I’ve seen in r/books there are already some posts about Babel by RF Kuang and I haven’t finished reading the book yet either, but I need to get a few words off my chest because on the one hand it’s so upsetting and frustrating to me (I write children’s plays myself) how the created world is treated.
So I’ll try to write spoiler-free here and stay general.
I think this intertwining of silver (the wealth and the colonies) with magic is pretty good for now. Also, the way magic works could be so good, but it’s not. There is hardly anything done with the possibilities that drives the actions forward. Then you create sorcerer’s apprentices, but hardly let them do any magic.
I have the feeling that the author doesn’t know what scenes or situations are. The treatises on languages are sometimes quite interesting, but everything else, any tension or possible plot arc is dissolved shortly after it’s established because she doesn’t know how to put threads together. Everything works so singularly.
All the characters are more or less the same and barely distinguishable from each other and completely irrelevant and witless.
A big disappointment, but I still have to finish it because I’ve already invested so much.
Whenever I read something like this, I think I have to write a novel too.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
The silver magic is completely pointless, I think the only reason why it is in the book is because Kuang wanted to make some clever remarks about translation.
The silver magic is completely pointless, I think the only reason why it is in the book is because Kuang wanted to make some clever remarks about translation.
There was a lot to like about Babel, in my opinion, but ut ultimately fell flat due to weak, uninteresting characters more than anything. It should either have been a shorter book that just explored the concepts, or a much more fleshed out trilogy.
There was a lot to like about Babel, in my opinion, but ut ultimately fell flat due to weak, uninteresting characters more than anything. It should either have been a shorter book that just explored the concepts, or a much more fleshed out trilogy.
This book made me care about etymology. I don’t know if I can give it any higher praise. I was absolutely engrossed in definitions and history. Magic was just a stand in system for maintaining power through exclusivity, knowledge and resources. As someone else mentioned its really a story about imperialism and the beauty and intricacy’s of language.
Its also an interesting look at privilege and seeing people for all they are and accepting it, instead of the boxes or assumptions you may want to use or default to.
This book made me care about etymology. I don’t know if I can give it any higher praise. I was absolutely engrossed in definitions and history. Magic was just a stand in system for maintaining power through exclusivity, knowledge and resources. As someone else mentioned its really a story about imperialism and the beauty and intricacy’s of language.
Its also an interesting look at privilege and seeing people for all they are and accepting it, instead of the boxes or assumptions you may want to use or default to.
I enjoyed Babel as much as it’s possible to like a book without a single believable character. That turns out to be quite a lot for me.
Kuang has all the subtlety of a stick of dynamite and I have never in my life read a book as patronising and didactic as Babel. Not only does this create a dull, heavy handed narrative in which the villains are about as fleshed out as Dick Dastardly but she frequently brings that narrative grinding to a halt to insert footnotes to exposit further on the points that are already being screamed aloud in the text proper.
There is a possibility that your complaints will no longer be relevant when you finish the book… just saying. I read it and did not have those concerns.