Author: R. F. Kuang
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ / 5
Medium: Audiobook
Length: 21h 45m (544 pages)
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Synopsis
Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world’s center for translation and, more importantly, magic and silver-working.. For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But when Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must choose a side…
My Thoughts (Spoiler-Free)
Before I finally picked up this book, I knew it came with a lot of hype behind it. Everywhere I looked for fantasy book recommendations, Babel was almost always near or at the top of the lists. And as someone who loves R. F. Kuang books, it was fair to say I was highly anticipating reading this. Overall, I did quite enjoy the book and the story. But it did also come with its disappointments, and for me, it certainly didn’t end up being the six-star read everyone kept saying it was
Firstly, there’s no denying that if there’s anyone who does her homework before writing a book, it’s R. F. Kuang. I got a taste of that in the Poppy War series, but Babel really solidified it. The book is very well-written, with lots of research and thought behind it. She did an excellent job setting up the world, while also linking it to real colonial history of Britain and China, along with others colonies like India and Haiti. She also went over the key roles language played in all that with lots of little linguistic facts to satisfy the inner nerd. The world she builds at Oxford is quite immersive, with each small detail adding to the overall atmosphere.
However, I can’t say the same about the characters and some of the fantasy elements in Babel. The characters felt very flat, without a lot of personality beyond the singular role the author wanted them to play. Given how complex some of the Poppy War characters were, this was a little disappointing to see. Even the main character, Robin, barely has thoughts of his own, and believed and acted exactly as someone told him to, even if it directly contradicts what the person before said. The magic system of silver was inventive and fresh, but left a lot to be desired. Given a lot of the major events in the book, which retroactively had silver inserted into them, went about as they did in real history, I question how big a role did silver play after all.
Even the overall message felt quite incessant and lacked subtlety. The big, bold message of the book is “Racism is bad. Colonialism is bad”. And while I obviously don’t disagree with that, it was constantly shoved down the reader’s throats. For a book that aimed to explore grey areas and raise questions, there was surprising amount of “this is clearly bad. this is clearly good” divisions in people and events.
Again, I’m sure I’m in the minority here since most people who read Babel love it. And for the most part, I did like it. But I also felt like there were areas it could’ve been better.
Spoilers Ahead
To further elaborate the point of the lack of character development and depth. Robin has a good backstory but essentially becomes a plot device without much personality of his own. Victoire and Letty also play very singular roles, one to be the victim of racism and misogyny when needed, while the other as the “well-meaning”, white person who gets shocked that racism even exists. Ramy was the only one that seemed to have some depth. But even saying that, the idea of “found family” felt poorly represented. There were clear divisions and subgroups between the four. They constantly kept things from each other and argued about everything. Also the romance subplot between Robin and Ramy might as well have been nonexistent.
Kavi Reads 
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