Babel ¦ R F Kuang ¦ Review

My not so positive review of Babel by RF Kuang!

WHERE TO FIND ME:

[tonikely-brown]

You nailed this review! You've articulated what I havent been able to about this book. Thank you from colonised Australia! 🇦🇺

[Luumus]

So I've read Babel, and unlike the majority of the time, I really cannot pinpoint whether I liked this book or not. There were parts of it that were certainly interesting but historically and linguistically I'm not qualified enough to evaluate the quality of the subject matter and the themes. As for character wise I thought they were very shallow and anachronistically modern which threw me off quite a bit, but in contrast the vibes were immaculate. Basically I'm struggling to have an informed, set opinion of this book, and so I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on this!

[alasdairmontgomery]

I definitely really enjoyed this book a lot while reading it, but got somewhat more conflicted after putting it down. Kuang does do fantastic work setting things out, but I was sold a lot more on the transformation than it seems you were. While the characters don't have to deal with the downfall, I think the (spoilers) death of Robin is damning him for avoiding those consequences as well as the choice to give up and not fight on that Victoire takes. There's also a portion describing the collapse of London bridge that I think illustrates the consequences well.

If I remember correctly, I think the "how far should we take this" argument also isn't quite as clean old/young - victoire fights back against him on that too.

I do agree with you about the characters being flat though - I felt that some of the more extended cast felt quite one-note.

The main criticism I had after putting it down was similar to that of the Poppy War, if you've read that, in that it moved too fast in going towards the final act. The books both accelerate rapidly, and occasionally left me confused from the speed. Thankfully here Kuang returns to the original setting for the finale, so that we don't have the issues with locations blurring and information not being communicated clearly that The Poppy War had.

In other brief notes - I think I was able to buy into this more as a fantastical narrative and world than you seemed to in your review, and from that I didn't really see the problems with the worldbuilding that you picked up. Though some of them make sense in hindsight, I can't really say that any of them troubled me while reading. The easy style picked me up and carried me through. That's possibly the best bit about Kuang's style, and i agree with you that she has very good writing, a very readable style.

[sleepingpetal]

Your mouth-piece comment sort of reminds me of the end of The Ninth House. I feel like it does more disservice to the message of the story than anything. I wish authors, including ones I like, would stop doing it that.

[birdieroo]

Richard Lovell. Not Robert. His "legitimate" son is named after him (Dick), not Robin (a diminutive for Robert). That's significant.

[unioncityman]

Joshua,
currently on the fourth disc of Babel audiobook, actually like the book, reminds me of Anne Rice at times, but it certainly has a certain angle behind it, I get tired of the Europe evil and cause of all the world’s woes i.e. British Empire agenda.
Will need to go back and watch your videos on it when I am through. Greetings from Kansas😀