Babel by R.F. Kuang | Non-spoiler review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2024
- Babel by R.F. Kuang | Non-spoiler review
Synopsis: 0:40
World: 1:18
Magic: 4:14
Themes: 7:10
Pacing/is it for you? 15:10
Specific detail worth noting: 19:50
Purchase link: amzn.to/3eoRt9P
My Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=15204080
My Book: www.elliotbrooksnovels.com/pe...
My Instagram: / ebnovels
*purchase link is an affiliate link
#babel #babelrfkuang #babelreview - บันเทิง
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Time stamps:
Synopsis: 0:40
World: 1:18
Magic: 4:14
Themes: 7:10
Pacing/is it for you? 15:10
Specific detail worth noting: 19:50
Purchase link: amzn.to/3eoRt9P
My Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=15204080
My Book: www.elliotbrooksnovels.com/peace-and-turmoil-purchase-links
My Instagram: instagram.com/ebnovels/
*purchase link is an affiliate link
Language, in my opinion, is one of the most fascinating things in the world. Italian is my first language, but I can speak / read English quite well and I am learning Latin and Ancient Greek. Nothing compares to reading an author's work as it was written, without it having to be translated. That's why my dream is to be a philologist: I want to spend my life reading and doing resarche about ancian greek litterature. So, when I saw a fantasy book with "Translation is always an act of betrayal" written on the cover, I knew it would be the book for me! Also, it's so refreshing to find a dark accadimia book that doesn't pretend that western litterature and history are the only important ones... I just recived my copy of the book, and I can't wait to read it!
+1 for philology
liceo classico??
@@lucilladeb Che bello, un'altra italiana ahahah. Comunque sì.
I read latin and greek too, and being able to read in and out of ancient languages is so exhilarating even after a few years. Currently grappling with some Ovid which is fun, but very challenging.
No spoilers I just finished reading Babel yesterday. I enjoyed it very much. I love languages. My degrees are in linguistics, anthropology and education. I was a Korean linguist in the Army in the 80s. I knew from the hype that this book was for me. Magic system that used languages? I’m in! My experience reading it mostly tracked with Elliot’s. However my biggest complaint was one of formatting. There are a lot of footnotes in the book. I was fine with that and do believe they contributed to the story as well as matching the academic setting of the book. There are footnotes pretty much every few pages. The problem came with the symbols used. The first footnote on each page is denoted by a very small asterisk. Even when I glanced at the bottom of a page as I turned it and knew to look for it I had a very hard time seeing it, especially when it was placed next to a quotation mark which happened frequently. I often had the reading flow broken because I was searching for the place in the text where the asterisk was. If there were second or third footnotes the symbols used for them were much easier to see. I’m sure this was done so the symbol would be unobtrusive, but it became distracting when I knew it was there, but couldn’t find it even after skimming the page several times. Usually I found it, sometimes I gave up. Now I should note that I’ve had pink eye while reading Babel. Perhaps that was part of the reason I didn’t easily see it. I just wish they’d made it bigger or used another symbol entirely. I also wonder how the footnotes are handled in the audiobook version. This did not stop me enjoying Babel, it just got a little frustrating at times. Now I’m reading Fairy Tale by Stephen King. So many good books coming out around now!
I was planning on reading this, but hearing about just how strong the lingustic focus is makes me even more excited for it!
This is on my TBR for this month. I'm excited to start it soon, thank you for a spoiler free review.
What draws me to this book is the theme of language. I’m studying French and Spanish and this could be super motivating! Interesting point about the perspective of the working class, that will be sticking out to me as I read it
this was so informative, well thought out, and masterfully filmed like all of your content ❤❤
The Poppy War is one of my favorite trilogies of all time. When I saw RF Kuang had a new book coming out I preordered without even knowing what it was about.
I think in anyone other author’s hands the first half would have been as dry as dust, but she made it sooo interesting. I sort of felt like a genius while I was reading Babel. Lol
I was stalking the mail truck the day it was released and read it in just under two days. Then I had a terrible case of book hangover.
Your review was spot on. 💕
This is an excellent review and I think you really captured the essence of the story and themes very well. My only issue with the book is the characters. I didn’t believe in the closeness of the four friends because Kuang relied on telling more than showing. As individual characters, I think only Robin was well developed. The other three felt like they were written to serve the plot and the themes Kuang wanted to discuss. I feel like her characterizations is one of her few weaknesses because I felt the same in the Poppy War trilogy. Otherwise I loved the book. It’s so unique in the fantasy genre and I’m excited to see what she does next. Apparently she’s releasing a mystery/thriller next year so that should be interesting.
I totally agree with the resolution! I wasn’t expecting it and I think that made it so much better.
really great thoughts, particularly about the potential for other POVs! the debate about the necessity of violence and the different roles/choices each character made was thought provoking!
The review we all wanted! Thank you Elliot
Thank you for this review! I have heard people talk about Babel but never got any reviews on it. And I now i know if i want to read it or not 😊
I loved this book and I was waiting to see who would upload a video talking about it. You did such a great job breaking it down. 🙌👏I believe it was at 67% that I updated my Goodreads marking the moment Robin went from being a student part of a sheltered life to a rebel. The part of seeing him trying to figure out what to do in really high stress situations was so good. His character is put to the test and you see him change so much. Loved this book so much!
This is the best review I've seen yet - thank you! I haven't read Poppy War yet; I think I have a good chance of enjoying this.
I've been sitting on a digital arc since June and was so intimidated!!
I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed it a lot though, I'll definitely pick it up ASAP 😁 Thank for the amazing review, as always.
This book is on my radar, there is a lot of hype around it and sounds like for good reason. Really well explained review and I really like how you structure your thoughts, well executed. Just found your channel and currently binging ☺️
7 minutes in and, as a non-native and a teacher of English as a Foreign Language, I NEED this book!
It is such a good book. I just started it and I'm loving it.
Just ordered the book after this review! Can't wait to read it.
Glad you're reviewing this book. I think this one is going to be my first by her even though I already bought The Poppy War. Also, that cover: daaaamn.
I cannot wait to read this!
This is my favorite review of this book so far
I actually loved the first part of the book with the lectures so much and wanted more of that haha overall it was amazing, but my favorite part was them studying languages and translating.
Great review! You addressed my chief concern! I’ve been intimidated by this book; worried that the topic of linguistics would simply go over my head!😅
Definitely wanting to read this! It's on my tbr
I'm still kind of torn about this one but I really appreciate your review. :)
Haven't watched the video yet, but I just want to say I'm so excited to hear your opinion on this book! 🤩
I'm waiting for my local library to get their copy and then get it to me. I'm looking forward to it! I haven't read the Poppy War trilogy, so this will be my first R.F. Kuang experience!
Great review
I love this review. I finished the book this morning after a marathon read on Sunday. While I agree that the perspective is only from Robin, I believe we get to know the other three and Lovell from Robin's perspective. I would have liked to know more background on the other ex-students, but making the book larger is not really a great idea either. I could tell this is part of a series based on the ending. As for filling in some of the history, the author expects us to have some of the historical background. It is what made me feel like it was historical fiction. If you think of this as historical fiction the dialog might be an issue, but if you look at is fantasy, I think this is intentional. The language and how she breaks the hard to simple is brilliant. I loved the relationship of the four main characters, what they experience as being non-British--white males was interesting. The themes are interesting and so well brought out. You are right, you feel them. I like the Poppy War trilogy, but I loved this book so much.
I agree with what you said about the dialogue and the "performative ally" mention - idk at times I thought this could have been more subtle, letting the character's actions and dialogue speak for itself without explicitly calling it performative allyship and trusting the readers to make their own judgment?
But other than that, I loved this book and it completely destroyed me;((
I got my copy today, I’m looking forward to reading it
I just love languages. I'm German and I've got a university degree in English and French. For studying those languages at university, I had to learn Latin which, looking back now, I'm really glad about. I also speak Italian and am teaching myself Spanish, Swedish and Dutch. The language aspect in this book made a dream come true as there are not many novels dealing with this topic in a less scientific way.
I've just started the book and as a native German speaker who studies Language & Literature and who is generally passionate about languages it excites me so much! I'm actually happy to hear there will be a lot of lecture scenes :D
Also, I didn't even know 'heimlich' is a derivative from 'Heim' (home) - but it makes so much sense! (Though I wouldn't say the description of what meaning it holds in German was completely accurate)
You may have already read up on it in the meantime, but that actually came up in the Illumicrate readalong on their Discord server. And someone did the digging and, back then, heimlich and heimelich meant the same thing!
Wonderful thoughtful review of a wonderful thoughtful novel. There are timestamps for world, magic, and themes. RFK handles each of those well; even more impressive is the way that she integrates them.
This is, for me, a five-star novel. It is probably the most flawed five-star. The characters are ways of showing us the world, magic, and themes, more than they are people.
I study languages so this is the right book for me! I really want to read it like right now but it will be released in my country at the end of October!😭
This book will stay with me for years. It is exceptional.
Hi! I'm Cuban, born and raised in the island until I was 21. Been in the USA 13 years :)
What are the odds! I have 3 hours left of the audiobook which I’ll be finishing today!
I'm currently in an asian inspired fantasy grove, started by reading "The Daughter of the Moon Goddess" which I picked up mainly because I liked the cover :) I started Jade City but have put it down at least for now, and recently finished the first book of the Poppy War trilogy and ordered the next two books along with Babel. I have always been very interested in books that use language as a main story element. I don't remember much of it given how long I read it but Babel-17 was something that I remember enjoying very much, along with "The Alphabet of Thorns" by Patricia A. McKillip. It's the language element of Babel that I'm most interested in, along with the fact that I enjoyed The Poppy War (and was challenged by it's themes and outcomes). Ready for more of the same :)
I hope you pick Jade City back up! It takes a bit to get into but the series is INCREDIBLE, especially if you're a fan of worldbuilding, complex characters, and politics!
This sounds really really interesting!! The book even has a overall of 4.5 stars on Goodreads. Definitely will check it out
I'm a bit worried most of those are "reviews" from fans of Poppy War that rated it 5 stars before it came out, just because it's written by Kuang.
@@jkpiowa Probably it has some but in +3.600 reviews I do not believe that matters much imo
I've seen since reviews saw this is a standalone, some say it's a series. Is there an announcement or interview where the author says if it's a series?
I agree about the name. It is hard to say more than that, but it was so good.
Very late to the game but picked up an edition of this in the Works for £5 today, very hyped to read it finally!!!!
I'm a translator (English/French), and I need this book in my life.
I really love the cover
I’m curious.. with the two words you saw that told you the arc… would you consider it foreshadowing? Since you said everything was so intentional, perhaps the books intent wasn’t to shock you, but be about the journey? No idea, I’m new to this fantasy stuff 😂
SO EXCITED!! 🍁🍁🍂🍂🕸🕸👻👻👻🍂🍂🧡🖤🖤🖤🧡🍂🍂🕸🕸👻👻👻🕸🍂🍂🍁🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🕸🕸👻👻🕸🕸📖📚📙📙📙📚📖📖📚📚📖📖📖📖📖📚📙📙📚📖📖📖📚📙📙📙📖
Does anyone know if R.F. Kuang intends for Babel to be first in a series or is it a standalone?
I also thought there were a lot of parallels to the poppy war!
I bought my copy yesterday. I work as a translator, so I have to read this
currently reading Babel and I'm so engrossed in the story. This is my first book by RF Kuang and I am so engrossed with the story and love the narration. I can't wait to finish the book and see how it'll end.
Is this a standalone book?
OMG i want this book so much 🤓
70% through this and I wish the pacing was better. I agree it should've been more than 1 book. A lot happens, then it stalls, then picks up again. I also feel like it's such a mix of showing and telling where I wish it was all showing.
Sounds an amazing book.
I really love the super long title! This ended up being one of my favorite books so far this year, even though it felt a bit slow at the start for me since it was a lot of learning lol
I consider myself to be a veteran grimdark reader. Most of what I read is extremely grim. Things like Abacromby or Lawrence or Ericson. I count Malazan amongst my favorite books of all time. But this is one of the few books that ever made me actually shed tears. As a cis straight white male, this was incredibly difficult to read, and I an glad I did. This should be required reading in every secondary education system.
16:10 is there confirmation this will be a series? Everything I'm seeing says this is a standalone.
Has Elliot read the rest of the poppy war series?
Not only did I feel as being part of an amazing academical project, but the social dinamics felt so close to home. I can say I am fortunate to move to UK in modern times and not get to experince the severe discrimination. I also waited to see the name explanation, but I think I missed it. Can somebody please let me now where is Robin's name meaning explained?
SPOILER
I think what she is referring to is that Robin's birth name is never said or written on the page. I also kept waiting for a reveal, but in the end you only get his mother saying his name without the reader ever learning what it is. And this kind of ties the end to the beginning where he is dying of cholera next to his mother. I thought that scene was quite tragic but also somehow a very powerful choice to not reveal his name.
@@franzi4681 much appreciated! I thought I somehow missed it.
What’s the name of the music in the end?
I agree that breaking through class divides in books should be shown more. I’m a little tired of books almost exclusively showing people who get to make these big changes or are in a position of power or of people who can incite a rebellion… instead of the “canon fodder” or who have no say or who will have to suffer incredible hardships for “the greater good” or the “betterment of society”. Excellent review as always Elle! I thought it was supposed to be a standalone though?
I also thought it was a standalone, or so it says everywhere. 😅 I cannot really find anything about a sequel anywhere?
*SPOILERS*
can you expand on your thoughts on rf kuang's choice not to reveal robin's real name? i personally found it very disappointing that we never find out about it at all, especially since names are a big deal. i understand that the point is that robin was forced to assimilate which means trying to be as "british" as possible while leaving his chinese identity behind but throughout the novel he was learning to be okay with who he really is.
he also make friends that would understand where he was coming from. specifically, ramy. ramy has a lot of pride in his culture/background which includes taking pride in his birth name. imo it's weird that robin didn't at least tell ramy his real name and we didn't get a scene about that at all
I too wonder why, given the character arc. this also just made me think of the match pairs - could there have been some magical reaction if he were to pair the two names
To say Babel was my most anticipated book of the year would’ve been an understatement coz I was literally unable to get into any other book in my anticipation to read this one. But unfortunately the hype was all I was destined to get as this has become my biggest disappointment this year.
The first 5-10% of the book was excellent. It got me emotionally invested in Robin, hooked by the discourse on racism and colonialism, the expositions on language and translations had me awestruck and I was halfway in love with the book. But…. it never progressed beyond that. The next 70-80% of the book was just a repetition of all of this over and over again with little to no further developments of the characters, plot moving slower than a snail’s pace if at all and exposition after exposition on language which was interesting no doubt, but felt like sitting in a language and translation lecture rather than reading a novel.
I do appreciate the immense effort and research that went into creating this book but I also wish Kuang had spent 10% of that effort into crafting the characters and plot as well. The fantasy element was just a little bit of silver magic added on to actual history to make it different.
The writing itself left me disappointed. After each and every incident of racism the characters face, we get paragraph after paragraph of explanation which imo completely ruins the impact of the actual scene. The footnotes were purely for cosmetic reasons without them adding anything substantial in terms of entertainment, insight or information. I felt like they were there, just to make the book look academic rather than enhance the content.
The actual plot starts somewhere in the last 20% by which point I was too bored to care. I could basically predict every thing that happened well in advance so nothing was actually surprising. If Kuang could have cut down on the expositions and elaborated and incorporated the last 20% into the rest of the book, it would’ve been a much better experience.
I loved Babel such a good book the cover is so beautiful! 👻🖤📚📖🍁🍂🍂🍁🕸🍁🍂🍂👻👻🍃🍃🧡📖🕸🖤🎃🎃👻🧡📖🕸🍁🍂🍂🍂🍁📖📙🍃📚🖤👻🖤📚🎃🎃🎃👻👻📚🍃📙🧡📖🕸🍁🍂🍂🍁
Is it as action packed as the poppy war?
Why in amazon it say 288 pages and on the internat it say 500+pages
I started it on kindle and it was overwhelming but interested. It's too much information, too dense to read it in that format so I took a leap of faith and ordered a paperback copy which has just been dispatched from the UK. It'll take a few weeks. Now I know you don't rate your books but after listening to your review I still don't know if you loved it or not 🤷♀️
I felt the same way. I got up to page 70 and decided to stop reading before I started to got slumpy. I loved her previous works so hopefully we both end up loving it!
I have less than 100 pages to go!
Thank you for this review. The book is vastly different from what I imagined it would be. I’m sad that real life issues, such as prejudice, play a roll in the book. However, I worked in a university for 38 years. I’ve seen all the things, including Americans trying to give foreign students Anglicized nicknames. I think I will borrow this from the library instead of buying it right away because this sounds like a book I will read once and never want to read again. Thank you!
Oh I thought it was a standalone. 😩 Now idk if I wanna rush to read it?
Thank you so much for sharing! I’m really excited to read this now. It sounds similar in some ways to a YA series I’ve been reading recently 😊
Also, please check out ‘All the Murmuring Bones’ if you have a chance. I think you would like it, and I’d love to hear your take on it. It’s a dark mermaid story, and it has a lot of other Irish mythology in it as well.
I don't tend to like low fantasy, but with how good The poppy war trilogy was, I think it'd be a sin to not pick this up.
Help, I've read the book, not sure though what exactly do you mean about Robin's name. Can someone enlighten me, marking it as a spoiler? Thanks!
SPOILER
I think what she is referring to is that Robin's birth name is never said or written on the page. I also kept waiting for a reveal, but in the end you only get his mother saying his name without the reader ever learning what it is. And this kind of ties the end to the beginning where he is dying of cholera next to his mother. I thought that scene was quite tragic but also somehow a very powerful choice to not reveal his name.
@@franzi4681 thank you! I thought of the name Robin. Now it makes sense!
Good morning Elliot hope you had a great weekend xoxo 😚 📖📚📚📖🍃🍁🍁🍂🍂🍂🧡📚📚📚📖👻🖤🍁🎃🎃📙📙📚🍂🍂📚📚👻👻🍃🕸🍁🖤🖤👻🧡🧡🍂🍂📚📖👻🍃🍃🕸🍁🕸🕸🍃
I am currently reading Babel and very much enjoying, moreso, than The Poppy War. I do have an issue in regards to British Colonialism and the destruction wrought all over the world without any acknowledgement or reparations so a number of the themes duscussed in this book speak to my soul.
I didn't manage to finish The Poppy War trilogy, rage-quitting after literally yelling at the second book. Not only I couldn't stand Rin as a character, but reading every single character, no matter their background or personality, talking as pompous old academics made by blood boil. Being a native Spanish speaker (and an academic on top of that), I have needed to force myself to "never use a long word when a short one would do", and when a published author ignores that... Anyway, maybe when the characters are actual academics, the language issues I had there will not bother me so much, so I might give it a try.
Thanks for the Review Elliot wonderful review! 🖤🧡🍁📚🕸🍂🍂🕸🍁🍁🖤👻🍃👻📖📖🧡🧡🍁📚🍃👻🖤📖🎃🎃👻📖🧡🧡🍁📚🕸🍂🍂📚🍁📙📖🖤👻🍃👻📖📖🧡🍁🍁🍁🕸🍂🍂🕸
I disliked the poppy war. Ugh idk I guess I’ll give this a chance some day lol but found that series exhausting and the way Kuang writes feels so nerdy lol in an unlikable way. She’s very very smart though - but yeah that modern stuff is bleh at times lol. This is why I prefer Fonda Lee and Andrea Stewart
What?! No "Hi Guys"
I loved this book. I found the non-white perspective at first to be really illuminating, but by the end one-sided politics of it left me feeling on the outside and at odds with what I felt like I'd begun to understand. I really agree having some other viewpoint would have solved that problem for me. The other thing you mentioned, the paragraph with "performative" and "allyship" or whatever, I also noticed that several times. Even the language of "The Colonizer" took me out of the time period. I love the idea of seeing the revolution from the radical inside, but that language felt so modern and so inappropriate to how people from that time period would actually have experienced and conceptualized their lives that it was harmfully jarring for me.
SPOILERISH
I'm torn on whether I'd have liked another perspective because locking us into Robin's really let's us see how he's been molded with all of the internalized racism and learned helplessness.
I was dissapointed in this book. That’s all I will say
I wasn't going to pick this one up. From the title "the necessity of violence", it lost me as an audience. But your review does peak my interest in the story.
Seeing as this was posted 7 months ago, you probably already made up your mind on the topic, but yes, this book preaches violence. I didn't like that part haha.
Spoilers
To speak candidly:
I think that the writing in this book was fantastic, and it was extremely well researched. However, Forgive me for speaking candidly here, but this book read like a racist manifesto, and conclusion of the book advocated for violent revolution. Now, I realize this is an extremely bold statement to make; let me justify my statement. I realize that we are talking about British colonialism here, but almost every white character is like super evil. I mean to say, the British did horrible things during this time, and the amount of human suffering caused by the British Empire was enormous. I could except that many white people that are part of the British industrial complex are evil, but all of them? That's crazy.
The one white character, Letty, in the main cast turns on her friends, after she learns they're in a terrorist origination. She asks her friends to explain their reasoning sever times, but they dismiss her and insult her intelligence. She ends up shooting one of the main group - I guess to remove all doubt that she's a bad person. Then, we get an interlude chapter from Letty's perspective. This chapter has us learn even though she's been oppressed too she believes that, "empire is inevitable," and they should try to fix things from the inside. Despite the fact that she just doesn't want to see an entire country suffer for the mistakes at the top, it's clearly implied that she's the one in the wrong.
The main characters use the fact that they have been racially oppressed as justification to spend the entire rest of the book being extremely racist themselves. They use this as a justification for mass-violence against all of Britain. When the tower is taken, a lot of people - innocent people - are killed because of this, even more starve and get seriously ill. Letty points out that the only people that are being hurt because of this are the poor - another good point that the rest of the cast ignore. When they destroy Babel completely, even more people die. They do get what they want, that being that Britain cant go to war with China, but the cost is so high.
I could get pass all of this, if it wasn't for the final chapter with Victoire. Until that point, the book held back whether or not destroying the tower was the right move. Several of the characters were against this. I thought that was plenty nuanced, and despite the fact that Letty was almost completely ignored, we could look past it and see both sides. However, it didn't end there. Victsoire is depicted to be the most right out of all the cast, and we're basically told in bold letters, "This is the thesis statement!" This section boils down to two things: 1. That being white and British is evil. 2. That the only way to create change is through violence. At this point the book through away any pretense that the people of color were all the good guys, and every white person deserved what they got.
If we get another book from this franchise, I'll be interested to see if any of my issues are addressed. I think it's important to buy books from people that have different philosophical viewpoints than I do as a tool for self-actualization. So, I'd probably read it.
P.S.
I wanted to mention 2 other things that bothered me:
1. It bothered me how no other translation intitules were able to see any success. Really, in 1000 years, no one figure out how this stuff works? We get vague reasons that they haven't but none off them really hold water, if you think about them for even a few seconds. I think if we were to properly apply Brandon Sanderson's third law of magic here properly, the entire world would be so radically changed that it would be almost unrecognizable.
2. The actual industrial revolution wasn't as fragile. As a center piece for a book, this worked well, but they even point out several times that it doesn't make any sense to put all their eggs in one basket.
I am sad to say that for me, Babel was the single biggest disappointment of the year. Part of the problem is probably the hype, I guess I had very high expectations but I ended up completely let down which is a shame because the premise looked so promising. But I honestly don´t remember reading a book as poorly balanced as this one.
On the one hand, the magic system, the language, the politics and the morality put Babel squarely in the adult fantasy. Everything else - the plot, the characters, their motivations and decisions - was very simplistic, mostly predictable and lacked any kind of mental challenge for an adult reader. I couldn´t quite figure out who the target audience was meant to be. The ratio between showing and telling was also very off for my taste. There was so much narrative as opposed to dialogue and it just made the characters very flat, I struggled to feel a connection.
The pseudo-historical events were often prolonged and dry, while the pivotal moments of the plot were rushed and whole scenes were practically glossed over. The book virtually flew through the first three years of the characters' life in Oxford. The trip to Canton (including the journey there and back), which was one of the most important moments of the story, took only about a chapter or two. There was no consistency in the passage of time.
I also struggled with the magic system. It was such an interesting concept but I couldn´t help feeling the author didn´t quite know what to do with it. The rules were explained to the finest detail but we only got a brief description of what actually happened as a result of a translation (again, we were told, not shown).
By the time I got to the ending (which I admit, is very beautiful), I was just too disconnected to have any kind of emotional reaction. I got the impression that (at least in this one), the author proved to be a better academic than a storyteller.
I feel you. I DNFed the book mainly because I felt disconnected, and the language intricacies are not my thing. The things you mention make me glad I did - this is clearly not.a book for me. Also, my problem with authority flared up at most of the footnotes and narrator clearly labeling things for me (I love puzzles and uncertainty).
@@kanyari Yeah, the footnotes were a complete overkill for me, didn´t add to the story and felt a bit jarring to me. I listened to Babel on audio and the narration was actually the best thing about it, but they had a different narrator for the footnotes and it just threw me every time.
Like Harry Potter but better prose.
Why are so many people calling this ‘babble’?! Babel is literally a word that already exists, RF Kuang didn’t make it up… it’s BAY-BLE rhymes with stable.
Could we please stop using the word America as equivalent to the US?
No united states of America
I read it last week and don't remember what you're talking about regarding his name. 🫠