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

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Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

382 reviews

ericadawson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

I'd give it 4.9 if I could. Explanation below:

People like to pull Playfair's quote about the violence and betrayal of translation from the text and present it as one of the most gut-wrenching lines in the entire novel. In fact, there are many such lines across many contexts. If I went through Babel now to put them all here, I'd never stop. I may as well quote the whole book.

Babel is about a a young, half-Chinese, half-English man named Robin Swift as he grapples with his role in support Britain's colonial Empire in the 1830s. The lynchpin for all of England's dealings is silver, imbued with the magical and abstract powers of the tongue via the powerful spaces between translation.

Babel has almost everything for me. I love all of the characters. The "math" of the arcs--that is, why anyone one character says or does anything at any give time--makes perfect sense. It's not predictable; simply logical. I could never hate Robin or Victoire or Letty for their initial love of Babel. I couldn't blame Ramy for anything he did or said. Letty's white feminism, white supremancy, and willfully ignorant understanding of the world was on point until it got tiresome.

That is where I have to shave off a portion of a point, unfortunately. Letty's point as a character was hammered home until the wood was dented and the head was flying off the hammer. While I can understand that narrative math of Robin, Ramy, and Victoire explaining to Letty over and over how hard it is to be non-white in a fundamentally white supremacist insitution, white supremacist land--at a point, I grew patient with them. Especially after

Letty shoots Ramy in a classic case of a white woman's sexual entitlement to a brown man ending in violence

, I truly could not wrap my head around why they bothered speaking to her again, after that.

Another portion of a point gets shaved off for Victoire's character. I loved her, I do, I just wish she stood out more from the beginning. I loved her especially in the end, with how her character was set up against Robin's and how they played off each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Yet another portion of a point for the pacing of the ending in general. It was slow for me. There were two supposed twists/keys to success that I was waiting for the characters to remember and use, which made me get impatient.

None of these things overall seriously detracts from my star-point rating for Babel. It was a lovely book. The prose was straightforward without being plain, and often punched me in the gut (in a good way). The concept was amazing, and the entire plot was clearly well-researched. I loved the footnotes. I loved everything. Highly recommended. If there was top-shelf wine for books, Babel would be up there.

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smateer73's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely one of the most incredible books I have read this year and probably all time. This book brings to the surface all those questions of language and colonization and power and violence and resistance and the oxymoronic nature of capitalism and consumption and the utter indifference that is the natural enemy of progress. I will be thinking about this book forever I think. As a linguist, I loved the concept of translation and betrayal and loss. As an academic I mourn for lost knowledge, even as I desire liberation. I want the world to be free and yet I do not want to give up basic comforts. But I must. We must. A violent world can only be faced with violence, with intersectional unity. Wow. Just wow. For one single book, and a fiction book at that to conjure all these thoughts is truly incredible.

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lucyatoz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

Babel by R.F.Kuang is a brilliant read although it does challenge and engage you in so many disparate themes of race, class, colonialism, slavery, violence and exploitation of the many by the few.

It tells the story of four young adults, Robin, Victoire, Ramy and Lettie, as they come together as the 1st year cohort at the Oxford University's Royal Institute of Translation in 1836, as they each have amazing talents when it comes to learning languages that can be used for the benefit of the British Empire, regardless of the cost for them and those they love and care about.

It is a big and ambitious novel tackling big topics although it starts off quite slowly, but when the group come together, the action starts apace and takes you on a fantastical journey, which, at times, I could not tell was real or imaginary.

I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on BorrowBox. I read this for prompt 26, hybrid genre, for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024.

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bernika999's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book was amazing.
I would recommend 100 per cent. I had finished the Poppy War series and would recommend reading that first. Not because you have to. You don't. But I think this book hits harder when you do.
The connections between them kills man.
I'd admit that it's a slow start, I mean it was for me. The footnotes are lengthy and sometimes the terminology goes over your head. However, that doesn't matter, at all, it didn't prevent the book from getting five stars from me. Very painful but definitely worth it. Wish I could read it again for the first time.
And all her other books, are all 5 stars for me, must read them.

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discocaptain's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

what else do i fucking say, r. f. kuang has brought me to my knees. i have things to pick at but they're not important right now. all that comes to mind is how painfully real it felt to me. i can already see this being a "dark academia" staple in the same way that a secret history or the dead poets society is, which is not necessarily a bad thing and i want to say i ALSO like them but can we be real for a second and forget that? its an evolution past these stories. it's an attempt to infiltrate and blast through the silver laden halls of the ivy league. it's the futility of trying to love a place that does not love you back. it's trying to hold two things in your mind at once, two contradictory things. robin is an excellent protagonist and the undergrads are a wonderful ensemble. it's a bit obvious and a bit overt and a bit heavy handed but, well, as those that have read it to completion know: toppling empire necessitates violence. learn. internalize. listen. understand. this book is just begging you. listen, and then act.

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bugsybugs's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

Easiest 5 stars I've given in years. An exceptional read. Detailed, epic, tackling ambitious themes of empire, colonialism, and the costs of freedom from them. I couldn't put it down.

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mmmaitai's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

"Babel" isn't just a stellar sci-fi historical fiction book; it's a heart-wrenching, raw, gripping experience. Kuang's writing grabbed hold of my heart and didn't let go until the very last page. "Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence" captivates with its profound exploration of the power of language, identity dissonance of people of color in white spaces, and the complex/harmful humanity of colonialists. If you're looking for a story that will challenge you, make you think, and stay with you long after you've finished reading, "Babel" is it.

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jiwiz's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes

4.0

I'll start off with a disclaimer; This was my first time listening to an audiobook, and I've often had trouble paying attention to audio so there may be some portions that I missed. For example, I didn't realise Robin was wasian until much later than when it was revealed. Even so, I was captivated by the story.

I'd describe this book in one sentence as a loud 'Fuck you' to western colonialism. I've seen people criticise how on-the-nose it is. It drives its point home in such a glaringly obvious way that it's impossible to misinterpret it. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about that quality. There are definitely moments where I think it could've been communicated more subtly. The magic system was also a little difficult for me to understand, but maybe that's the audiobook effect, or it was meant to be a little abstract. I did enjoy the characters. I saw myself a lot in Robin.

Overall, I enjoyed it. Solid read for someone like me with a very casual interest in language and etymology!

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melodyseestrees's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

If you put aside all the magical elements you have a bunch of realistic characters and many are vile. You may see your own decision making reflected in certain characters. For example choosing to not take actions in order to keep oneself comfortable despite what effect that has on unprivileged people. This is no [Child Wizard Series] book so if you go in expecting the 'good people are good because the author says so' treatment you will find the characters disappointing.

The character arc of Letty choosing to take actions that doom her supposed close friends because her idea of protecting them is to chain them into a life that is comfortable for her while refusing to accept that society prevents them from being able to live that life. I think Letty will be a very aggravating character for many but she embodies 'white woman tears.'

There are several characters that I wish had been explored more

Griffin and his group, Ramy, Victoire. Victoire and Anthony feel almost like the 'magical negro' stereotype since one doesn't really do much (until we need the conflict of 3 of the friends secretly being in the same rebel group without telling each other) and the other going on to take action after everyone else is no longer able to.

It also would have been interesting to see the effects Britain was having on other places in addition to China, which may have helped cement each of our four main characters' motivations a bit better. We know explicitly that Robin and Ramy want to help their homelands but Victoire is a little unclear and Letty is Letty.
There is a really great quote about Letty and how her upbringing shapes her world:

"And Letty, if she could not belong to a place, would rather tear the whole thing down. "

This is a really great demonstration of who Letty is as a person. Her privilege is so blinding she refuses to accept the path her friends are taking and ultimately kills Ramy to protect him. She literally destroys, betrays, and tries to manipulate her friends in order to prevent changes that would be uncomfortable for her in particular and Britain in general. She does not care about China or its people so long as the silver it contains can be acquired and used by Britain. She thinks her friends should be grateful and do whatever they need to so they may stay in Britain and not care about the homelands they were (literally) stolen from because Britain is HER homeland and it could become their homeland if they work/pretend hard enough.

I have Opinions about Letty and disturbingly have seen some of her arguably worst behaviors in myself and others when asked to boycott certain products or block certain 'beloved' persons.
The ending was unsatisfactory because of the epilogue.

It is set up for two people to have a conflict in the spirit of Javert and Jean Valjean. One is on a quest to see how big the rebel group is and the other is seeming back to their comfortable life after all the events.

The actions involving the tower would have felt empty without it however. Babel is set up to have a sequel but the author has been reported to have no interest in writing a sequel or any other book in the Babel universe so that setup just becomes loose ends. The audiobook handles the footnotes very well and the reading experience is best enjoyed by listening and reading simultaneously.

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jrae_miller's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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