4/5 - interesting take on inscribed magic and the interweaving of that system in a historical fiction was a lot of fun. However, I felt that many of the characters were rather stiff and that her indictment of colonialism felt blunt and repetitive. Overall, I really enjoyed it and have recommended it to my fantasy-loving friends. A fantasy novel for language nerds is right up my alley.
Definitely agree about the characters. I saw a review on booktok where the creator said that the book had "amazing character development" and I thought to myself, "Did we read the same book?"
@@Lifeonbooks It's a shame because I actually loved all the characters in the book, in terms of personality. I felt like there just weren't enough subplots to really flesh them out in more interesting ways. For that reason as well as having more time to setup the climax, I think the book could've used even a couple hundred more pages. Overall, I really enjoyed it.
Perfect review of how I feel reading books by Kuang and to some extent zhao who wrote iron widow (which was much more fun though. Poppy wars frustrating however)
Trying to like things is wack, IMO. If you don't like it just DNF and move on. Too many good books in the world to force yourself to read books you don't like.
I liked Babel. Gave it a 4/5. I see this as what the dark academia genre truly represents. It explored and critiqued elitism in that era, and it did it well. The first half of the book was tough to get through given the etymologies which i wanted so badly to skip but I couldn't as it was necessary to the plot. I was supposed to say that the premise, "necessity for violence" wasn't really answered because we never see the effect of what they did at the end. But now that you've mentioned it, there might indeed be a sequel. Honestly, I would prefer that it didn't.
@TheONLife hey! I just remembered this comment cos I finished Yellowface. Gave it a 3/5. It started strong, but I wasn't a fan of how the plot twist (if you could call it that) was handled. Tried not to be too biased either cos this genre isn't really my type. Still was never bored with it though. :)
Mmmmmm I’m around page 440… I like and hate this book. Spoilers I’m a person of color. So having POC on the book as main characters is fun. Especially when everyone is of a different race or ethnic background. But boy does this book feels racist. Every. Single. White person is mad evil. And every person of color is sunshine and butterflies??? Give me a break. I don’t know why it is so hard to understand that a persons values is determined more by the family’s surroundings and customs rather than by the color of their skin. How is associating being white with being heartless ok but not to associate a person of color with a negative characteristic? I get what the book is trying to explore and say, and it would’ve been more effective have they peppered some white people among the good guys as well, and some people of color with the bad ones. You know, like in the real world. I love the dark academia feel this book has that feels so naturally accomplished. I wasn’t so bothered by the footnotes as others, but the ideas are sometimes expressed in a very “woke way” which I doubt anyone had in that time. Also, before the shocking reveal at the end of book IV, they were treating Letty like crap!!! My goodness even the way she breathed was irritating to the rest. I’m surprised Letty didn’t shoot all 3 of them! They were horrible towards here throughout the entire book and someone it never gets acknowledged??
I think the sentiments of white people on the book is indicative of the time though. You don't colonize cultures unless you think they are sub human or at least subservient. The progressivism of the POC in the book may be anachronistic, but it's also a book with magic in it, so...yeah I'm not really expecting historical accuracy in that regard
@@Lifeonbooks and i agree. And it makes sense for people like Lovell to be the way they are. But the fact that she made every single white person like that robs me the wrong way. Especially since it’s explicitly said that white people don’t have it in them to be sympathetic by nature but only if they are affected. If that’s her believe then all the goodness today is just performative
Every single white person is not mad evil tho...and the white people that ARE mad evil are given reason, bad reason because of course racism dosent have good reason, but still they are given depth which is i think what those charecters deserve, nothing more nothing less....also pls read the whole book before passing judgement...It is clearly shown that not all people that are opressed were doing the right thing or were good people
@@LifeonbooksYes, but even back then there were people who were openly against colonialism, like sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Coming from poc as myself, I don't like the idea of a race being vilified. Maybe miss Kuang should get her own prejudices on check as well.
I stopped listening to the book after I finished chapter 7. Maybe my experience will be different if I ever return to the text version but it just seemed like endless talking talking TALKING and eating food, punctured by heavy-handed digs at colonialism and racism, none of which, I'd like to point out, aren't critiques we haven't heard ad nauseam in the mainstream. Overall it just bored me. But that's just my take. Most people love Babel and I can respect that.
so your ”take” on the ”book” is that you haven't read or even listened to enough of it, haven't internalised any of its message, but are repulsed by things in only the beginning fifth of the book because it says some things you already know??
@@nuklearboysymbiote I actually do plan to give it a second chance, this time with the kindle version, which I own. I've learned that certain books just don't work in the audio format for me. Babel didn't click, but another of Kuang's works, Yellowface, I devoured on audiobook.
@@nuklearboysymbiote And speaking of colonialism, has Kuang come out publicly with who she supports in the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict? I don't follow her on social media, but I would expect it to be something she's often talking about.
@@Beekeeper8011 her last post on twitter was in 2023, so i'm not sure… i'm glad you're thinking about reading it again; the themes in the book are quite topical still. Personally, as a chinese person in the UK, having gone to university has opened up my eyes to how explicit academic research directly fuels colonial objectives, including war. The university i went to is working with companies that are known arms dealers……
It was okay. I like the world and concept, but like others also said- repetitive and basic when trying to give commentary on colonialism and sad character development. I also felt like the magic aspect was superfluous to the book, and only mattered because of the ending. If she rewrote the ending, the magic could’ve been taken out entirely.
@@Lifeonbooksyou kind of like to vex people and for this reason you don’t deserve my subscribe…. The book it’s so f boring… a teenagers pointless drama (Don Quijote without donkeys 🫏) full of frustrations (like yourself)…
