goodeyreads's profile picture

goodeyreads 's review for:

Babel by R.F. Kuang
5.0
slow-paced

WHY DID IT TAKE ME SO LONG TO READ THIS?

BLOG || INSTAGRAM

Well I do know why, I didn’t love the conclusion to The Poppy War series, but I heard too many good things about this book not to give an [eventual] go, AND HERE WE ARE.

I loved it.

I loved how complex it was. I would sit there and be in absolute awe that R.F. Kuang created this amazing story. I felt like I learned so much and with the audio it really came alive (highly recommend this route, I think it saved me from thinking it was too slow).

Robin Swift is the definition of a tangled character. Going through everything he does and choosing some good and some bad decisions. I loved following his story and the intensity at which I felt for the high and low moments. Some of those moments towards the end had my heart breaking. There is so much I could discuss but also no way I could fit it into a review, if you’ve gotten this far just know YOU SHOULD READ IT.

I felt a whole range of emotions reading this and this dark academia story is a new favorite.

Overall audience notes:
- Historical Fantasy
- Language: some strong
- Violence: high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of loved ones, murder, colonization, war themes, discussions of slavery, physical abuse, racism, xenophobia, colorism, mentions of suicide, inhuman work conditions, police brutality, brief sexual assault, misogyny, anxiety depiction