A review by rcd229
Babel by R.F. Kuang

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

Couldn't get the comparison out of my head that this is like really woke Harry Potter (particularly OotP, in some really spectacular ways and specific scenes) meets colonialism. The way things wrapped up strongly reminded me of something else, too, but right now I can't remember. Don't read this if you're uncomfortable with overt examples of (systemic) racism (which is the point of the whole book), but do if you want some context and insight into a very real period in history and the impact of colonialism and the affects that racism and misogyn have on both everyday life and the world as a whole. Character development was fantastic and the historical references were really interesting. As a linguistics minor, I was excited to read about all of the language study and the translations and silver working, but I do wish there was more about how it worked, though maybe I'm just being too technical. Have already recommended this to a friend looking for new reads!
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