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A review by solitary
Babel by R.F. Kuang
4.0
i don’t think i’ll ever come to a degree of fully comprehending every single point that kuang aimed to make through this book — there was a lot — and thus i could never provide an acceptable enough review. but here is an attempt.
it’s been a while since i picked up a non-literary fiction book. especially fantasy. i don’t know what urged me to select this one in particular from my shelf. but i devoured it the entire weekend i’m supposed to be studying for my finals. it paid off well, seeing as this book was so densely written i should earn a degree in translation after finishing.
kuang is a genius for being able to put the idea of this book into a finished work. this is my first read of hers, and if she can do this much in a standalone then i’m scared of the poppy war series. her intellect and creativity bleeds so evidently in every page. it’s hard enough to write about fiction and history independently, but kuang managed to do both almost perfectly.
while i found the plot engaging enough (there were some passages towards the end that i just had to skim through), the major characters lacked depth for me. none of their arcs proved to be interesting and memorable, especially towards the ending. i was more concerned about griffin and anthony, and they were both… well.
all in all, it’s a book that didn’t have to be almost 600 pages long. but it was still an enjoyable read, and i look forward to the rest of kuang’s titles.
—
the fuck is that ending
it’s been a while since i picked up a non-literary fiction book. especially fantasy. i don’t know what urged me to select this one in particular from my shelf. but i devoured it the entire weekend i’m supposed to be studying for my finals. it paid off well, seeing as this book was so densely written i should earn a degree in translation after finishing.
kuang is a genius for being able to put the idea of this book into a finished work. this is my first read of hers, and if she can do this much in a standalone then i’m scared of the poppy war series. her intellect and creativity bleeds so evidently in every page. it’s hard enough to write about fiction and history independently, but kuang managed to do both almost perfectly.
while i found the plot engaging enough (there were some passages towards the end that i just had to skim through), the major characters lacked depth for me. none of their arcs proved to be interesting and memorable, especially towards the ending. i was more concerned about griffin and anthony, and they were both… well.
all in all, it’s a book that didn’t have to be almost 600 pages long. but it was still an enjoyable read, and i look forward to the rest of kuang’s titles.
—
the fuck is that ending