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ihugparrish's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Torture, and Body horror
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, and Child death
Minor: Slavery, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Bullying, and Antisemitism
pinkupengu's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Xenophobia, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, and Self harm
Minor: Sexual content, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cultural appropriation
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
This one took a while to get into. But now I'm all in for steampunk Leverage with magic and teenagers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Antisemitism, Murder, Grief, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Bullying, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Hate crime, Racism, Child abuse, Xenophobia, and Death
Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, Biphobia, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate:: Saneism, Spiders, Mind control Minor: Whorephobiacailean_renard's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism
Minor: Sexual content
barda's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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? It's complicated
2.75
This book was a frustrating read.
It had all of the elements of a great read - a unique setting (19th Century alternative history Paris), cool magic system, intricate heists, and a likeable cast of characters. It was very much like Six of Crows, which I adore, in spirit. But in the end it just couldn't come together in a cohesive way.
The author clearly put a lot of thought into the puzzles and heist elements, as well as the world-building; however, much of it was written in a confusing way, such that I couldn't really picture in my head what was happening in a scene. The characters were broadly likeable and very diverse (Hypnos in particular was hilarious), but much of the characterisation was done by telling the audience what they were supposed to be like (such as it being banged over your head repeatedly that Severin and Laila slept together once and had residual feelings) rather than letting the backstories and personalities of their individual characters be revealed gradually through the text.
One element in particular knocked back my rating quite a bit, and that was the ending. Without spoilers, what I thought was the ending was a pretty good cliffhanger, and had huge emotional ramifications for the characters which could be explored in the next book. But then...there's more pages. And any emotional impact of the ending is completely wiped away as the characters deal with them over the space of a single chapter. This all leads up to a second cliffhanger, which in itself was fine and could have easily stood on its own, but it felt like the author had two ideas for how their book should end and just took the worst of both worlds and put them together in the same book.
I can appreciate what the author tried to do with this book, with the richly detailed setting and magic system, and I really liked the inclusion of neurodiversity among the main characters and the critiques of colonialism in the context of the setting. However, it was let down by confusing writing, the lack of "show not tell", and the ending.
It had all of the elements of a great read - a unique setting (19th Century alternative history Paris), cool magic system, intricate heists, and a likeable cast of characters. It was very much like Six of Crows, which I adore, in spirit. But in the end it just couldn't come together in a cohesive way.
The author clearly put a lot of thought into the puzzles and heist elements, as well as the world-building; however, much of it was written in a confusing way, such that I couldn't really picture in my head what was happening in a scene. The characters were broadly likeable and very diverse (Hypnos in particular was hilarious), but much of the characterisation was done by telling the audience what they were supposed to be like (such as it being banged over your head repeatedly that Severin and Laila slept together once and had residual feelings) rather than letting the backstories and personalities of their individual characters be revealed gradually through the text.
One element in particular knocked back my rating quite a bit, and that was the ending. Without spoilers, what I thought was the ending was a pretty good cliffhanger, and had huge emotional ramifications for the characters which could be explored in the next book. But then...there's more pages. And any emotional impact of the ending is completely wiped away as the characters deal with them over the space of a single chapter. This all leads up to a second cliffhanger, which in itself was fine and could have easily stood on its own, but it felt like the author had two ideas for how their book should end and just took the worst of both worlds and put them together in the same book.
I can appreciate what the author tried to do with this book, with the richly detailed setting and magic system, and I really liked the inclusion of neurodiversity among the main characters and the critiques of colonialism in the context of the setting. However, it was let down by confusing writing, the lack of "show not tell", and the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Blood
Moderate: Grief, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Torture
cardanrry's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Minor: Animal cruelty
shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Blood, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Death
takarakei's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
4.25
- 4 POVs, 6 main characters
- Stolen treasures (imperialism)
- late 19th century Paris
- found family
- autism rep (not explicitly stated)
- bit of romance
Honestly didn't know what to expect from this and I really enjoyed this. The world building is fascinating, the magic and everyone's backstories were expertly crafted. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!
The male audio narrator was not my fav but it didn't completely ruin it for me. There's a lot of visual puzzles that make more sense if you're reading the physical books (because there are diagrams etc)
The male audio narrator was not my fav but it didn't completely ruin it for me. There's a lot of visual puzzles that make more sense if you're reading the physical books (because there are diagrams etc)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Ableism, and Blood
Minor: Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, and Homophobia
luna_bear's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Ableism, Grief, Torture, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Death
Moderate: Antisemitism, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, and Animal cruelty
resterenvie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Actually 4.9/5✩
“Wolves were everywhere. In politics, on thrones, in beds. They cut their teeth on history and grew fat on war.”
Have you ever imagined a fantasy book featured with a cool mix of ancient histories, puzzles, mythology, symbology, heists, magic system (the Babel Fragments, the Houses, Forged items) and ofc MATH? This book is for you.
Seriously, the characters are what makes this whole book come together so beautifully, every character is well developed and has interesting backstory, purposes, desires and personalities. I love how Roshani gave so many different races, cultures and backgrounds in one set of these characters. They have this complexity that makes them feel so real and human, so much relatable on some level. ‹𝟹
“Wolves were everywhere. In politics, on thrones, in beds. They cut their teeth on history and grew fat on war.”
Have you ever imagined a fantasy book featured with a cool mix of ancient histories, puzzles, mythology, symbology, heists, magic system (the Babel Fragments, the Houses, Forged items) and ofc MATH? This book is for you.
Seriously, the characters are what makes this whole book come together so beautifully, every character is well developed and has interesting backstory, purposes, desires and personalities. I love how Roshani gave so many different races, cultures and backgrounds in one set of these characters. They have this complexity that makes them feel so real and human, so much relatable on some level. ‹𝟹
- Séverin Montagnet-Alarie, the half French-Algerian fallen heir to House Vanth, owner of Hotel L'Eden.
- Laila, the Tamil (South Indian) baker and a dancer aka L’Énigme, she is the mom friend. A QUEEN INDEED. Her backstory was probably my favorite to read. ”MAJNUN”
- Enrique Mercado-Lopez, a Filipino-Spanish, bisexual, a historian nerd and book worm. FUNNY.
- Zofia, a Polish, Jewish, and autistic (actually this is never explicitly stated) scientist, math and chemistry genius, very socially awkward.
- Hypnos, black French-Haitian aristocrat, the young head of House Nyx, dramatic and sarcastic.
- Tristan Maréchal, he adored natures and animals, a botanist, obsessed with his pet—tarantula. Needs to be protected at all costs.
I like the writing style as well, the banter, sass (I don’t have any idea how many times I laughed out loud because of them, especially conversation between Enrique-Hypnos-Zofia), tension, and romance through the story were just so much fun and heart wrenching (especially Séverin and Laila) to read. Also the world-building, especially the puzzles and the mysteries surrounding the artifacts.
What’s more facsinating is the fact that Rohsani wrote Order of Babel; their history that has a connection to the Tower of Babel, how they were divided into four different Houses that led by their own matriarch/patriarch, and their unique custom. I also love the setting of this book and think the historical and fantasy aspects blended really well together, while also follows strong themes of colonialism and racism that existed at that time.
“Nothing but a symbol? People die for symbols. People have hope because of symbols. They're not just lines. They're histories, cultures, traditions, given shape.”
IT WAS SO GOOD, SO PRECIOUS, AMAZING CHARACTERS AND DIVERSITY, I LOVE FOUND FAMILY TROPE, THE ANGST, THE DRAMA. THIS BOOK BROKE ME AND I LOVED IT. Thanks to Rohsani Chokshi. ‹𝟹
Ps. Please read the author notes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Racism