Babel in Fictional Character Lovers

Oct 30, 2025 ℓιѕєη rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-it-read-it, 4-stars

4.5 ⭐️ I wanted to take my time with this book, that’s why it took over a month to read

I loooooved this book 😍 It was my first ever R.F Kuang book, and it did not disappoint. The blend with historically accurate events and fantasy was just perfection. Our four MC’s were so real and human that you just couldn’t help but feel for them. And that ending was just cruel, why did it have to end like that?

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Feb 14, 2025 Selma Z L rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

╰┈➤𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍
↪...“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.”
✦ . 　⁺ 　 .━━━ 4⭐ ━━━ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦
⤷𝑔ℯ𝓃𝓇ℯ:
-Fantasy
-Historical
-Fiction
⤷𝒶𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓉𝒾𝒸:
-Dark Academia
-Resistance
-Colonialism
⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ೃ⁀➷ My Thoughts
First think I have to say is: "WE NEVER GOT TO KNOW HIS REAL NAME"... and that pains me deeply.
A story where you can learn a lot from it, if you are willing ╰┈➤𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍
↪...“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.”
✦ . 　⁺ 　 .━━━ 4⭐ ━━━ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦
⤷𝑔ℯ𝓃𝓇ℯ:
-Fantasy
-Historical
-Fiction
⤷𝒶𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓉𝒾𝒸:
-Dark Academia
-Resistance
-Colonialism
⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ೃ⁀➷ My Thoughts
First think I have to say is: "WE NEVER GOT TO KNOW HIS REAL NAME"... and that pains me deeply.
A story where you can learn a lot from it, if you are willing to. A story where it classified as fiction but the pain is real and strongly felt. You cannot help but end up crying at the end.
⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ೃ⁀➷favourite quotes⋆

"𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎’𝚜 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍. 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎. 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕. 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎. 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢, 𝚊 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎."

..."𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖; 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗. 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎. 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖."

...more

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Mar 06, 2025 Smriii ♡˖ ࣪⊹ rated it it was amazing

So, is Babel the rare novel worth its 500+ page count? YES ABSOLUTELY!!!

Imagine Victorian Oxford, but with magic powered by language. That's the world of R.F. Kuang's "Babel," a brilliant and thought-provoking book. We follow Robin Swift, a young boy from China, as he's brought to England to study at Babel, a special school where translation is a kind of magic.
Robin and his friends quickly realize that this magic, and the whole British Empire, is built on exploiting people and their languages. ...more

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Jan 26, 2024 Bella ♡ ✧.* rated it did not like it

the thing is, you can absolutely tell that the author is intelligent without having to take a glance at her education. she shows merit with writing as a whole, and in my opinion, is very obviously capable of writing good books. but babel is a book of wasted potential.

i really love the themes and messages that the story was trying to tackle: racism, colonialism, colorism, and even bits of feminism. these are all valid themes, and are topics i'm genuinely interested in. however, in babel, all of t the thing is, you can absolutely tell that the author is intelligent without having to take a glance at her education. she shows merit with writing as a whole, and in my opinion, is very obviously capable of writing good books. but babel is a book of wasted potential.

i really love the themes and messages that the story was trying to tackle: racism, colonialism, colorism, and even bits of feminism. these are all valid themes, and are topics i'm genuinely interested in. however, in babel, all of these themes are spoon-fed to you. they aren't just thrown at your face, either. it will be explained in specific detail why something is racist, and the protagonist will just happen to be fully aware of all the societal and political systems that cause this type of oppression and prejudice, despite being deeply immersed in a society that grants him the very privileges he criticizes the system for having. he is always somehow so sure in himself and his decisions, even when that type of environment and upbringing should bring him great, interpersonal conflict, or perhaps a denial of the system's flaws.

the magical system is interesting, but contradictive. it's also over-explained. you will learn about the magic system over, and over, and over again in this book. i am perfectly content with discovering 'the science' of a magic system through a novel, but this book does not do it for the sake of making you feel invested in the magic system or in the world itself, because the magic system is simply a tool, and the world is just a parallel to our world. in fact, the magic system is barely a narrative tool, which i would define as being a symbol or a representation of something or someone. instead, it is more like a device for the author to write about her enjoyment of languages and translations, which is very cool in theory, but i feel it was poorly executed. there are many times when the magic system explanations backtrack or re-iterate something over and over. it's something that could've been improved, but never was.

ultimately, this story suffers from a lack of belief in the audience. the writing shows no confidence that the readers will be able to understand the heavy, complex topics that are presented in this novel, which is a shame. this book was on the brink of being a euphoric literary experience, but instead suffers adamantly through being a glorified essay about the themes instead of showing subtle, expressive writing that can achieve the same thing much better.

but i also realize that a lot of people love this book. i do think that babel is definitely a voice of sorts for minority groups that have felt the same type of experiences that are presented in the story. however, i don't think this is an excuse for the writing, nor does it exempt the novel from criticism. it could've been something far more beautiful and gut-wrenching, but it wasn't. ...more

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Aug 20, 2024 Aleesha rated it really liked it

I have a bachelor's and a master's degree in English literature and linguistics. As someone who, seriously, requested an Oxford English Etymological Dictionary for Christmas --

(That's this thing, if you're unaware)

Yes, that drawer does in fact contain a magnifying glass because the pages are paper thin and printed in microscopic font. (And this is the COMPACT edition...the full 20 volume set is easily $1,500. The compact edition - I was being magnanimous and only asking for the condensed versio I have a bachelor's and a master's degree in English literature and linguistics. As someone who, seriously, requested an Oxford English Etymological Dictionary for Christmas --

(That's this thing, if you're unaware)

Yes, that drawer does in fact contain a magnifying glass because the pages are paper thin and printed in microscopic font. (And this is the COMPACT edition...the full 20 volume set is easily $1,500. The compact edition - I was being magnanimous and only asking for the condensed version - is about $450 bucks)

-- and who's google search history is rife with "where does this word originate", this book could easily become my Roman Empire.

I even picked up German 2 years ago because I knew English is a Germanic language and I was interested to see where the similarities and differences were in word-construction and grammatical arrangement. I'm that kind of nerd.

Needless to say, I ate the academic part of this book up.

And all of that is saying NOTHING about the commentary on history and culture and the racism, sexism, and classism going on in this book. Or the rise and fall of empires and imperialism/colonization. Or, lastly of the nature of revolution.

As excited as I was about the linguistic matter of this book, there's no denying that some bits of this story--particularly in the beginning--were slow and felt a little like drudgery. The last 30% of this was a roller coaster, by contrast and it sort of felt like everything was happening at once. I wish the whole book had been filled with that fast-pacing, even if it meant sacrificing some of the more academic bits that I loved. The ending felt inevitable and unsurprising, but it was still a wild ride getting there.

This book isn't just a cute YA fantasy. It's tackling tough, ugly, uncomfortable topics. And while I might not agree with every sentiment that Kuang expresses in here, there's no denying that this book feels important to our time.

4.5 stars, rounded down because it was a bit of a slog in the beginning. ...more

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