A review by annakh16
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

Ah. She gets it. 

I’ve held off on writing this review for a little while, mainly to process. I feel like I have a lot and at the same time very little to say. The key thing is that the intensity of emotions this book induces - the betrayal and guilt and grief - is such a poignant way to bring its message to the public. And for that, hats off. 

More “superficial” things first: the language nerd in me adored having a magic system based around translation. Additionally, I found the footnotes very effective as a method of world-building, as they made it feel like a real history. I also loved all of the thinkers and literary references included.
The Plato quote right at the end nearly made me cry in the office
. 

Really, I had so many thoughts about 3/4 in regarding how cleverly this book was set up and how much I appreciated the analysis. And then it just went a bunch of places I didn’t think it would and that made it so much better. 
In my opinion, the pacing was off around the middle - there were too many repetitive bits and the plot dragged. But the ending brought this back a hundred times over.
Griffin was my favourite character for most of it, not because he’s overly likeable though. The clarity of his conviction and analysis, as well as how much he predicts correctly made for a pessimistic but poignant reading. I truly didn’t expect Robin to follow in his footsteps. To see this play out - the conclusion of the themes of this book so clearly brought onto the page, not to be inferred, not to be denied - was a welcome if very sad surprise
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An incoherent review for a not at all incoherent novel. Overall, while parts of this book were a little raw, I loved it. There are many quotes and moments I will carry with me from now on and I’m already “looking forward” to re-reading it. 
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