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gillianalice 's review for:

Babel by R.F. Kuang
4.75
challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
I have so many thoughts, and I'm not sure how to articulate them.

First of all, R.F. Kuang is an incredible writer. I have loved everything I've read by her. I've seen a lot of reviews that say she's rubbing our faces in the hard topics too much, but I definitely disagree. She just doesn't shy away from them in order to make people more comfortable. Babel took place in a fantasy world, but the themes throughout are very real. 

As someone currently in the world of academia, I appreciate Robin's struggle. It's so easy to isolate yourself in your studies and ignore the world around you. Honestly, for the first part of the book, I loved the idea of Babel. Being holed up in a magic tower, researching all day, and not worrying about anything outside of those walls sounded like a dream. And for Robin, it was. Watching the tower walls metaphorically (at first) crumble around him was painful but necessary. 

I LOVED the linguistics in this book. The whole magic system and all of the languages were endlessly fascinating.

I would have liked to know more about the other members of Robin's cohort. We got a very necessary chapter from Letty's perspective, and a few scattered chapters from Ramy and Victoire, but they all seemed to be such rich characters and I would have loved to know more about their inner thoughts.

As in the Poppy Wars, this book ended in the only way it could have. It's realistic and brutal and almost hopeless.

I'm going to be chewing on this one for a long time. 
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