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crybabybea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
First of all, the dark academia aspect was done very well. It felt atmospheric, grand, with a hint of mystery. It felt gloomy in a really fun way. The settings outside of the tower itself were less immersive, but the majority of the story takes place inside the tower anyway so it wasn't too distracting. The dark academia vibe was a genius way to explore a story about decolonization and racism. The magic system was inventive and interesting, and I liked how it stood as a metaphor for the industrial revolution.
The characters were just okay. We get to see Robin, the main character, the most, and I felt really attached to him by the end. The other characters had interesting stories that I felt didn't get explored enough. I understand this book leans in to its literary side, and the characters and arguably the entire plot are just allegories for bigger issues, but I think this made the character work suffer and it made the explosive ending pack less of a punch. Don't get me wrong, I loved the ending, and I still cried, but some of the other moments that were meant to be heavy-hitting fell flat because I didn't feel the connection to the characters. The found family aspect didn't feel fleshed out enough because of this as well.
I think the character work is a side effect of Kuang's tendency to overexplain things rather than actually have things happen. Some of the messaging was so on the nose that it felt pedantic and almost condescending at times. I wanted to read this book to challenge my thinking, and I hoped it would leave me with lots of thoughts to reflect on afterward, but everything gets explained to you so plainly that it completely ruins the amazing research and work Kuang put into telling the story of racism and colonization in academia. I mean, there were literally times when something racist or sexist would happen, then the narrator would have a whole paragraph to say something like "Robin wonders if this white person realized how racist they were being". It got irritating... I felt like I was on Sesame Street. I will say the writing itself was done very well, the prose was accessible despite the scientific, historical, and literary references used, and I appreciated a lot of R.F. Kuang's comments and her sarcastic footnotes.
The last issue is the pacing, which I think is also a side effect of this "telling not showing" issue. This book only gets good around the 60-70% mark. It had an extremely slow start with very little intrigue. We spent a long time in lectures and I felt not enough time was dedicated to furthering either the charcters OR the plot. It was a lot of sitting around and waiting. I don't mind books that have a hill into a snowball second half, but I almost put this book down multiple times because nothing was happening, then one minor action would happen and I would finally think we were going somewhere, just for it to slow down again.
All these issues made for a really weird reading experience where I absolutely dreaded picking the book back up, then when I started reading it was just fine and I wanted to know more, then it would get boring and the cycle repeated. I expected more from the rave reviews but left feeling like its potential got wasted. I still do think it's a good read overall, but it could have been better.
Graphic: Grief, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Addiction, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Violence, Torture, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, War, Xenophobia, Death, Vomit, Murder, Drug abuse, Sexism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, and Genocide
jupitermond's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Death, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Murder, War, Classism, and Sexism
Minor: Death of parent and Child death
libellumartinae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I also think that oftentimes there were too many repetitions of some concepts, such as the magic and world building, still I think that on those topics the book is utterly amazing and bring forward a charming and shocking portrayal and a clear critique that should definitely be read by everybody as it also brings forward future and present concerns and I am not going to lie, as a translator and expert of latin and Ancient Greek, this book did feel like a love letter to the act of translating and languages, although at times the linguistic reflections could be a bit boring and useless for the plot.
Overall, I think it's a good book albeit not worth the hype around it and that while in spirit it has good intentions, the actual writing of it could have been worked over so much better.
Graphic: Xenophobia, Death of parent, Violence, War, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry
b_easelbub's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Colonisation, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Gore, Child death, Sexual harassment, Classism, Torture, Murder, Sexism, Death of parent, Slavery, Misogyny, and Islamophobia
celery's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Death, Medical content, Misogyny, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Trafficking, Vomit, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Torture, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Slavery, Drug abuse, Gore, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, Antisemitism, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Islamophobia, Police brutality, Self harm, Abandonment, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Deportation, Medical trauma, Drug use, Emotional abuse, War, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Confinement
charleyyyyy's review against another edition
3.5
I can definitely see why there is so much hype around this book. Most people will agree that it's strongest point is the theme of colonialism, racist systems as a whole, and the violence and action needed to combat it. It certainly packs a punch. And a kick. And another punch. It never shys away from making a strong statement and saying what needs to be said.
However, there is a lack of nuance in the way this theme is writen, it was all telling no showing. Everything is told to you, the reader has no opportunity to think on these things for themselves. Also the ending contradicts everything the book was trying to say???
I liked the magic system. It was realy well developed and so subtle that it felt like it could almost be real. It blended in realy well with this story and its setting.
The plot started out slow, and a tad boring, but it builds into something compulsively readable and heartbreaking. It's clear that so much research went into this book, and while I admire that, the information was often dumped on us. This made the book feel quite dense.
The charicters were underdeveloped, which greatly impacted my enjoyment of this book.
I could not tell you a thing about Victoire's personality, which is an issue because of how much of an important charicter she is. Rami is my favourite charicter, and even him I don't feel like I know beyond a surface level. Even our main charicter, Robin, was lacking in depth. There was supposed to be a strong moral dilemma Robin was going through, but he wasn't developed enough for it to be convincing. His charicter development was interesting, but again not as good as it could have been, if he was a more fleshed out charicter.
I did not feel the strong bond they were supposed to have as a group, which is an issue when the bond starts to break. How can I feel the bond breaking if i didn't feel the bond in the first place? At one point one of the charicters says to another "we would have died for you" and I was like really??? I was not getting the feeling that they were that close at all, this was so unbelievable.
My biggest issue with this book was how Ramy was treated, and the queer baiting.
Ramy and Robin had something going on between them that was definitely more than friendship, but nothing is ever confirmed or said outright. On either their feelings for each other or their sexualitys. It's a 'not confirmed, not denied' situation, which is sooooo frustrating. I literally googled " is Ramy from Babel queer?" and even google couldnt confirm or deny. Its in the context but not explicit :( (This is incredibly similar to what happened with a charicter from Kuang's other series, the Poppy War trilogy, with Chaghan and Altan. I also had to google if they were queer, and got no answer.) And then it gets worse;
Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Racism, Violence, Hate crime, Grief, Blood, Racial slurs, Suicide, Torture, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, and War
Moderate: Child death, Slavery, Toxic friendship, and Car accident
trina8945's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Hate crime, Violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Racial slurs, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Colonisation
Moderate: Suicide, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic friendship, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Gun violence
Minor: Sexual harassment and War
bookshelfmonkey's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Colonisation, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Sexism, Grief, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Misogyny
Moderate: Torture, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, War, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, and Blood
Minor: Addiction, Child death, and Abandonment
butilikeit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Child abuse and Racism
Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Sexism, Murder, Classism, Torture, Slavery, and Colonisation
Minor: Addiction, Deportation, Child death, and Drug use
potatogrr's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Racism, Gun violence, Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, Genocide, Torture, Colonisation, Child death, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Confinement, and Classism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit