Reviews with content warning for Death - Babel: An Arcane History

This was an unbelievable read. The stakes are so high and despairingly real. Kuang's writing is exceptional and she manages to make a work of speculative fiction feel like a true historical text. This world is so well crafted and I can do nothing but sing Babel's praises! The further I got into the book, the more I would read in one sitting because the tension was nauseating.

Things happen so suddenly (just as they do in real life), often with no closure, no time to process what has happened. Characters don't get to say what they need to say, confess what they want to confess. They are there one moment and then they are gone. This would be a five star read for me, but I feel the epilogue takes away from the emotional impact of the final chapter. You want to sit with these feelings of grief and horror about the state of the world, the hopelessness and the injustice, and then you are ripped out of it by a violent tone change. It just felt like an anticlimax. After such an exceptional book it felt odd to end on such a flat note. Also, creating what seems like a slow burn queer romance b-plot, only for both characters to be killed off before they can ever really acknowledge how they felt for one another (even if just to themselves) felt a bit of a waste. That part of the story definitely could have been developed more. The book was quite sexless in general so I wish it had either built on the queer story or kept their relationship as a strong friendship instead.

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ewwniamh's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective tense 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

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mattrose's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective 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

4.75

R.F. Kuang paints such vivid pictures, and her handling of serious content was deft. Even 30 pages from the end I had no idea what was going to happen, which I feel is very rare in a book. My only complaint is that some of the plot twists were so abrupt I had to re-read to see if I missed something.

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au_conn1's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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? No

4.25

Excellently written and researched, loved the footnotes, but, and I hate to say it, I docked points for petty reasons.

As soon as Ramy and Robin met, I was like “don’t be a coward and make them gay”. Instead, she fucking killed Ramy (well, I guess she killed them both). I almost DNFd because of this. And like, ok, she did throw in that line on the last page about Robin falling in love. And like, ok, it was obvious (to me) that they were more than platonic besties the whole time. And like, ok, there was no explicit romance, het or otherwise, in the book. But still, if you’re not gonna let them kiss, at least don’t kill them 🥲. like yes, whatever, romantic tragedy, my love dies I go on a grief fueled rampage whatever whatever. Letty Price, you incel ass, you better not let me catch you in these streets.

Was really disappointed that, given the parallels between Griffin’s cohort and Robin’s, she chose to take Letty in the same direction as Evie. I think it would have been more subversive if Letty DIDNT betray them literally two pages after we found out Evie did the same.

Ok, maybe this is childish (I did say I docked points for petty reasons!), but DAMN, did she have to kill everyyyyyone what the fuck. I feel like she lost her thesis at times? It was difficult to understand the point she was trying to make. IS violent rebellion the only solution or no? IS martyrdom as a way to get the (white) man to take you seriously valid/fair or no? Maybe I just lack reading comprehension skills, but if most of your characters are dead by the last chapter of your book, their sacrifice painted as the only path to success, but you are ambiguous about the outcome AND the character you leave alive was the most levelheaded and logical, what am I supposed to believe about the necessity of violence?

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