Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Babel: An Arcane History

Let me start by saying that I had high expectations about this book based on two things: the themes (language and power? Sign me up) and the initial rave reviews. I had not read The Poppy War trilogy, but had also heard a lot about it and knew it was a beloved fantasy trilogy. So, Babel was my first encounter with RF Kuang's writing. And I have a LOT to say about Babel.
Starting with what I thought was really strong: Kuang's writing. As soon as the book started, I was transported to its setting. I loved reading her descriptions of Oxford since they are so vivid and rich. I also thoroughly enjoyed the lectures on etymology and language (I could probably read an entire book of hers solely about these things). And, despite the novel's flaws, it kept me fully engaged with it.
The story is told through the eyes of Robin Swift, the main character, a Chinese-English young man who is brought up by an Oxford professor to study at Babel, Oxford's prestigious translation institute. I liked Robin's voice, how well Kuang expressed his doubts, fears and hopes, and I thought that his ambiguity

towards violent vs non-violent action

as well as his inner struggles with his mixed-raced ethnicity were really well done. As far as the other characters are concerned, I wished they were more developed, particularly Robin's friends (who at times felt very one dimensional to fulfill their assigned roles in the plot).
Speaking of plot, it lacked something. I think, for me, this is because of the magic system Kuang introduced in Babel. While the magic silver bars sounded promising at first and I was intrigued immediately, I was disappointed by the execution of this concept. As a metaphor for how language shapes the world around us, the silver bars worked. As the motor of the industrial revolution? Not really. Nothing changed in Babel's magical world vs the real world - the industrial revolution and its innovations (as well as the increased poverty and inequalities) still happened, unchanged. The only switch was that, instead of the slave trade and labour being the financial source behind the industrial revolution and the power of the British empire, it was silver bars that connected words from different languages. In the end, this magical element was not enough for me to believe in the book's plot, since its underdevelopment hindered the strength of the story and its ending.
Another thing that I didn't like was Kuang's extensive use of footnotes. While I generally don't mind footnotes if they're used ocasionally to clarify certain things, Kuang used footnotes to overexplain things, to provide characterisation and to lecture the reader. And although I believe that, sometimes, you need to shout 'racism' when something is clearly racist, this was done excessively throughout the book. It's as if Kuang doesn't trust her readers to understand her message. To add to this, there were so many characters whose only function was to say 'this is racism, this is colonialism, this is bad', which felt really repetitive and lacked the nuance and subtlety I think would've worked best in a historical fantasy novel.
Speaking of historical, the discussions about these issues used language that, I think, was far too modern for a novel set in the 1800s. Although this didn't bother me too much (except a few REALLY modern expressions and phrases), for a book that focuses on language, translation and the power behind words, it didn't make a lot of sense to have 19th century characters using 21st century words to discuss racism, colonialism and power.
All in all, despite its flaws, I think Babel accomplished what it set out to do: get people to talk about the role that language plays in colonial relations. I think Kuang's main accomplishment was to translate incredibly complex concepts about language, linguistics and power relations to a more accessible format that readers all over the world will engage with. And that is, in my opinion, quite a feat. I just wished the execution would've been better.

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meaghanslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I’m between a 4.25 and a 4.5.

The story is extremely interesting and the author does a wonderful job of world building.

The idea of the power of what is lost in translation tied with the power of language and its influence on colonialism is well thought out.

The reason why this book isn’t a 5 is because I felt for most of the book that it was too long. I think this book could have been several smaller books instead of one be very large book. The pacing of the story drags in the middle for me. Also I found the characters while not quite lovable or despicable, just sometimes annoying, especially Robin and Letty. That also factored in a bit to my rating.

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lexihworth's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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doraevarga's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

If you can think in more than one language, this book definitely will make you think even deeper about those languages. It can so many metaphors to today’s society and the way we think and communicate. I cannot imagine the research that went into this book! Absolutely recommend it!

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wornpagesandendlesscoffey's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I’ll need to sit with this book hangover for a bit. Kuang is a phenomenal story teller who brought this world to vibrant, beautiful life and I loved every second of it. Even the ones I hated. The universal truths in this novel are heartbreaking and stripped bare for the reader, which is dramatic and necessary to the story. This should be required reading for advanced students in my humble opinion. Fiction can be such a wonderful receptacle for truth.

Note- there are a LOT of triggers. It is still well worth reading.

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leahisdudish's review against another edition

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5.0

actual genius.
i dont have words.

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nicolesbookcase's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

"'But that's precisely the devil's trick,' Robin insisted. 'This is how colonialism works. It convinces us that the fallout from resistance is entirely our fault, that the immoral choice is resistance itself rather than the circumstances that demanded it."

This is a hard one for me to rate. The content and the message, important and necessary. The way it was put together, a bit of a hard sell for me.

The first half was slow and dry, a bit hard to get through. If you enjoy lectures about the etymology of language, you're in for a treat, but otherwise, it was just a bit too much information and not enough happening. It wasn't until about 50% in that something actually happened that I was excited about. From then on, I really enjoyed the book. Very evidently, I prefer plot-driven books, and the beginning just didn't have enough plot points to pull me in.

The writing in this is fantastic. It's somehow easy to follow, but at the same time definitely not an easy read, kind of like the contradictions in this story. The way Kuang gets her meaning across is so eloquent; I'm not one to annotate books, but I actually got myself some tabs to mark certain parts because they're so evocative. The technical aspects of this are interesting, albeit a little dry, but it is a story about language and translation, so I understand the impact of why it was delved into so deeply, and I appreciate how much research went into making this as accurate as possible. And reading it through the lenses of the characters in this book, who are obviously enamored by language of any kind, made it more interesting! I could feel the awe and devotion these people have for what they're learning and what they can do!

"For how could there ever be an Adamic language? The thought now made him laugh. There was no innate, perfectly comprehensible language; there was no candidate, not English, not French, that could bully and absorb enough to become one. Language was just difference. A thousand different ways of seeing, of moving through the world. No; a thousand worlds within one. And translation - a necessary endeavor, however futile, to move between them."

Reading the book through the lens of Robin, a somewhat white-passing Chinese man, gives this story so many sides and makes the development of his character, through his struggles with coming to terms with who he is and what he believes in, so relevant and incisive. Kuang did a brilliant job in choosing Robin as the main POV of this book; his is an easy POV to empathize with. He has such conflicting opinions and has to muddle through his feelings the entire way through and decide who to be at the end of it all. "You have such a great fear of freedom, brother. It's shackling you. You've identified so hard with the colonizer, you think any threat to them is a threat to you. When are you going to realize you can't be one of them?" He struggles with the clashes between his ethnic background and growing up in Canton, but then being embroiled in the culture and language of England and Oxford and seeing those ironies in himself. "And he wondered at the contradiction: that he despised them, that he knew they could be up to no good, and that still he wanted to be respected by them enough to be included in their ranks. It was a very strange mix of emotions. He hadn't the faintest idea how to sort through them." Being able to compare all of that with Ramy, an Indian man, Victoire, a Black woman, and Letty, a white woman, really gave this story so much depth. I loved learning more about each character, their stories and experiences and flaws.

"Robin wondered then how much of Anthony's life had been spent carefully translating himself to white people, how much of his genial, affable polish was an artful construction to fit a particular idea of a Black man in white England, and to afford himself maximum access within an institution like Babel. And he wondered if there would ever be a day that came when all this was unnecessary, when white people would look at him and Anthony and simply listen, when their words would have worth and value because they were uttered, when they would not have to hide who they were, when they wouldn't have to go through endless distortions just to be understood."

The worldbuilding fell flat; there really wasn't much worldbuilding to speak of. The one aspect of fantasy didn't actually contribute much to making the world different. If not for the magic silver bars, the world would have turned out exactly the same, though perhaps a bit slower, only with actual engineering ingenuity instead of magic. Yes, the ending did depend on the magic of the silver bars, but it was very allegorical to real life. I tend to expect certain things when I am reading a fantasy book, and this did not deliver in that respect.

If you're looking for a plot-heavy, high-stakes fantasy with vast worldbuilding, this is not the book for you. Categorizing this book as fantasy is not it; it falls more within the lines of historical fiction, so if you enjoy historical fiction, you will definitely enjoy this more than if you're going into it expecting fantasy. If you enjoy the intricacies of language and think the meaning of words and translation are interesting, there is so much of that in this book! If the historical and modern significance and effects of colonialism and imperialism are something you want to read about, this is the book for you! If you want to be utterly torn apart by a friendship between four people that doesn't end well, read this book. This is ultimately a very real and uncomfortable story that deals with topics that are incredibly relevant but are hard to read about and grapple with. This is an important book. I just wish it had been crafted a little differently.

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edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad 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

4.5

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