Reviews - The Fall of Babel

566 reviews for:

The Fall of Babel

Josiah Bancroft

3.94 AVERAGE

mudlistens2books's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

arned6's review against another edition

4.0

Thank you, Josiah Bancroft, for a (mostly) stunning end to a stunning ride. And thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC for a reader who has only actually reviewed about four books in his life - when I make it big as a critic, I'll send y'all a dozen or so donuts. None from Changing Tides, though - they're a little expensive.

Let me start by saying that I have never anticipated the ending of a series more in my lifetime. I picked up the Books of Babel series around the release of The Hod King - the last time I'd been that engrossed with a fantasy series was Pullmans Dark Materials and that was YEARS ago. Suffice to say I've been watching the release of Fall of Babel like a hawk. The excitement was palpable, the expectations extremely lofty.

Fall of Babel represents what SEEMS like a notable shift in tone for the series. The first three books were ominous, distressing at times - I won't get into spoilers, but The Tower felt gritty and almost low fantasy. For better or worse, some of that grit has been put aside for Fall of Babel in favor of a most fantastical sort of Studio Ghibli vibe - the set pieces are more ambitious, the characters more triumphant (sometimes). Fall of Babel is the last book in the series, so that may affect things, but Bancroft seems to have less interest in the suffering of Stone Cloud's crew than in past iterations. Personally it wasn't as much of a vibe for me (I like grittier fantasy) but judging by its merits, its a beautiful and magical ending to a great series.

The ending is... something. It's really something. To wax vague, it has a sort of deux ex machina seasoning from a meta perspective (i.e., Bancroft couldn't quite close the loop of his own worldbuilding), however it took absolutely nothing away from the book for me as the handling of last minute revelations, the introduction of The Tower as a completed function, and the promise of future adventure with the series was more than enough to satisfy any qualms I may have had about unexplained (or poorly explained) worldbuilding elements.

In regards to the characters, the book carries an abundance of endings; some are happy, some sad, some bittersweet. I particularly liked how Bancroft handled the relationship between

Spoiler

Senlin and Marya. . That is to say, I certainly didn't like it. But it was VERY well handled and mature, and what I would expect out of any good writer in their attempts to get to the heart of what makes a person tick and avoid emotional platitudes.

There are two genuine problems I had with this book that avoided a 5 star rating.

First, I very much did not enjoy Adam's POV/ section for this book. The story was fine, but the execution felt jilted and weirdly paced . I think the series would REALLY benefit from a better blending of POVs - I know its a little cliché with fantasy, but the melding of different characters stories in with each tends to make each POV seems better paced (Senlin's section was shorter, for example, but it being broken up made it seem fuller).

The other, and this is really the only objective complaint I can make - the book needs a passover with an editor (if it had one already, it needs another). A few spelling errors and VERY strange wordings graced the novel, and there were a number of lines that were just garish. Maybe he was being funny? But there were some of dialogue lines and descriptions in the book that really did not feel like they were written by the same author that came up with this quote:

“Mirrors are not so honest as one might think. They can be mugged at, bargained with, and one can always ferret out a flattering angle. Really, there is nothing like the expression of a long-lost friend to reflect the honest state of your affairs.”

So, with that in mind:

Pros:
Excellent prose
Fantastic finish to the series
VERY original worldbuilding and fantasy
good characterization and arc handling

Mixed:
Shift in writing tone
The lack of a "close loop" within the world's own logic - I feel like I had more questions at the end than at the beginning

Cons:
Adam's POV (first section of the novel)
Poor editing, occasional rough grammar/ spelling
The occasional very BAD bit of prose

Fall of Babel was overall a satisfying end to the series. I'd be happy to go back and reread, and will definitely do so someday. Still my favorite fantasy series!

4/5

tbah926's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring 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

sadiekindarocks's review against another edition

4.0

I loved this book and was enthralled with it from start to finish, however I do have a few gripes. Senlin this time around feels almost like a side character rather than the main character. He’s a prisoner for like 90% of this book. He’s barely in it compared to Adam or Edith or Voleta. I do love what we got with him - Josiah Bancroft’s writing is too damn good for me not to - but I wish he’d had more of an active role in the story. And it’s weird for a series which started off as a deeply personal tale of a man trying to find his wife to then end with said man kinda being brushed to the side in favour of other characters. I think by the last third of the book the action scenes started to drag on for far too long, to the point where I was mentally checking out. I also found the conclusion to be kind of dissatisfying. I like where almost everyone’s journeys end but I sincerely wish Senlin had received a better ending. There were also a lot of questions raised throughout the rest of the series and in this book that just don’t get answered.