Reviews - Babel | The StoryGraph

62.4k reviews for:

I loved this book and have many thoughts, so let's organize them by category.

Plot:
I really enjoyed how dark and challenging topics were discussed while still telling an intriguing fantasy story. I really appreciated the discussion on colonialism from different perspectives from the characters from Robin's cohort. In the discussion on the effects of the magic-carrying silver, I saw some parallels with discussion on technology/AI you have now. The idea that progress cannot be stopped and should always be encouraged, not thinking about the costs, on the one hand for people in your own country (jobs disappearing) and more importantly the other countries resources you are taking advantage of for your own "good". The one discussion that was a bit lacking for me, was at the final section of the book. There is a very interesting moral dilemma going on there

where the strike is essentially harming innocent people instead of the rich and politically influential people

, and I feel like that would have benefited from more discussion and nuance.

Writing:
I was afraid the book was going to be a difficult read from the way it was described, but I found it very easy to follow! I loved the foot notes personally, but if it's something that takes you out of the story than you can easily skip them. The pacing was interesting, the first half and second half of the book felt like completely different books, but I liked them both.

World:
I loved the magic system based on the fact that perfect translations do not exist, but I feel like it could have been explained just a little bit better, especially the daisy-chaining part of linking multiple translations together. It does reiterate for me how much respect we should all have for translators. All the discussion of languages and translations brought me back to high school, learning 6 languages at once, but that might just be me ;). I loved how real-world history and fiction were intertwined so tightly that I didn't question with any event whether it was real or fiction.

Characters:
This is where I have the most mixed feelings. First really connected to Robin, especially through his relationship with professor Lovell. Later in the book, starting around when

Robin covered up for Victoire and Ramy breaking in at Babel

, he started making some choices I could not get behind at all. I started connecting more to Ramy and Victoire and I loved them even more once we got to know there back stories, but that was very late. Letty was a difficult character for me. I thought she was a very interesting character, especially hearing her motivations and convictions after the choices she makes later in the book, but for the whole book she was always "the annoying one",

so her betrayal felt more predictable since she was always not really part of the group

. All characters were acting really nicely according to their background/motivations, but for most of them we learned those motives very late so you couldn't really appreciate it.

oliger's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

maratycznie's review against another edition

3.0

This book is a hollow eggshell decorated for Easter. It's beautiful patterns in form of Kuang's language let you forget that it lacks any meaning, essence neither does it trusts its readers enough and treats them as children.

ienri's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

mlodopolanka's review against another edition

2.0

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

theneurodivergentowl's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

illest_paradise's review against another edition

3.0

3 ⭐️ - This book is beautifully written & clearly well researched, but I found it hard to care for the characters or connect with the story. I didn’t start to enjoy it until about 60% in. That’s more on me than the book, since I don’t have much interests in linguistics. I appreciate what the author did, but overall it wasn’t for me.