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

Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

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

176 reviews

sopherdopher's review against another edition

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dark hopeful informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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hflh's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

So good, but some disappointments.

Reasons not to pick up:

This reads like a detached historical account of events that happen over 4 years, honed in on the perspective of Robin. If you want to spend a lot of time seeing vs. being told about character development and relationships, this won’t be it. Kuang also leans hard into the language nerd and school aspect so you might not enjoy if you’re not here for class lectures and lots of tangents on the meaning of language. Also lots of footnotes that provide historical and narrative context if you tend to not like that. Feels a bit pretentious at times.

What’s great:

If you are a nerd for language and breaking down the meaning of words, this will be really exciting. Kuang does the academia setting so well. The footnotes are great - providing very dry, meta commentary from the narrator that was often very funny. The characters are great. And the magic system is very very cool (but soft if you don’t like that).

There are lots of strong and very relevant critiques surrounding colonization, including ideas on translation as a colonial tool and whether you can fight the system from within. However, I was a bit surprised some of these ideas weren’t explored in more depth. The book primarily makes a few high-level points repetitively and can lack subtlety. But, it's still great sitting with the characters and being angry with them about everything unjust and wanting to take action.

What might disappoint:

The pacing is very uneven. I found the beginning incredibly boring, but it picked up for me once Robin went to school. The middle is slower which I didn’t mind. Then the end is breakneck fast which was amazing but it felt like it escalated way too quickly. I would have liked more time developing things leading up to the climax.

There isn’t much time with the main characters outside Robin which costs later when you have to trust the narrator/character dialogue to tell you about the key character traits that are behind conflicts and motivations.

Most of these disappointments I didn’t mind too much but my gosh was the heavy-handed foreshadowing so annoying. Not even just obvious offhand foreshadowing - like if I ever hear some variation of “Everything was great…They had no idea it was all going to fall apart.” one more time…. !!!

Major TW:
The content of this book is very heavy and very real. Some more specific TW than what the SG feature has:

Literally anything you'd expect related to racism - microaggressions, macroagressions including physical violence and stereotypes, white fragility and ignorance, tokenism. Anything you'd expect with colonization, cultural appropriation, and capitalism - exploitation, paternalism, active and sinister efforts to exert force and control, awful treatment of the working class, neglect of those impoverished. Some other things related to growing up as a marginalized immigrant in a white supremacist society - grief over loss of language and culture, complicated desire to fit in. Also just exhaustion, hurt, anger, etc. from living in a horrible system that is so hard to change.

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saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

“They would never change the fabric of the world by simply wishing it.”

The fact it took me six months to actually get this review written is appropriate, a book called Babel leaving me speechless.

Babel drove me into the cliff of insanity. It is a dark academia novel heavy on both the dark and the academia. Its magic system focused around linguistics in an alternative history where translators work literal magic. At the center of it is a found family doomed by the narrative that absolutely destroyed me and the main character, Robin Swift, who is a poor little meow meow. The first half of the narrative is slow, getting the reader familiar and comfortable with this cast and world before throwing you off the aforementioned cliff of insanity as the second half is a metaphorical avalanche built up from the first.

It mainly discusses colonialism, and here is where I’ve seen readers get the most divided over the story. My interpretation is not that Kuang was preaching the reader, but rather that the characters are contradictions. They say a lot about fighting colonialism, but they struggle to actually turn that talk into actions, specifically with how much of their privileges they are willing to give up and what methods are the most effective. When the stakes heighten in the second half and they have to actually put their talk into practice, it is no longer a debate and lives are on the line as they try to figure out how to strike in a way that hits the most important people.

With all this praise, I will critique the historical inaccuracies. It opens with an author’s note about the intentional inaccuracies and I found the excuses kind of weak, mostly chalking up to Kuang wanting the characters’ experiences to reflect her own at Oxford. They’re mostly small details and I don’t see why she couldn’t have just stuck to the actual history. The dialog is also a little too modern. These mostly didn’t bother me, but I do think the world building would have been stronger and I imagine these inaccuracies might annoy people who really know this history.

Babel was my favorite book of 2023, or my Roman Empire to use a very 2023 term. It’s an extremely clever and shocking dark academia fantasy that follows a tragic cast of translators dealing with colonialism in academia.

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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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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sarrie's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

TL;DR: A good book, great even. But not perfect or subtle in the least.

Plot: Filled with anger and a message to convey, the plot is driven primarily for that and only that.
Characters: A little flat and one note. We get brief beautiful glimpses of who they are meant to be but that's ultimately lost to the plot and it's messages.
Setting: The setting is rich, Oxford is the biggest character in this story.
Magic: Very low magic. We have an explanation as to why and how the magic works but not much of one.

There is so much that has been said about Babel it's feels a little needless to say more - but here we go. Babel is the story of Robin Swift as he's lifted from his home in China by his 'guardian' and raised to be sent to Babel, the premiere translation institute in Britain that allows the country to have seemingly almost complete control of the world.

My thoughts are a little mixed on this. I think it's a solid book, by no means perfect. The first half is engaging in a day by day of Robin and his cohort's work in Oxford. Slowly Robin starts to see the cracks and flaws of the university. The destruction of languages, the slow conquest that Britain is enacting across the globe and you see how easy it seems for him to turn a blind eye even as his own homeland is targeted. Then on the half way mark the book takes a sharp turn, moving into a revolution, a revolt. Things speed up and the world crumbles around Robin.

This book is angry, and it is vocal in it's message. There is little subtlety here, and while I whole-heartedly agree with the core messages Kuang is sharing, I wish there had been more subtlety. We are told the message, over and over to the determinant of our characters and world building. Characters that are set up to be engaging and nuanced fall flat and eventually even are killed off in some cases as the plot drives towards it's ultimate grim conclusion. That ending is also another big problem I had with the book, in that I think death is the ultimate loss. A conversation is had in the book about martyrdom, about sacrificing yourself and how it isn't the answer but in the end the book contradicts that.

Overall it's a book I enjoyed, and I'll definitely continue to read Kuang's work. I think she has a lot of skill and talent and she has amazing space to grow. This wasn't perfect, but it was very good. If it seems like something you're interested in and you are one of the five other people besides myself who hasn't read this, it's worth reading!

4 out of 5 silver bars

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abby_bookworm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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achay91's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? No

4.75

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colittle's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? Yes

5.0

Reading this book is like being punched repeatedly in the throat. Five stars.

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gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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

5.0

Buddy read with Sharron Joy. ^^

Where do I begin. This was perfection in a novel... Bold words, I know.

This straight away reminded me of a recent read, being Jonathan strange and Mr norrel in tone, but I would say more accessible, which is funny because one of the main things I loved about this novel was how academic this was. I've always liked the idea of dark academia but always thought I'd struggle to understand the information, (probably why I leaned away from this for so long), but it was so reader friendly in its prose and so fascinating that I couldn't help pour over every word. It was so surprisingly easy to read that I barely minded the lack of consistent short chapters.
As well as being visceral in the vibe of the genre, it wasn't shy on having substance.

The plot was thick and intricate, with threads of conspiracies and beautiful detailing on the science behind silver-working (the magic system in this world). The conversations on interpretation, colonialism, building into a corrupt Empire was just so powerful to read about.

The victorian setting was lush, filled with jaw dropping descriptions of an imagined Oxford in what you could call this alternate history, and the early tour of the Institue of Language itself was fascinating.

Speaking of language, the etymology was so thorough, fascinating and deep. I loved seeing how different languages connected, and in this case, paired together to create something quite magical, yet equally dangerous in the wrong (and of course, powerful) hands.

Our characters..Oh what can I say that hasn'y been said before?
I Ioved the friendship demonstrated here, especially between Robin and Ramy. Seeing our main four characters explore Babel from their varying and diverse perspectives and as novice scholars of language was such a delight.
I appreciated getting interludes of the other threes upbringing and history, because the story is mainly told from Robin's perspective, so it was nice to change it up a bit and appreciate a bit more of the other characters. Even if we didn't have that, I could never accuse Robin, Ramy, Victoire and Letty of being flat characters. They felt real.

The whole time, pacing was brilliant. This was especially noticed at times when I was listening to the audio.

I feel like I learned so much during my time in this world. I'm left heartbroken and in awe at the sheer aduacity of excellence R.F. Kuang had in crafting this whole piece together. Coming into this as the first novel I've read from this author, I now understand that all the praise is well deserved and I look forward to trying out her other novels.

A note on the audio - the voices and accents the narrator could flit between was so impressive. He sounded like a BBC news reporter for the first time, but this was quite endearing as time went on.
I loved blended reading this one (physical and audio). It felt like my own little match-pair.

Content Warnings

cepbreed's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

5.0

“Anger was a chokehold. Anger did not empower you. It sat on your chest; it squeezed your ribs until you felt trapped, suffocated, out of options. Anger simmered, then exploded. Anger was constriction, and the consequent rage a desperate attempt to breathe.”

I AM INCONSOLABLE BECAUSE OF THE ENDING. This is my favorite book of the year thus far.

I knew it was coming. I knew the name Babel was a prophecy of the end, but I am still inconsolable. They were pure, intelligent and gentle kids and they were forced to live through one injustice after another. I can’t believe anyone would read this and not understand it. Sweet Ramy, Robin, and Victoire. I know you as well as I know any friend and love you the same. Even Letty I feel for despite thinking I was going to hate her in the middle of the book. It’s irrational because of what she’s done, but just like them she was just a child. I am scarred by Victoires epilogue and tortured by not knowing what will become of her, not knowing what was in Griffin’s letter to Robin. I am happy knowing that in his last moments Robin heard his real name. However I am filled with hope to know that Victoire stayed true to her self, stealing some silver and keeping the list of contacts. She’s my hope and I love her. I just wish we saw more of Victoire sooner.

I am so incredibly impressed by this book. The concept of translation/etymological magic is so enchanting and creative I’m amazed. There are so many poignant lines that have left me speechless. R. F. Kuang is meticulous and a true talent. After reading two of her books I’m convinced she has become an instant buy for me. The entire time I was nearly convinced silver working was real and I was simply suffering the misfortune of being born too late and in the US instead of the UK. Babel is brilliant and despite being set in the past has many lessons applicable to today, as any brilliant novel should. I can’t say it enough: I love R. F. Kuang!!!! I’ve been seeing scathing reviews from ignorant people online and I must confess it gives me the strangest sense of satisfaction. They are exactly who are being called out through Babel and yet they can’t comprehend that and choose to be irrationally angry instead. It’s just a testament to their stupidity. On the contrary each time I understood a historical reference, had read one of the books/passages that began every chapter etc, I felt so intellectual. It’s a good feeling to have and I truly believe it enriched my experience with the text. I definitely wouldn’t recommend reading this if you aren’t willing to look things up at times or really read through the footnotes. It’s really helpful to have some basic understanding too of the subject matter like the philosophers mentioned or the historical context.

As a mixed kid all this talk of dreaming in a language has made me so incredibly sad. I’m motivated to learn Korean for my mother’s side of the family but in all honestly I feel pessimistic as well. Despite my heartfelt connection to the text and Robin’s experience with his cultural heritage I believe this book is for everyone. No I don’t have to imbue the text with my personal anecdotes in order to enjoy a book, but I keep finding myself doing exactly that (especially with Kuang’s work). My father is a classics professor and proficient in learning languages (including Greek and Latin) so he would fit right in at Babel. Seeing him in the text opens up the possibility of seeing myself in it as well. I love the idea of becoming a polyglot and have never struggled while learning French in school but my envy for the Babel kid’s skill is immense. I’ll put more effort into my French and Korean studies.

Songs:

Alleyways - The Neighbourhood
Family Line - Conan Gray

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