, focused on his studies in Latin, Greek, English, and Mandarin, Robin makes no real friends until he is sent to Oxford and put in the Babel program, where he will be trained to find matched pairs. His cohort of peers are Remy, from India, Victoire from Haiti via France, and Lettie, the pretty daughter of an British Admirable. Robin slides into this group fairly easy, forming a fast friendship with Remy, but when he bumps into Griffin Harvey, his perspective on the world starts to shift. Griffin is his older half brother, the son of the professor who raised him. who was pulled from China too early to be truly useful to the professor and was thus discarded when he could no longer serve his purpose. Pessimistic about the world, Griffin is still determined to undermine the British Empire in every way he can, stealing silver and resources from Babel itself and forming a society he calls "Hermes" to prevent further colonization of the world. At first, Robin joins Hermes as a way to get to know his brother and gain the family he never really had, but when Griffin asks him to help with a particularly violent mission, Robin backs out, not wanting to hurt anyone. Griffin allows this and disappears from Robin's life, letting him fall back into being just a student, and forming deep and lasting friendships with his cohorts -- until he discovers that Victoire and Remy have also joined Hermes. Things truly come to a head when the cohort discovers that Babel professors are purposefully poisoning China with opium and pushing for war, all so that England could maintain its superior silver stores and national pride in itself. Then, Robin is forced to stop standing on the fence and pick a side.

There was a slow but beautiful build of the plot. It really let you get to know the workings of this world that is so close to ours and see through the eyes of those fighting for equality in a white-ruled world. Large sections of the book read like college lectures on magic and etymology, and quite honestly, those were my favorite parts! This book really showed the struggles BIPOC face day to day, as well as how little the government cares for its working class people. It also makes a powerful argument that the repercussions and collateral damage of a strike should lie with those in power, and not those asking the power to stop the injustices they suffer.
I highly recommend this book!

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one_more_chapter96's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative 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

4.25

Incredibly written, researched and crafted - I felt like I was reading a university paper (but the most interesting and creatively written one ever, so not in a bad way!). There were so many heart warming and familiar moments in the story from the main cohort’s time as students at Uni that brought a lot of nostalgia. There were also a lot of really deep, soul aching points made (sometimes inadvertently) around race, religion, gender and morality that didn’t feel overbearing but were so impactful to read. This book was awe-some really. Quite dense on the foundation / character gilding to begin with but still interesting. Once you hit the 65% mark it all kicks off and is a whirlwind! I laughed, I definitely cried and I am in awe of this story. So heartfelt and introspective whilst being so interesting to learn about the world.

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paduckling's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

Thematically, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. The use of language as fuel for colonialism is just so brilliant. Kuang is truly brilliant. However, I feel like this book could have been virtually perfect if it had just had some more editing. The pace felt off a lot, particularly in the third act. I absolutely know that Kuang can write compelling scenes and characters but a good amount felt lackluster. The misuse of a few words throughout the book also felt especially glaring considering the novel’s premise. I also felt that trying to write it as an academic book was 1) inconsistent and 2) got in the way of good characterization. The four main characters had such good bones to them but in the end I didn’t find them as compelling as I wanted to. It’s just ultimately disappointing how stunning this book is for many aspects but falls flat in others for me personally.

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