A review by mothjor
Babel by R.F. Kuang

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

 i dont even know what i'm supposed to do with myself after this. i speak three languages and i feel like my vocabulary is still short in words to describe how i felt reading this. maybe i'll have a pretty review later. maybe i'll keep it all close to my heart forever. but i'll just say that everyone should read this. i wish my white friends would read it and learn from it, i wish my friends of color would read it and fell comforted by it, even if it makes them turn inside out like it did for me.
i've always been a revolutionary, there's barely nothing new in this book in particular that i haven't read before in other communist dissertations or communist-racial theory authors, but having it all laid out in palpable characters, each serving a purpose in a well developed story with a world build so steady and close to the real one... peak fiction, i can't describe it in any other way.