Babel (Spoiler Free Review) by R.F. Kuang
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ค. 2024
- 3/5 stars. A book that starts out intriguing, but doesn't quite stick the landing.
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#fantasybooks #bookreview #bestbooks #fantasybooks #booktube #booktuber #books #bookstagram #bookworm #booklover #booknerd #bookish #book #reading #read #booktubers - บันเทิง
I'm trying some new editing stuff involving effects overlaying pictures. Please give me your honest feedback - I really have no idea what I'm doing (in general, but also specifically in this instance).
I liked the effect you put over the pictures, Good job.
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I like the effects!
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Matt you starting to be my number-one guy on TH-cam no sugar coating from you I 100% respect your honesty most reviewers will just give it 4 or 5 stars because they don't want to hurt the author that they respect or like, you definitely shoot-from-the-hip another great review keep up the good content
Thanks so much, I appreciate it!
‘I feel more lost reading sometimes than the average reader’ has finished all of Malazan. I quietly cry as I try to keep track of Wheel of Time characters 😂
Lol. I just keep good notes and accept if I forget something.
Also if you are still reading WoT download the character app! It's amazing.
Appreciate the review and your candour as usual. It’s pretty darn refreshing to hear honest opinions.
Thanks so much!
as for the politics, of Babel, I believe Richard Lovell's character is very symptomatic. He is a villain of this story, sure. But I can understand why he acted the way he did - he was a man without connections who is building a career in a class-divided society. He was able to benefit from the system and make his name thanks to that. Without it, he would have been just one more university professor. So it's kind of obvious that he is going to preserve the system at all costs. The same goes for other political players - they benefit from the system that is using people of other classes or races, so they will make pseudophilosophical excuses on why this actually is a good thing and protect the system - like Lovell - using every possible solution. What Babel is, in fact, is a critique of capitalism, both historical and current. And it is relevant to what we know from history, but also to the world we are living in now, which is benefiting the rich at great cost to the poor. Is it nuanced? Not really, but I don't believe it has to be. At this point, we need more similar voices, both in Europe and probably even more - in the US.
I was super let down by Poppy War. Then Babel also fell really flat for me. I kept thinking Babel was going to pick up but it never did.
Yeah sounds like Kuang just isn't for us!
I am so shocked by the over the top praise I have seen on booktube and booktok for this work. For me it’s a 2.5 and I feel like I am being generous. Thanks for the review.
Yeah I can't quite figure it out, other than it's really praise for the author. I can't help but feel if a different author put this out it wouldn't have been so acclaimed.
Kuang is Just not an author that’s for me
Yeah I've come to find that I agree with this, sadly.
Yeah I don’t know why though…I did think this was better than the poppy war but I really didn’t care for that
So for me, I gave Babel a 7/10. I liked it, but it felt... Unsubtle. I liked how the plot went, I liked how the world was built, I liked how the magic system worked, and I loved the characters. But, I felt like it was talking down to me in a way. I felt lectured to. Like you said there was no trust. A lot lof the thoughts on colonialism and racism I thought were better handled in books like Rage of Dragons and Jade City. There they were present, hell in both stories the Protagonists have some level of racisism or classism, but it never felt belabored. It was something to move the plot forward, but not something that defined the characters.
In Rage of Dragons Tau is dealing with a hatred for the Noble classes, who also have darker skin, but it's because he's hurting, and he's falling into the same trap they have. He isn't immune to the effects of race, they define him as much as they do the villains.
In the Jade City series, it's sort of the same way. The Khals are casually racist towards the colonizing powers, and the Badugan thugs that smuggle jade. At the same time, those powers show that they are racist towards the people of Janloon. It's a cycle of hate that doesn't let anyone escape. Racism is present, the scars are clearly shown, but it isn't the focus.
I'm seeing this lack of subtlety seem to creep into a lot of popular books these days. I'm not sure what the reason is, but I'm guessing it's a reaction to a completely straight reading of books like 1984 where the subtext isn't being taken into account. (Thus why certain groups are trying to get it banned in the US as being subversive).
Also Quick Correction, you mentioned that Mrs. Kuang didn't attend Oxford. She did actually attend, but she had to move some of the architecture and play with history a little to make it work. That's what the note at the front is about.
Yeah very well stated!
For some reason I thought based on her intro to the book that she didn't attend Oxford - whoops!
I don’t think this author is for me. I started The Poppy War some time ago and loved the first part, but then I got bogged down in the next section. It seemed really slow and I wasn’t liking it, so I put it down in favor of some other book and never got back to it. Babel doesn’t interest me at all. Someone else already commented on this, but I’ll second what they said: it really impresses me that you can get all the way through books that you’re not thrilled about. I wish I could do that - there is many a series I won’t be able to finish if I don’t find a way to push through the not-as-great installments. Kudos to you!! P.S. Collecting physical copies of Malazan Book of the Fallen volumes in any format besides mass market paperbacks is a job of work!!!
Thank you! And yeah getting all the hardcovers for Malazan was TOUGH. Especially Memories of Ice.
Really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on this! I think I enjoyed the book a bit more than you did, but your critiques are completely reasonable. She communicates the thesis in pretty heavy-handed way, I agree, but I personally enjoyed how the form of the novel reflects its academic themes. Honestly, I wonder if part of the reason this book seemed so great to me was due to the contrast with the Burning God. 😅
Yeah the academic stuff was the best part for me. I would have liked it more if I appreciated the ending more.
I really enjoyed this book but I agree that I thought the beginning was really good but the end just DRAGGED. Overall solid book but I agree it wasnt world shattering. I liked the point it was making. It made its point very well, but I thought the ending was too drawn out.
Yeah definitely too drawn out.
I couldn’t even give it three, the plot holes were so enormous and nonsensical it just kept taking me out of the story and towards the end there were more and more, and even more weird.
A typical example would be these kids join the secret group and work for it for YEARS, have no idea of the base or the secret waning system, someone else joins at end of book is a member for 3 days and knows the secret club location and gets a warning magic thing…
Just happened again and again and again
I should have loved this book, grew up in UK at a boarding school, I agree with the themes, I love language. It should have been a slam dunk for me but I was sooo bored
Another weird plot twist, all through history kids finishing 4th year scatter off overseas for a while, but to force story to a trigger point these 4 have NO choice, stay together and have a Professor with them, even though 3 of them are not needed !!
Just silly convenience plot turns that didn’t fit rest of story. Characters completely changing personality to fit to a weird plot twist.
Actually rated it worst book I have read in years. Her writing style is fine but the story was awful
LOL, I love the brutal honesty!
The magic works like this, when you translate a word from one language to another, it is never perfect and when those transcribed words are inscribed in silver the lost difference between them creates the magical effect. That was my understanding.
Well stated!
You should give A Memory Called Empire a try, I think it does nuanced politics pretty well. It is sci-fi so you may not like it but it reads like a space fantasy.
Yeah it's on my long term TBR list. I'll get to it eventually!
Hi Matt. New subscriber and new book tuber here. Good review! Told me what I needed to know about whether I wanted to get into this series or not. I like your honesty and approach. Looking forward to more...Jarrod C.
Thanks so much, that's super kind of you!
Still enjoying all of your reviews. I know you have a long list of books on your to-read list but I'm curious if you have read The Sum of All men (runelords) and if you liked it
No, I've never even heard of it (or runelords). Should I put it on my TBR list?
I was on the fence about reading this book until your review. And I can’t be asked to start it now. 😂😂😂👏🏾The issues you mentioned would be the same for me. Especially since I don’t think I’m a fan of magic schools and then pair that with the heavy handed social themes it would be a shaky for me too. Thank you for sharing. Matt your reviews are always authentic keep it coming 👏🏾👏🏾💜
Thank you so much - you are too kind!
Have you read Vita Nostra? It’s an incredibly weird and unique book that sounds a bit like this one but more interesting. I have a review for it. I would love to hear what you make of that book!
No, but I'll check it out!
Hey,love to watch your videos. Quick que though
How you edit your photo in this video as live effect??? Its looks so cool.
It's a feature in da Vinci resolve (the program I use). Whatever editing you use just look up TH-cam for "particle effects" and you will learn how.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews thank you
I had quite similar thougths. Gave the same rating. In the end I didn't care for the Poppy War much overal, but I completed the trilogy with a feeling that this author can put stuff together well and if few quirks in the writing will be honed out, I'll enjoy it for sure. So, I did have quite a bit of expectations for this one and it disappointed me in the most aspects except the writing quality itself, which is becoming very much to my liking. In the end it wasn't that big of a deal, but if you decide to open the workings of your magic system that much, leaving it so flawed made it suck quite some life out of the intrigue. Through the first third I still felt like there's going to be all sorts of fascinating mystery in this, but it was more of a background gimmick. It was there basically to make sure that the certain standoff could work as it did, while steam engines and power station might not be quite as effective.
Oh, and the audiobook was stangely choppy. Secondary narrator constantly pitching in, reading the footnotes like Google Assistant, was one thing, but the main story had some weird sudden changes like they fixed some badly spoken single sentences using a spare mic from a gaming headset.
Yeah great insights! And weird about the audiobook. I've had some like that and it's super offputting.
For something older that can stand the test of time try The Empire Series by Janny Wurts and R Feist
Thanks for the suggestion!
I could only get through half of The Poppy War. A great writer that needs to apply herself more.
Yeah you stopped at a good time. That last book in the trilogy was rough.
All hyped books have the extra pressure of being worthy of that hype!
Yeah I agree with this.
Great review. I also couldn't get going with this. Felt like alot of telling throughout
Yeah, well put!
I think Kuang is just not for me. Dnf'd the Poppy War halfway through, and this book doesn't interest me in the slightest. I appreciate your honest reviews.
Thank you!
I'm with you on this one, liked it, didn't love it, and it's 100% over-hyped in my opinion. But I love Kuang so I'm glad it was so successful for her
Yeah she seems really awesome in real life and I'm happy she's getting success as an author!
Racism? This book was pretty clearly about colonialism. The magic system is also badly explained in this review. I agree with the themes being pushed way too much into the foreground. The story and the setting and the magic system itself were more than sufficient for a nuanced look into colonialism.
I mentioned the colonialism, but it's also very clearly about racism as well.
I only reached 220 pages and decided it wasn't for me. I got caught up in the hype.
It's so easy to get caught up!
You have been after this author 😂😂😂
I'm not trying to! Just being honest :)
honestly, I roll my eyes every time a heavy handed modern political message is delivered in a novel, I feel like a lot of modern writers get it wrong and make the message too overt, like i want to read a good story if you can add that message in a natural way then great.
Yeah 100% agreed.
I agree to disagree with your review. For me, Babel is so refreshing, and maybe because I feel so relatable, so that's make more sense. A little holes here and there I think is forgivable because we know out there there are tons of worse book having praise as well. If you read that while you're writing your thesis is kinda give some magic thing that keep you going. So that's why. Bu this is not for everyone and not for relaxing to read by the beach kinda book
I was going to buy it. But now i wont. U saved my money.
The heavy handed themes are an important point.
Yeah I like the themes, but man does she really hit you over the head with them.
Whether I agree with the political ideas of a book or not, I hate when I feel like an author is shoving their ideas down my throat. More nuance is needed in these stories.
Yeah 100% this.
I just finished reading Babel, so I looked to see what others had to say about it. I have a translation background, so the setting was very intriguing for me. But omg this book made me angry! I have NEVER been angered by a book before. Lol. I wish I had allowed myself to read a little more about it before going in. Not only was the racism BAD/colonialism BAD theme in your face, but I am also not sure who she is trying to convince in this day and age. It just felt like a long rant by an emotional 22 yo (I think?) adult-child. The characters were also boring to me; I didn’t care about any of them. And for something set in the 1830s, she certainly made ZERO effort to make it sound like it. She seemed to be too concerned with beating white people with her message. I also find it hard to believe that anyone in 1830s London used phrase “pass for white.” I wanted to DNF it soooo bad, but I’m a bit of a completionist and couldn’t let myself do that. But man… that last 1/4 of the book was a slog. I hated everything about it.
I gave it two stars only because i liked the talk about languages and translation. If it weren’t for that, I’d have thrown it right into the trash and read a proper history book instead. I’ll never read anything of hers again.
i like that your opinions are so stark from someone like Daniel Greene. That dude probably gave this a 5 out of 5 just because he personally knows Kuang
Both reviewers are great and have valuable perspectives! :) I disagree with your implication that Daniel Greene is disingenuous, though. He had Christopher Paolini on as a guest and was not afraid to admit that he DNFed the Inheritance Cycle.
@@gailism Daniel makes good content, and he's a good guy. (I understand this isnt every instance) But to me he's also something of an over-the-top hype machine and sometimes it comes off as disingenuous. This is further fed since he knows many of these authors personally, and I enjoy Matt a little more because I dont get that vibe from him.
He does seem like a nice guy but I don’t trust his reviews at all - I’ve seen him praise to the skies books and authors that are just meh to me.
Daniel Greene praise almost every book he reads! It doesn't seem authentic and honest to me! And he adores WoT which I barely managed to read the first book of that overrated garbage! For me enough!
Thank you!
This book was a struggle. Super boring and a pity party.
I don’t understand why you shrug off and say “racism is bad, we get it” like it’s just some minor inconvenience that shouldn’t be mentioned?
No it should have more nuance, it was just so cookie cutter theming that wasn't well presented.
Because they..."get it". That should be enough, any more and well...
@@allbutperfectbecause the topic is nuanced. Watch the movie Get Out. They deal with racism in a very nice and subtle way instead of “they’re racist cause they white”
Sure there is fair criticism to be had, but are you asking for a more nuanced take? On 1840's English empire and racism? What????
I'm asking the author not to treat the reader like they are stupid.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews we're still talking about a book about the economics of colonialism, right? Maybe the stupidity lies in being unable to face the cruelty people are capable of.
@@mimimurloughthe issue is that it is not shown through the story but rather through a character giving a lecture
@@some5794 the entire book is about the brits using the languages of colonized people for their own benefit?
@@mimimurlough yet you don’t see much of that. You just read conversations about it. That’s why a lot of people felt the book is preachy. It does come across as an essay sometimes. You know who does a great job of showing not telling? Pierce Brown. All the horrible things of war you see it happening to the characters so when his characters speak, it feels more natural rather than them giving a sermon