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_polaris_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
5.0
This is a brilliant book! No questions about it.
It challenged me, touched me deeply and is so well structured and written.
It challenged me, touched me deeply and is so well structured and written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Slavery and Grief
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
senga15's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, and Car accident
katherineshawwrites's review
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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? No
5.0
I wasn't sure if Babel would live up to the hype it received when it first hit the reading community, but my goodness, it does.
If you're going into Babel expecting a high fantasy dark academia story, you're going to be disappointed, but if you go in with an open mind, you'll get a fascinating, powerful and tragic take on the magic of languages, alongside the horror and injustice of colonialism and racism.
With this story, R F Kuang delivers a gripping and moving narrative that's steeped in history, and her academic experience in language really shines through not only within the plot itself, but in all the wonderfully crafted notes that accompany the text. It gives the book an academic rigour you rarely see in fiction whilst never losing sight of the story.
Some of the hard-hitting commentary around the British Empire (and similar colonial nations) and its amoral actions can be tough to swallow, but isn't that the point? R F Kuang pulls no punches, and I love her for that. The characters show us through their own lenses, backgrounds and personal storylines what atrocities have been committed in the name of imperialism, economic growth and capitalistic greed, and right now I think we all need to be reminded of that.
Despite its academic nature, the book is full of twists and turns, a great deal of tension, and rising stakes right until the very end, and I was flying through the final pages to see how it would all end for Robin. R F Kuang's writing is superb throughout, and I would highly recommend this to anyone unafraid of some hard truths and powerful storytelling.
If you're going into Babel expecting a high fantasy dark academia story, you're going to be disappointed, but if you go in with an open mind, you'll get a fascinating, powerful and tragic take on the magic of languages, alongside the horror and injustice of colonialism and racism.
With this story, R F Kuang delivers a gripping and moving narrative that's steeped in history, and her academic experience in language really shines through not only within the plot itself, but in all the wonderfully crafted notes that accompany the text. It gives the book an academic rigour you rarely see in fiction whilst never losing sight of the story.
Some of the hard-hitting commentary around the British Empire (and similar colonial nations) and its amoral actions can be tough to swallow, but isn't that the point? R F Kuang pulls no punches, and I love her for that. The characters show us through their own lenses, backgrounds and personal storylines what atrocities have been committed in the name of imperialism, economic growth and capitalistic greed, and right now I think we all need to be reminded of that.
Despite its academic nature, the book is full of twists and turns, a great deal of tension, and rising stakes right until the very end, and I was flying through the final pages to see how it would all end for Robin. R F Kuang's writing is superb throughout, and I would highly recommend this to anyone unafraid of some hard truths and powerful storytelling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
finallythetruth's review
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
SOME MILD SPOILERS AHEAD
✅ What worked
• the exploration of Empire - what sustains it, the violence within it, the exploitation and plundering, how it treats the PoCs displaced from their colonised homelands as disposable, and welcomes and treats them "well" only for the benefit of Empire. For all of this book's flaws, this was something I enjoyed reading about.
• the exploration of languages and linguistics - as someone who loves languages, I enjoyed this too.
• the discussions about how we can bring down the Empire, though they could have gone much deeper.
• the revolutionary group was a potentially interesting group and they could have done so much more, but as i explain below, it's clear RFK does not understand direct action groups
• I learnt a lot about the history of the British Empire and now want to learn more about their exploitation of India
🙅🏻♀️ What didn't work so well
• RFK's writing is not as good as people think.
• She does not know how to write fully fleshed out characters. After 540 pages, I still barely know let alone like most of the characters. I liked Ramy and could picture Griffin and kinda wanted him to be the hero. Victoire was a bit hard for me to picture, Robin was so flat, and Letty was incredibly annoying which I imagine was RFK's goal as she tried to bring out the fragility of yt women. Professor Lovell was despicable and somewhat terrifying but I wanted more about his past and motivations.
• RFK will give us inklings of a character, she'll write stuff like "his face was unreadable" or "something flashed across his face but it was gone in an instant", but never gets around to fleshing this out.
• i think people are so taken aback by this book because they like the discussion of Empire - because RF Kuang spent so much of the book pontificating with her own thoughts about Empire, almost as if this is the first time someone has written about this. But to me this was done with so little subtlety or nuance. Too. Much. Lecturing. Show us, don't tell us. It almost felt like RFK was parroting things she'd read in Frantz Fanon's books.
• everything after the second sea voyage is so incredibly difficult to believe. It was incongruous to the direction we'd been led to believe the book would take.
• on this topic, it's clear RFK has never striked before nor has she been in a direct action group. Is the strike in the book meant to make up for RFK not striking with the Harper Collins workers?
• RFK portrays what at first appears to be a revolutionary group, but the actions that they take later on are just so unbelievable. We also barely get to see much of their global network and this should really have been explored in this book as a thread about how to bring down Empire. One of the members talks about how we have to unite in our struggle against colonisation, and the global network would have been a great way to show that. There could have been collaborations with other nations including ones that are heavily featured in the story, but this didn't happen (I guess it would have been hard to communicate rapidly, although the silver bars symbolised our modern technology so I'm sure they'd have found some way).
• she killed off too many characters. She also ends up representing resistance martyrs in a pretty colonised way.
• This is not a fantasy book and it should not be marketed as such. I still consider myself a beginner fantasy reader but this had so little world building in terms of a fantastical world.
• someone please tell RFK she isn't gonna make footnotes fetch. They were overused just for the purpose of her showing off her own knowledge. She spends too much time lecturing the reader (about language and history), the dialogue could be much more succinct, there's so many big chunky passages where no action takes place and the dialogue doesn't serve much purpose except to once again show off her knowledge. And there is a lot of repetition.
• finally, she has totally imposed 2020s DEI language onto 1800s Oxford students of colour. On the first sea voyage, Robin - probably a 11 year old at the time - mentally makes notes about the indentured labour that a Chinese sailor he encounters is contracted to complete. I have never met an 11 year old who speaks like this, and I don't expect people outside the West to utilise the same kind of DEI language either.
In the end i give this 6☆ out of 10. It seems crazy that after so many criticisms I still give 6☆. I don't think this is a terrible book, but it's just nowhere near as amazing as people think.
I want more of the bringing down Empire, i just think Rebecca doesn't understand it enough herself to be writing about it.
✅ What worked
• the exploration of Empire - what sustains it, the violence within it, the exploitation and plundering, how it treats the PoCs displaced from their colonised homelands as disposable, and welcomes and treats them "well" only for the benefit of Empire. For all of this book's flaws, this was something I enjoyed reading about.
• the exploration of languages and linguistics - as someone who loves languages, I enjoyed this too.
• the discussions about how we can bring down the Empire, though they could have gone much deeper.
• the revolutionary group was a potentially interesting group and they could have done so much more, but as i explain below, it's clear RFK does not understand direct action groups
• I learnt a lot about the history of the British Empire and now want to learn more about their exploitation of India
🙅🏻♀️ What didn't work so well
• RFK's writing is not as good as people think.
• She does not know how to write fully fleshed out characters. After 540 pages, I still barely know let alone like most of the characters. I liked Ramy and could picture Griffin and kinda wanted him to be the hero. Victoire was a bit hard for me to picture, Robin was so flat, and Letty was incredibly annoying which I imagine was RFK's goal as she tried to bring out the fragility of yt women. Professor Lovell was despicable and somewhat terrifying but I wanted more about his past and motivations.
• RFK will give us inklings of a character, she'll write stuff like "his face was unreadable" or "something flashed across his face but it was gone in an instant", but never gets around to fleshing this out.
• i think people are so taken aback by this book because they like the discussion of Empire - because RF Kuang spent so much of the book pontificating with her own thoughts about Empire, almost as if this is the first time someone has written about this. But to me this was done with so little subtlety or nuance. Too. Much. Lecturing. Show us, don't tell us. It almost felt like RFK was parroting things she'd read in Frantz Fanon's books.
• everything after the second sea voyage is so incredibly difficult to believe. It was incongruous to the direction we'd been led to believe the book would take.
• on this topic, it's clear RFK has never striked before nor has she been in a direct action group. Is the strike in the book meant to make up for RFK not striking with the Harper Collins workers?
• RFK portrays what at first appears to be a revolutionary group, but the actions that they take later on are just so unbelievable. We also barely get to see much of their global network and this should really have been explored in this book as a thread about how to bring down Empire. One of the members talks about how we have to unite in our struggle against colonisation, and the global network would have been a great way to show that. There could have been collaborations with other nations including ones that are heavily featured in the story, but this didn't happen (I guess it would have been hard to communicate rapidly, although the silver bars symbolised our modern technology so I'm sure they'd have found some way).
• she killed off too many characters. She also ends up representing resistance martyrs in a pretty colonised way.
• This is not a fantasy book and it should not be marketed as such. I still consider myself a beginner fantasy reader but this had so little world building in terms of a fantastical world.
• someone please tell RFK she isn't gonna make footnotes fetch. They were overused just for the purpose of her showing off her own knowledge. She spends too much time lecturing the reader (about language and history), the dialogue could be much more succinct, there's so many big chunky passages where no action takes place and the dialogue doesn't serve much purpose except to once again show off her knowledge. And there is a lot of repetition.
• finally, she has totally imposed 2020s DEI language onto 1800s Oxford students of colour. On the first sea voyage, Robin - probably a 11 year old at the time - mentally makes notes about the indentured labour that a Chinese sailor he encounters is contracted to complete. I have never met an 11 year old who speaks like this, and I don't expect people outside the West to utilise the same kind of DEI language either.
In the end i give this 6☆ out of 10. It seems crazy that after so many criticisms I still give 6☆. I don't think this is a terrible book, but it's just nowhere near as amazing as people think.
I want more of the bringing down Empire, i just think Rebecca doesn't understand it enough herself to be writing about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Moderate: Slavery
lavendervioletreader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
I can't say anything else but : breathtaking, I don't think I'll recover from this story, ever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Torture, Blood, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Alcoholism and Drug use
bgmylc's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Deportation
beonie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Infidelity and Deportation
nikki_flowers's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
This book was brilliant in so many ways that I cannot even begin to adequately put into words.
This is a book to help you decolonize your mind. The story itself is beautiful and the message is powerful. Fiction like this is so important. People need to see, these stories, to read these stories. Decolonial fiction like this gives us insight and hope and community and so much more.
As I reflect back on my journey reading this masterpiece I cannot help but think of the events that were unfolding in the world at the same time.
As I very slowly (for thoroughness sake, not a lack of interest) made my way through the book, I watched the world justify the genocide of Palestinians and the further colonization of Palestine. I watched so so many people, white girls and women in particular, obsess over this book but refuse to put the message into practice. If felt like a fetishization or infantilization of the book and its decolonial efforts. How many read this book and took what they wanted from it for their own selfish reasons and then watch Palestine burn and called Hamas terrorists or stayed completely silent. A completely colonizer move to take what you want from the book and leave the rest to burn regardless of the harm caused.
And yet, how many others read this work and felt its message in their bones. How many saw themselves on the page for the first time. How many people were awakened to liberations struggles. How many felt and cried and turned it into action. How many had hard and necessary conversations with themselves and/ or others because of this book.
That is the legacy of this book. The change it brought about to so many. The perverse colonizer response is not its legacy but rather further example of exactly why we need books like this.
May this book live on in the hearts of those who have read it and may it fuel our souls in the liberation/mutual aid/revolution/abolition work we do.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, and Alcohol
erintempleton's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
4.0
i think what i liked most about this novel, more than the characters, more than the plot, more than the fantasy elements, more than the depth of research, and more than the immensity of its revolution, was the author's narrative writing style. i have to specify narrative because there were some non-narrative sections that seemed more like a lecture than a novel, but the story itself was told with such a strong voice that i felt like i was being folded into its world right along with the others. loved that
the overall worldbuilding was very obviously thoughtful, but it seemed like the historical setting was more informed by the plot than the other way round. Like the author was shoving a round peg in a square hole at times, trying to make silver-working fit into the industrial revolution era. the limitations of silver were often suspiciously convenient, and by god was it obvious how robin was going to end up using the number one no-no limitation.
kind of on that note, my biggest peeve was the lack of subtlety with the author's main messages. like the main characters probably hear the "don't bite the hand that feeds you" speech a total of ten times, and by the third time, i was like OKAY, we GET IT. i just felt really beat over the head with certain themes that would have still been blatant even if they hadn't been spoken aloud via dialogue (or tacked on via footnotes).
this book reads like kuang is trying to convince the letty's of the world that robin, rami, and victoire were right, even though she knows that letty will never change. it's angry and defensive and quite realistically pessimistic, and it was not always fun to read given that colonialism and racism and academic exclusivity and misogyny and capitalistic greed are all incredibly heavy and ugly topics. it's a tough pill to swallow even if you're on board with everything the author is promoting because everyone keeps telling the characters "that's just the way it is," and the way it is is terrible.
lastly, huge trigger warnings for racism, misogyny, loss/grief, gun violence/murder, war, suicide, injury detail, and torture. know what you're getting into and be kind to yourself.
less serious trigger warnings for anyone who's ever been in a highly exclusive academic group (or cult), studied linguistics and/or translation, or struggled to maintain fluency in a language - this novel hits a little too close to home in those areas.
the overall worldbuilding was very obviously thoughtful, but it seemed like the historical setting was more informed by the plot than the other way round. Like the author was shoving a round peg in a square hole at times, trying to make silver-working fit into the industrial revolution era. the limitations of silver were often suspiciously convenient, and by god was it obvious how robin was going to end up using the number one no-no limitation.
kind of on that note, my biggest peeve was the lack of subtlety with the author's main messages. like the main characters probably hear the "don't bite the hand that feeds you" speech a total of ten times, and by the third time, i was like OKAY, we GET IT. i just felt really beat over the head with certain themes that would have still been blatant even if they hadn't been spoken aloud via dialogue (or tacked on via footnotes).
this book reads like kuang is trying to convince the letty's of the world that robin, rami, and victoire were right, even though she knows that letty will never change. it's angry and defensive and quite realistically pessimistic, and it was not always fun to read given that colonialism and racism and academic exclusivity and misogyny and capitalistic greed are all incredibly heavy and ugly topics. it's a tough pill to swallow even if you're on board with everything the author is promoting because everyone keeps telling the characters "that's just the way it is," and the way it is is terrible.
lastly, huge trigger warnings for racism, misogyny, loss/grief, gun violence/murder, war, suicide, injury detail, and torture. know what you're getting into and be kind to yourself.
less serious trigger warnings for anyone who's ever been in a highly exclusive academic group (or cult), studied linguistics and/or translation, or struggled to maintain fluency in a language - this novel hits a little too close to home in those areas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Drug use, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
eemadeeberry's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol