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rbz39's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I wanted this to be so much more than it was. The length does not justify the story told, which felt oddly simplistic and not imaginative. I found the story upsetting and the characters unlikable throughout. I didn’t want to close the book this way, but I was so disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Murder, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: War
passionatereader78's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
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? No
4.5
If you like political fantasy stories this book is perfect for you! If you enjoyed Yellowface, and Atlas Six you will enjoy this book. It's well written and the story is told well. Robin, Remy, Victoire, and Letty are minorities at Oxford University. They are translators and are in the Babel tower. They stick together because they have no one else. They aren't invited to the parties or to go to town. They each face discrimination daily. As they study and spend time at Babel they begin to accept their fates until they meet Griffin and learn about Hermes. Are they strong enough to face the truth about Babel and the part they play? Definitely, check out the trigger warnings!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Classism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and War
bookswithlauren's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Abandonment, Trafficking, Bullying, Death, Blood, Classism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, War, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Deportation, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia
aliyachaudhry's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
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
3.0
rip ramy mirza you would have loved comedy specials
rip griffin lovell you would have loved action movies
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Racism, Torture, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Death, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Addiction, War, Sexism, Slavery, and Misogyny
snovella's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, War, and Death
Minor: Racism
amaralh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Slavery, Racism, War, Murder, Grief, Classism, Colonisation, and Blood
_lazyreader_90's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Murder, and Racism
Minor: Slavery, War, Gun violence, and Torture
lillianreads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
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
3.5
Rating this feels really hard because I liked the plot and the characters but the writing and construction of the story made it hard for me to connect fully with what was going on.
I can definitely appreciate the message R.F. Kuang is trying to convey and I liked the discussion of colonialism, the empire etc. But the story felt too much like a lecture at times and the description of the silverworking was very confusing and went on for too long in my opinion. The way the story is told made it really hard to connect to the characters and made them feel kind of surreal. That got better towards the end but it couldn't make up for the distance created in the beginning and middle.
All in all, I think R.F. Kuang might just not be for me but I can still appreciate the story of Babel and how it handles the topic of racism, colonialism, slavery etc.
I can definitely appreciate the message R.F. Kuang is trying to convey and I liked the discussion of colonialism, the empire etc. But the story felt too much like a lecture at times and the description of the silverworking was very confusing and went on for too long in my opinion. The way the story is told made it really hard to connect to the characters and made them feel kind of surreal. That got better towards the end but it couldn't make up for the distance created in the beginning and middle.
All in all, I think R.F. Kuang might just not be for me but I can still appreciate the story of Babel and how it handles the topic of racism, colonialism, slavery etc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Racism, Violence, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Suicide, War, Sexism, and Death of parent
bekkah_co's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
5.0
Babel was a book I had heard about rumbling around when I was completing my undergraduate degrees and again when I was working on my postgrad. I remember taking a look at this book, saying "That's too many pages right now." and never going back to it. Until last month. I had been wanting to read it for ages at this point, and I finally found myself in a pocket of time where I could just read. Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of Oxford Translators’ Revolution was one of those books that needs serious dedication. It's a slow, meaty text, rich with interesting, magical twists on 19th Century England and British Colonial/Imperialism. R.F. Kuang succeeds at shifting the known notions of this time period to fit the magic system she created. Kuang balances complex characters, academia, translations, and the Oxfordian Superiority Complex (/hj) to create such a compelling narrative of pushing against institutionalized racism and exploitations caused by centuries of imperialism and colonialism.
This book is almost completed experienced through the perspective of Robin Swift, a Cantonese boy taken from Canton following his mother's death due to cholera. Robin is raised by Professor Lovell and a host of tutors that prepare him in languages like Classic Greek, Latin, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Lovell's training and tutelage is solely to make Robin a tool of Babel at the Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford. Lovell's goal is to make Robin a translator and silver-worker, creating the magic that helps their world run. It isn't until Robin attends Oxford where we met the other primary characters: Ramiz Rafi "Ramy" Mirza (Indian - from Calcutta), Lettica "Letty" Price (British, specifically English), and Victoire Desgraves (Haitian-French). These four form the cohort we spend the bulk of the narrative with. It isn't until this group is entrenched with the lifestyle Babel offers with riches and devotion to academia, that the aspects of colonialism and exploitation begin to shine through.
I am in love with the footnotes. I spend a lot of time going over nonfiction texts and historical documents. This book, for all of these reasons, fascinated me. There is an intense focus that Kuang places on blending historical accuracies with fictional-historical accuracies. You would not believe the amount of time I spend with translations and translating for my dissertation and on-going academic research. The translations provided in Babel, how the words link together is fascinating. Kuang balances the need for translation within the narrative by providing the concise etymology for the words that hold significance in the narrative and to Robin.
[The match-pairs and etymology reminded me of my early days in linguistics courses, trying to figure out where our English words derived from and how those words came from other words that came from sounds that, as a species, we arbitrarily assigned meaning to. (Nothing beats a breakdown in linguistics for an English Literature major trying to figure out how words are just sounds that mean nothing and everything all at once.)]
The characters in Babel are very compelling. There are points where they feel like simply foils to push the plot along. (Howdy, Griffin!) Yet, when a book is this long and this complex, this is almost a necessity. Robin had, by far, the most interesting character arcs as he began to understand the systematic issues and how it pertains to the colonies and him. It was fascinating to watch as he began unfolding these deeply rooted issues. Ramy, Victoire, and Letty were perfect to demonstrate the imbalance of racial issues in 19th-century England. Major Spoiler Warning. And let me tell you, Letty's character arc? A fucking doozy. Going from white friend who doesn't get it to white friend who is trying to get it to WHITE FRIEND WHO KILLS FRIENDS BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T FUCKING GET IT is insane. I get why Ramy had to die, truly, but his character could have done so much good. I think his death is really what set Robin off on his crusade. It's understandable, it's traumatic. The way Robin and Victoire simply don't have time to understand the gravity of this murder is heart-wrenching.
As I parsed through the GoodReads and The Story Graph reviews of this book, I found myself shocked at some of the lower ratings. The plot is, truly, in the expanded title of the novel. Of course there is revolution with violence. Kuang does not hide that from us. It is apparent from the very first page we open to. It is this violence, this reconciliation that demonstrated the necessity of violence in revolution. It was gut-wrenching and I cried at least twice.
I feel like I need to end with this: Babel did not take me a month to read. It was my "read at work" book, and then I couldn't just "read at work". I finally had some down time today to just sit and read. My god am I glad I finally finished this book.
This book is almost completed experienced through the perspective of Robin Swift, a Cantonese boy taken from Canton following his mother's death due to cholera. Robin is raised by Professor Lovell and a host of tutors that prepare him in languages like Classic Greek, Latin, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Lovell's training and tutelage is solely to make Robin a tool of Babel at the Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford. Lovell's goal is to make Robin a translator and silver-worker, creating the magic that helps their world run. It isn't until Robin attends Oxford where we met the other primary characters: Ramiz Rafi "Ramy" Mirza (Indian - from Calcutta), Lettica "Letty" Price (British, specifically English), and Victoire Desgraves (Haitian-French). These four form the cohort we spend the bulk of the narrative with. It isn't until this group is entrenched with the lifestyle Babel offers with riches and devotion to academia, that the aspects of colonialism and exploitation begin to shine through.
I am in love with the footnotes. I spend a lot of time going over nonfiction texts and historical documents. This book, for all of these reasons, fascinated me. There is an intense focus that Kuang places on blending historical accuracies with fictional-historical accuracies. You would not believe the amount of time I spend with translations and translating for my dissertation and on-going academic research. The translations provided in Babel, how the words link together is fascinating. Kuang balances the need for translation within the narrative by providing the concise etymology for the words that hold significance in the narrative and to Robin.
[The match-pairs and etymology reminded me of my early days in linguistics courses, trying to figure out where our English words derived from and how those words came from other words that came from sounds that, as a species, we arbitrarily assigned meaning to. (Nothing beats a breakdown in linguistics for an English Literature major trying to figure out how words are just sounds that mean nothing and everything all at once.)]
The characters in Babel are very compelling. There are points where they feel like simply foils to push the plot along. (Howdy, Griffin!) Yet, when a book is this long and this complex, this is almost a necessity. Robin had, by far, the most interesting character arcs as he began to understand the systematic issues and how it pertains to the colonies and him. It was fascinating to watch as he began unfolding these deeply rooted issues. Ramy, Victoire, and Letty were perfect to demonstrate the imbalance of racial issues in 19th-century England. Major Spoiler Warning.
As I parsed through the GoodReads and The Story Graph reviews of this book, I found myself shocked at some of the lower ratings. The plot is, truly, in the expanded title of the novel. Of course there is revolution with violence. Kuang does not hide that from us. It is apparent from the very first page we open to. It is this violence, this reconciliation that demonstrated the necessity of violence in revolution. It was gut-wrenching and I cried at least twice.
I feel like I need to end with this: Babel did not take me a month to read. It was my "read at work" book, and then I couldn't just "read at work". I finally had some down time today to just sit and read. My god am I glad I finally finished this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Racism, Colonisation, Racial slurs, and Sexism
Moderate: Slavery and War
moanareads's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
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? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Slavery, War, Colonisation, Racism, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, and Child abuse