This book is like a rollercoaster: starts at the bottom, reaches it peak and then comes crashing down.

I absolutely hated the first two chapters. Compared to the rest, it feels like they're written by another author, and if these chapters didn't exist, I would have rated this book higher. Kuang's disdain and anger in these chapters is palpable. There is no subtlety, no gently guiding the reader to what she wants to convey. She just hits you straight in the face with her personal opinions and views and hate. I felt like she was hovering over me, breathing down my neck and yelling into my ear what she wanted me to think, as if I'm such an idiot that I otherwise wouldn't see the exploitation and racism and know that colonisation is an atrocity. And, listen, if I was just chatting with her and she expressed all this, I would go like "fuck yes, preach!", but unfortunately I was just reading a book, and in a book, I expect to be led, not violently yanked, to where the author wants me to go, and get all of what she wants me to know through character experience, not her personally. There was a lot of telling by her and no showing through Robin. I also didn't appreciate the inclusion of cheap, viral Twitter 'burns' (yeah, I see what you did). That just sounds petty and cheapens what she's trying to accomplish.

Then, from chapter three onwards - like a different book. I was finally getting what I wanted: sublety, gentle coaxing, letting me make my own connections and form my views based on the information she was giving me. The magic system in this book is so unique and fascinating. As a translator, I just loved all of the translation and etymology and language discussions. The latter half of the book is unputdownable. So much is happening, and fast. I loved it. Side note,

in the third chapter, I think, Ramy makes a comment about a translator who breathes down the reader's neck and tells them what to think and I found that hilarious, because.. miss Kuang, that's what you've been doing.

But then, the ending... everything just came down, crashing and burning.

And I'm not just talking about the Babel tower.

The ending was a major disappointment. It made me feel like I read this book for nothing because

there was no resolution. It ends like there should be a sequel. Like it's unfinished. She pretty much kills all of the characters the reader cares about at that point. And that's it. What's that supposed to leave us feeling? That fighting against it is pointless? If she wanted to leave her readers feeling absolutely hopeless then she certainly succeeded.*

As for character development, I felt like Robin's was really rushed and didn't make sense. Everything about the first two chapters is superficial, but two things that stood out to me the most were

1. him learning to appreciate Latin and languages in THREE HOURS. Uh, yeah, not happening. His head should have been spinning and it's literally impossible to go through all that they went through in THREE HOURS and then have any love left for the language. He should have been a legitimate genius for this to be even a little bit realistic; and 2. him being able to forget his native language and heritage in mere three weeks and start thinking like an Englishman. And then in a later chapter, Kuang writes that Robin was so excited to get to England. Uh, no.. he was terrified and confused.

There were several little details that seemed like Kuang herself had forgotten in a later part of the book, sometimes contradicting herself as soon as after a few paragraphs. Other characters were very black and white in terms of their goodness vs badness.

I know what Kuang tried to do here is combine fiction and academic text, but... I'm not into it. The use of footnotes, for example, is unnecessary in most cases. I find it an extremely lazy way of adding context without actually having to work to weave the background into the story. I don't doubt for a second that she did extensive research and that it's an important commentary on colonialism, but for me, she didn't quite accomplish what I think she set out to do.

*

Another reason for the ending that I can think of is that she's trying to say that colonialism isn't over. It's still going on. That the story didn't end satisfactorily because it hasn't in real life either. But it's fiction! It's fantasy! And I wanted a satisfying ending, so I'm grumbling. Do not at me.