victoria25 's review for:

Babel by R.F. Kuang
3.5
challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
This book is a mixed bag. Similar to the Poppy War, the book is split up into several arcs or ‘books’ and takes a long time character and world building. This felt unnecessary at times and made the book read almost like a story about the history of languages, etymology. This was interesting, but could be shortened in my opinion. For me, the book only started to pick up in the last two hundred pages or so and took a turn towards more action which almost felt like a whole new story. I also found the ending unsatisfactory and giving us no real conclusion to the problems the characters fought for and we, as readers, got invested in. 

That being said, Kuang paints Oxford in the mid-1800s vividly and guides us through an alternate world in which silver combined with language has magical powers. I liked how the silver was used to mirror the Industrial Revolution and gave a bit of whimsy to the story. 

I feel as though Robins character switched too suddenly and I don’t think death for all of them was the only option. I am kind of dissatisfied and disappointed by this ending. There is still so much in the air about whether England went to war or whether they actually changed anything. Letty’s arc was very well done and it shows how some white people (speaking as a white person myself) can not see the intersectionality of suppression. >


Kuang’s writing remains impeccable and immersive. For people who love magical realism, very fleshed out characters, high stakes, etymology, and history this book is perfect. 
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