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A review by heelturn2
Babel by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.5
Ooh I liked this a lot, very close to 5 stars for me
Big interesting alt history light magic world with lots of things going on - I wish we’d seen more of it, but I think the choice to follow characters who are kind of isolated and insulated from everything Happening is interesting. Love this time period, so much to think about. We got some but I wanted even more direct refs to real historical events going down.Enjoyed the more political intrigue/organizing/coalition building/siege-y aspects of the end, I was so pleasantly surprised to see sabotage and general strikes laid out as the most effective tactics in opposing empire! Like… hell yeah… I am always saying this etc but you don’t get to read solid spec fic that is also saying this very often y’know?
My only gripes were with pacing - sometimes very slow, lots of studying and buying bread which I don’t hate and is kind of par for the course with a campus novel but dragged at times, and eventually felt a little out of sync with the last 100-150 pages which move at a much faster pace with lots more moving parts - and then also characterization being like. maybe a little weaker than I had hoped! I wish secondary characters had been developed a little more, I wish Victoire had gotten a bit more spotlight earlier on, and I feel like the way Letty is described by her friends vs. the way she appears to speak and act in the actual text of the book are a little out of sync (she’s described as being kind of blunt and ruthless but half her scenes are her crying or coming off just kind of tactless and naive, which is fine but hard to square with the way her friends seem to see her).
Would love a (totally unnecessary) followup with atortured evil Victoire/Letty rivalry and more global Hermes action but also I think that would probably be difficult to write and cheapen the ending.
Big interesting alt history light magic world with lots of things going on - I wish we’d seen more of it, but I think the choice to follow characters who are kind of isolated and insulated from everything Happening is interesting. Love this time period, so much to think about. We got some but I wanted even more direct refs to real historical events going down.
My only gripes were with pacing - sometimes very slow, lots of studying and buying bread which I don’t hate and is kind of par for the course with a campus novel but dragged at times, and eventually felt a little out of sync with the last 100-150 pages which move at a much faster pace with lots more moving parts - and then also characterization being like. maybe a little weaker than I had hoped! I wish secondary characters had been developed a little more, I wish Victoire had gotten a bit more spotlight earlier on, and I feel like the way Letty is described by her friends vs. the way she appears to speak and act in the actual text of the book are a little out of sync (she’s described as being kind of blunt and ruthless but half her scenes are her crying or coming off just kind of tactless and naive, which is fine but hard to square with the way her friends seem to see her).
Would love a (totally unnecessary) followup with a