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A review by feralnebulous
Babel by R.F. Kuang
5.0
One of my fatal flaws is the fact that when I love a book, I have almost nothing to say about it. Maybe I feel like I couldn't do it justice with whatever I have to add, I'm not known for really intelligent discourse, but I will do my best to collect some of my thoughts.
The raw emotion that Babel is built on was what really sold it for me (and the fact that I loooooove some etymology, even if many people thought it was dry or unnecessary). There are many things that I won't be able to relate directly to, but the way this book let me follow Robin's journey, when he finally feels happiness and belonging in an institution that is harmful at its core, the internal conflict of surviving vs doing what is morally right, transported me directly into this world without even needing to build some kind of atmosphere. The way the magic system is so grounded in something so deeply personal to someone's identity as the language they speak or think in made so much sense to me as well, which I was happy about as someone who doesn't regularly read fantasy. The deep sense of loss that was at the center of the end of this book is something I won't quickly recover from, which is definitely welcome after reading intensely mediocre books recently. That's the best I can articulate my feelings about this, but if I could regurgitate the experience I had with this book, I would've done it already.
The raw emotion that Babel is built on was what really sold it for me (and the fact that I loooooove some etymology, even if many people thought it was dry or unnecessary). There are many things that I won't be able to relate directly to, but the way this book let me follow Robin's journey, when he finally feels happiness and belonging in an institution that is harmful at its core, the internal conflict of surviving vs doing what is morally right, transported me directly into this world without even needing to build some kind of atmosphere. The way the magic system is so grounded in something so deeply personal to someone's identity as the language they speak or think in made so much sense to me as well, which I was happy about as someone who doesn't regularly read fantasy. The deep sense of loss that was at the center of the end of this book is something I won't quickly recover from, which is definitely welcome after reading intensely mediocre books recently. That's the best I can articulate my feelings about this, but if I could regurgitate the experience I had with this book, I would've done it already.