bababookmatt 's review for:

Babel by R.F. Kuang

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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: Yes

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Harry Potter 1-7 meets the politics, economics, history of English academia, colonialism, and imperialism. I hope this book has a large influence on the conversation of racial injustice. Just when you’ve fallen in love with the student life at Babel and Oxford, the story’s intensity ramps up and never stops. The mystical characteristics endowed to silver working and translation is a well crafted symbol for the power behind language and communication. Further, this approach made linguistics and etymology, which I always found scholastically intimidating, comprehensible and fascinating. The characters are absolutely fantastic throughout and so well developed. They become your friends. I found myself picking sides during their disagreements, celebrating their achievements, and mourning their hardships. This is a book that will stick with you and influence the way you view social injustice historically and at present. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Classism