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)
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.