Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Babel: An Arcane History

Babel has been an extremely hot topic at book club since it came out, and we've just been waiting for the paperback before we put it on our reading lists. I knew the main conceit going in: that Babel's magic system relies on the difference between similar words in different languages; whatever meaning of the word is left untranslated, manifests as physical reality. As a speaker of only one language, the magic system felt about as distant to me as any other magic system I can't participate in (which is to say, all of them!) but the themes of moving country at a young age are definitely ones I'm appreciative of.

R F Kuang's world building is amazing: not only is there a whole magic system grafted onto historic Oxford, there's detailed interplay between real-world history & empire and the fictionalised versions based on acquisition of silver. Even more impressive, the world is explained clearly enough for readers to follow without getting bogged down in masses of extraneous detail. While parts of the novel are necessarily exposition-heavy, it never seems to slow things down.

Despite the vastness of the world, Babel is peopled with relatively few characters: a class size of only four students in a year at Babel seems to be perfectly normal. This allows R F Kuang to focus tightly on the interpersonal relationships between the four main characters, though there's a lot going on under the surface that there's never quite time to bring to light and explore fully. R F Kuang trusts the reader to connect the dots and make their own inferences, but readers who prefer character-driven novels over plot-driven novels may wish there wasn't quite so much left unsaid.

Fortunately, the plot driving Babel is a gripping one, especially once the four students travel to Canton. It's not too much of a spoiler to say that the latter half of the story had intense The Secret History vibes, albeit with a more overt political and class struggle undermining the main action. R F Kuang's descriptions of Oxford also rival Donna Tartt's for atmosphere, though the mood captured is very different in each.

It's a treat to kick off the year with a book that's firing on all cylinders. The only thing I can find to criticise is very much based in personal preference: early on, Babel seems like it will be a book about found family and friendship, which I love, and it does contain those things, but not in an uncomplicatedly positive way. The ending absolutely fits the novel, but perhaps doesn't entirely fit me as a reader.

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eleanora's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

4.5

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kiwij96's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

3.5

I love a historical fiction book for making history easier to digest through storytelling, and when paired with fantasy it can make things so much more fun. This was...heavy to say the least. Not so much the historical side of things or the etymological side of things, but rather the pacing. The chapters were overwhelmingly weighty and oftentimes the history and linguistics either got lost in the text or came across as info-dumps.

The idea behind the story is fantastic- an insight into 19th century England and colonialism, using translation magic to show the importance of global languages. It was unashamedly uncomfortable at times which is exactly what it should be. But the characters just felt too...self-righteous, or over-clever, and that ruined it for me sometimes. These characters were supposed to be friends yet all they ever did was make each other seem "stupid" compared to their own individual capabilities.

It took me 2 months to get through this and I almost DNF'ed it 3 times because the writing was just so heavy. When I actually had the time to sit and read it properly, I was counting down the pages until it ended. However, had I DNF'ed, I wouldn't have experienced the last 2 sections of the book where the events of the book really came into their own. But it really shouldn't have taken over 300 pages to start enjoying a book.

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chultman's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

4.75

-0.25 for lack of queer representation, however sexuality was really only referenced once during the book. When it was referenced, it was intersectional and critiqued racial dynamics/whiteness. General positive the book did not fall into the love interest trope. One of the best books I have ever read. Only major qualm is that it ended!

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leweylibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

I have to come back to this later because it's freaking 5am, but I just wanted to leave this bit so I know where the heck to start with this review later. But I just want to start by saying that this book has WRECKED me. Devastated. Shredded me to bits. I really do not know how I just go about my life now?? My brain is throbbing and feeling irrevocably changed. This book hit me so hard in so many ways. I have THREE NOTES WORTH of quotes like what?? How?? How is any one person THAT gifted with words. Kuang is just... I ironically just don't have the words for her brilliance, but it's undeniable. I am pretty sure I have never ever wept reading a book simplt because of how beautiful passages were, but I did at least three times reading this book. This needs to be studied and analyzed in classes not just for its brilliance but for its contents. I know not everyone will, but everyone should read this book. It is just spot on about so many things and can open so many eyes to vital aspects about our society and our own humanity. Everything about how we communicate and interact, the power of words and languages, the bonds we form and the bonds that break, EVERYTHING about academia (the good, the bad, the UGLY), obviously colonialism and racism, just SO MANY powerful and important topics are covered in this book and it has BROKEN my brain. Just shattered to smithereens. I will not sleep another peaceful night now because this book is now my new Roman Empire. I will be on my deathbed and sit up just to be like "okay but I'm just now realizing, there's this one part in Babel where..."

So yeah. Read this book. LISTEN to this book. Internalize it. But don't do so lightly because yes; it will break you. And you will be grateful for it. It'll hurt like hell in a multitude of ways, ways you didn't even know you could be broken, but you'll be grateful.

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evan_tually's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

I chewed through Babel in a little over a week, and it’s the kind of book that eggs you on. The clock says it’s 1AM but there’s an inherent need to know what happens next. Its characters live and die by the colonial machine that is the British Empire, and it would kill you to wait till tomorrow to learn how they survive. A boy’s journey to resistance and liberation is painful to put down for a weekend. And towards the end, when you find yourself running out of pages, there’s simply not enough time for them to win, to thrive, and for their lives to be satisfying. How could they live? How could they love?

And yet, it’s over in a quick, confident decision.

In short, the book is fun to read. In my English classes I struggled with Victorian authors like Dickens and the Brontë sisters, but the way Kuang writes is so approachable. She maintains a Victorian-style voice peppered with contemporary dialog and colonial analysis. It feels old and new. Even though these characters would live over a century ago, their struggles are still relevant in our present struggles. Capitalism and colonialism have been and still are gluttonous. They’re still killing us.

Perhaps that’s why Kuang’s prose reads more easily than the authors of the time. She’s crafted characters and stories that are fantastical yet still informed by history. Much research went into its historical pseudo-accuracy, its magic system, and its linguistics. Kuang writes so lovingly and respectfully that you can’t help but empathize and relate Robin’s struggles to your own. You can’t help but wonder- what could I do for liberation?

For those who are very informed on history and politics, a lot of the themes won’t feel new. For some, Babel will feel like the first decolonial/anticolonial novel you'd introduce to someone. It arguably doesn’t add anything new to this discourse, and is more interested in fantasizing what acting towards our liberation looks like. And it does that well for the most part.

Where I take some issue with Kuang’s prose is the heavy hand she takes with her messaging. The result is little room for subtext, as when Griffin explains to Robin how Babel is not actually a place to discover knowledge:
‘How does all the power from foreign languages just somehow accrue to England? This is no accident; this is a deliberate exploitation of foreign culture and foreign resources. The professors like to pretend that the tower is a refuge for pure knowledge, that it sits above the mundane concerns of business and commerce, but it does not. It’s intricately tied to the business of colonialism. It is the business of colonialism. Ask yourself why the Literature Department only translates works into English and not the other way around, or what the interpreters are being sent abroad to do. Everything Babel does is in the service of expanding the Empire…’ (100)

One of Babel’s central themes is about how all parties under a colonial state are complicit in its colonial violence, regardless of the degree of direct involvement. A soldier who murders people to make room for settlers is aided by a scholar who negotiates on the state’s behalf. And the people who enjoy resources extracted from this land enjoy settler-colonial violence whether they realize it or not.But Kuang doesn’t necessarily let the reader come to this conclusion themselves. As Robin spouts revolutionary ideals to cover for his friends (263) or realizes his disgust at how British opium affects the Chinese (317), all this messaging is direct to the reader. The room for analysis is shrunk, and thus, by the end it can feel that Babel has overstayed its welcome. This further exacerbates feelings that none of the messaging is new, though, if this is your first time learning about these topics, it’s still a fun exploration.

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goldenlake's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.5

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