Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Babel

Definitely one of the best books I've read in a long time, and for once I can see what the hype is about. I think a lot of people who are complaining about the anti-colonialist "agenda being shoved down [their] throat" don't realise that our modern world as we know it has been built on the back of colonialised countries that are still being exploited to this day, and are part of the problem by refusing to acknowledge their role in it. In a similar vein I definitely recommend this to the academia girlies who romanticise the aesthetic to get a more balanced view of academia itself and not the version in their head.

It's difficult for me to list what I liked because honestly, it was pretty much everything in this book. I will say though that, as someone with a limited knowledge of Japanese, I frequently got out one of my kanji dictionaries to see which hanzi from Chinese had been adopted into Japanese which was one of the highlights of my experience.

One point I had mixed feelings on which was neither good or bad was the use of footnotes. It was appropriate to an academia themed book and did provide some interesting digressions. Sometimes, however, I feel the information could have been more organically incorporated into the text and I ended up reading all of the footnotes at once and losing my place in the text. There was also a frequent inconsistency as to whether the hanzi and its explanations were in the text or relegated to a footnote and I think Kuang should have chosen one or the other. It's a very minor point but I can definitely see it being one of contention to readers.

What I didn't like

I think the earlier parts of the book could have been condensed a little to get to the real meat of the story, which was the main group's trip to Canton
and the lead up to Britain threatening China
.
It wasn't terribly noticeable, but I think silver could have been used a bit more in the plot just to emphasise how reliant Britain is on it. A lot of the vital uses of it are mentioned more in the back end of the book
when the remnants of Hermes seize Babel
. It feels like we should have seen our main group using devices that use silver on a daily basis even outside of Babel.

Content Warnings

princessgabsy's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

saskiahill's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.75

Content Warnings

mesposito827's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional 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

5.0

I had been recommended Babel by several people and only sort of knew what it was about. It was after hearing its magic system discussed on the podcast Lingthusiasm that I really became intrigued and bought the book. The magic system is fascinating. The characters are dynamic and flawed and well fleshed out. I felt their fury, I felt their camaraderie, I felt the dissolution of trust. The prose itself is lush and beautiful, not only did it paint a picture of what was going on, it excelled at eliciting a very visceral reaction. Like “

he saw his mother and she called him by his name

” destroyed me.
I wouldn’t say that this book introduced me to the concept of settler colonialism by any means, but it ignited a fury in me that I imagine my own ancestors have felt.

Content Warnings