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A review by pvid
Babel by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
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
5.0
There is so much to love about this book. The magic system -- powered by the meaning lost when translating words from one language to another -- is really interesting, and the political theory questions driving the book are compelling. You can definitely tell this book is written by a scholar, as there are many references to academic texts from political theory and linguistics, and many of the questions raised are extremely relevant to modern life: Who benefits and who loses from technological advancement? Is there a moral way to engage with an immoral system? Is a 'revolution of ideas' really possible, or is violence the answer?
Although the book is loosely structured around life at a magic school, these political debates drive the plot as well as the characterization. It's kind of like Harry Potter, except Voldemort is the British Empire. This means that many of the characters are stand-ins for certain political ideologies or viewpoints. The main character, Robin, is definitely the most developed, but his actions and interactions are all analogies for those political debates. His interactions with, for example, his guardian, the Oxford professor Richard Lovell, are always primarily symbolic of how colonizers interact with the colonized.
I'm really interested in these debates, so I loved the book, and the plot moved quickly and was engaging, so I was hooked, and read it a lot faster than I would have expected given its length. That's why I gave it 5 stars -- I just really enjoyed it.
That being said, I really wish some of the characters were more complex and that their stories were integrated more as the story was unfolding. Because Kuang needed to cover so much plot so quickly, character and relationship development really took a back seat.
For instance, she tells us many times that Robin and his friends loved each other. I wish we could have seen those relationships develop, so that we could love the characters, too. There are also a couple of chapters that switch POV and just summarize the backstories of important characters. In another case, there is a dramatic confrontation between two characters, but the readers and Robin both have no context for why the confrontation is so dramatic -- Kuang explains the backstory in a short footnote.
The upshot is that these characters felt more like archetypes than real people, and that some of the more emotional moments are blunted. There were so many missed opportunities, and it really makes me wish Kuang wrote this story as a series, instead. (A TV adaptation could be a great opportunity to explore these characters -- but on the other hand, I don't think any corporate project would go hard enough on the politics.)
I still gave it 5 stars though, because I could tell Kuang made these choices in service of the political ideas she wanted to explore. It's a book that I really want to discuss with other people. It'd be great for a progressive book club.
Although the book is loosely structured around life at a magic school, these political debates drive the plot as well as the characterization. It's kind of like Harry Potter, except Voldemort is the British Empire. This means that many of the characters are stand-ins for certain political ideologies or viewpoints. The main character, Robin, is definitely the most developed, but his actions and interactions are all analogies for those political debates. His interactions with, for example, his guardian, the Oxford professor Richard Lovell, are always primarily symbolic of how colonizers interact with the colonized.
I'm really interested in these debates, so I loved the book, and the plot moved quickly and was engaging, so I was hooked, and read it a lot faster than I would have expected given its length. That's why I gave it 5 stars -- I just really enjoyed it.
That being said, I really wish some of the characters were more complex and that their stories were integrated more as the story was unfolding. Because Kuang needed to cover so much plot so quickly, character and relationship development really took a back seat.
For instance, she tells us many times that Robin and his friends loved each other. I wish we could have seen those relationships develop, so that we could love the characters, too. There are also a couple of chapters that switch POV and just summarize the backstories of important characters. In another case, there is a dramatic confrontation between two characters, but the readers and Robin both have no context for why the confrontation is so dramatic -- Kuang explains the backstory in a short footnote.
The upshot is that these characters felt more like archetypes than real people, and that some of the more emotional moments are blunted. There were so many missed opportunities, and it really makes me wish Kuang wrote this story as a series, instead. (A TV adaptation could be a great opportunity to explore these characters -- but on the other hand, I don't think any corporate project would go hard enough on the politics.)
I still gave it 5 stars though, because I could tell Kuang made these choices in service of the political ideas she wanted to explore. It's a book that I really want to discuss with other people. It'd be great for a progressive book club.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, and War