A review by aweekinthelife
Babel by R.F. Kuang

challenging emotional 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

4.75

as a linguist and someone who is particularly interested in the realm of translation, i loved the snippet about translation theory in the beginning and the different languages that are used throughout the book. 

i am endlessly impressed with Kuang's ability to create such immersive and complete worlds and i appreciate her use of fantasy to re-examine historical events and flawed characters that i still love as they navigate the world around them. i personally enjoyed the tidbits that ended up in footnotes. 

while usually data-focused, i rate books by gut feeling and i think i loved the first half more, even though it wasn't as fast paced. i think the slow days paralleled how the characters felt and there were enough "they should've known" asides to hint at what was to come. 

i think Abel was my surprise favorite character - a character who I didn't expect to come back into the story but the good bye between him and Robin got me. I also appreciated getting to hear from all of our main character's backgrounds shaped their perspectives, even if only for a short chapter.
 
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