Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang

926 reviews

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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easyintheory's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Babel is a truly magnificent look into the violence of upholding colonial power structures— especially the ones we benefit from. It is a meticulously thorough curriculum of the mystery and power of etymology and language. I love the way R.F. Kuang shows just how dark ‘dark academia’ can be, while still pointing toward the light at the end of the tunnel vision.

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glicoz's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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s4r41d's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative reflective sad 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

5.0

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eleos01's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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kjordan96's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad 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

4.0

The writing, research, and explanation of linguistics in this book are fantastic. RF Kuang deftly juggles linguistics, a magical society, complicated friendships, revolution, and much more in this book. I enjoyed learning about linguistics, translation, etc in the book. I loved the concept of the Hermes society and their attempts to bring down Babel (the machine behind the expansion of colonialism and the British empire). However, I felt at times the book was not paced well, especially in the middle. The characters often felt more like allegories for themes rather than actual characters. Robin in particular fell a bit flat for me. I wish we would have gotten Anthony’s POV or even Griffin’s. The revelation about Robin and Ramy seemed just thrown in randomly. And finally the book seems to hammer its themes at the readers both in the text and the footnotes. I think it would have benefited from subtlety. Overall though a good read.

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