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

I found this book a bit of a chore to get through, possibly because I read it as an audiobook. I feel that there was a lot of time where nothing was happening. However, the subject matter was interesting and offered a fascinating commentary on colonialism, race, feminism, capitalism and much more. I'm not sure alternative reality fiction is really my thing. I know the author in the preface explained how history had been altered for the book, but this left me wondering what was fact and what was fiction at times. The silver bar thing I just found odd and a bit Harry Potterish.

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jamie003's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

I was expecting to like this book more than I did. While the premise and linguistics were interesting, the development of any character besides Robin was lacking. Letty remained an unsympathetic character on any individual level; Victorie was compelling when given space. The relationship between Robin and Ramy relied on hints throughout. While not necessarily a flaw, it left little room for character exploration. For a book that was over 500 pages, I was hoping for the characters to develop more deeply. Robin’s experience of double consciousness was the most complex and engaging aspect of the story.

The plot twists were predictable, starting with Anthony’s “death” and ending with Robin’s.

As a whole, the book kept me interested once I was a 100 pages in, but it left a lot to be desired.
Edit: The themes of the novel speak to how academia, particularly the humanities, continue to debate the ethics and responsibilities of translation and research. Some of the conversations between Robin, his cohort, and their professors sounded familiar, if not more overt, in the institution’s acceptance of colonization and belief in academia/knowledge as objective truth. (I will be rereading this book in a couple months and then again later on).

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bo0ks_are_cool91's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

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delaneybarry's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

This book seems to be well researched and R.F. Kuang writes skillfully. However, while the story is compelling, it does at times feel like an exceptionally long lecture on etymology and colonization more so than a historical fantasy. The footnotes, a novel in their own right, are also a hefty weight to bear.

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thymeiord's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I'm most impressed by the worldbuilding - creating a universe with a magic system that is the perfect starting point for conversations around the experience of immigrants, race & racism, and colonialism. Kuang takes her premise of silverworking and draws out every possible implication of a world where multilingualism is real, tangible power and demonstrates how western society is founded on injustice & inequality. It takes place in an alternative, fantasy 19th century England, but the themes are devastatingly relevant to today. A challenging read for me as a white person but wholly worth it.

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ruthlessreads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.75

An ambitious novel that meets every expectation I had before reading. Kuang is at the top of her literary powers here. The writing style & tone is so different from her previous series, yet her voice comes through clearly. Her experiences at Oxford are clearly an influence to some of the happenings in the novel and Kuang draws from them powerfully to craft a story of the abuses of colonialization, racism, and capitalism that places like Oxford (and, indeed, our own country & lives) are dependent upon to be comfortable & function normally.

I finished the book thinking heavily on the connotations of these issues in the modern day and in what ways we can begin to make community across racial and class divides to create a more equitable future for everyone. Truly an incredible undertaking on Kuang's part with an equally imposing outcome. My only gripe, if you could even call it such, was that it was a little longer than necessary (IMO) and slowed down quite a bit about 3/4s of the way through until the very end. So the pacing was a little off and it didn't make me set it down but I could see how it might feel like a slog to others.

Oh! And I liked the footnotes but I'm a nerd so *shrug*

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