lou's library

You know these books you keep seeing around and everyone keeps on raving about? The books that seem to live on your TBR and you’re genuinely excited for them and yet never reach for them? And you don’t even know why? Babel by R. F. Kuang was such a book for me, basically ever since it was released. I went through a phase of thinking ‘It can’t possibly be as good as everyone makes it out to be, it just can’t’, which is very silly and also just wrong. Because I read Babel and let me tell you, I get the hype now and oh, is it justified!!! So, here are my thoughts on Babel, hope you enjoy!!

Here’s my attempt at a premise of this book without spoiling anything: We follow Robin, a Chinese boy who is brought to England at a young age in the early 19th century and trained in the classical languages with the aim of getting him to Oxford to study linguistics. Once he’s there, he finds a group of like-minded people and forms an unbreakable bond with them while also learning the magical craft of silver-working. The story unravels from there and just trust me when I say that shit goes down in this book.

As I said, I had heard nothing but praise for Babel before I read it, of the kind that could hardly be higher if it tried. At one point it felt like I couldn’t open Instagram without the algorithm feeding me this book within the first thirty seconds. Plus, I constantly kept hearing it be compared to The Secret History and If We Were Villains, the latter of which I read a couple of months ago and loved. And because I not only love dark academia, but also Britain a bit more than can be considered healthy (not in a patriotic way, I promise, I’m not even British), I knew Babel would be up my street. But I also didn’t know what to expect.

And I guess nothing could have prepared me for this wild ride of a book. What impressed me most about it was the way R. F. Kuang uses language to carry meaning, which sounds absurdly obvious, but I promise you it’s not. There are so many languages that play an important role in Babel, and in a world where I have heard people say ‘It’s only a word, it’s not that important’ one too many times, I felt instantly grateful to the author for having written a book that showcases the connection between language and power.

I’m starting to think this review won’t make a lot of sense to people who haven’t read Babel, but it’s just very difficult to write about the book without giving major plot points away. But just know it’s a story of personal growth, of finding your boundaries and crossing them, of trying to do the right thing, of a deeply racist and misogynistic society and culture, and of the kind of friendship that runs deeper than blood.

Let’s give it up for Ramy!!! ❤

It’s an epic read and it kept me on edge the whole time. I honestly couldn’t guess what would happen next at any time in the book, but I was so invested and knew I would happily follow Robin literally anywhere. Also, can we take a second for Ramy, Robin’s best friend? The moment he called our protagonist Birdie for the first time that boy had my heart and my God, he can keep it because I LOVE THAT BOY!!!! I want a book from Ramy’s perspective, he’s funny but clever and deep and troubled and oh so caring and just the best friend Robin could have asked for.

The only point of criticism I have is the pacing of the book. It’s 550 pages long but honestly, I wish it had been longer. There are parts of the story that are skipped almost entirely that I would have loved to read about. Also, I think the magic system in this book is so cool and unique and yet we hardly get to see how it affects people in their normal life until the very end. I just think the author could have done a bit more with that a bit sooner.

I also think R. F. Kuang deserves a lot of respect for writing a historic fantasy novel that touches on so many issues modern-day Britain still grapples with today. Racism, classism and misogyny are very much still a part of Britain today, and I found it refreshing to read a fantasy novel that has this aspect to it that is indeed very real.

This one will stay with me!!

I know Babel is the sort of book that I will keep thinking about a lot and I already cannot wait to read it again, as I have a feeling I will love it even more the second time around. It’s such a unique book with characters I would sell my soul for, in a gorgeous setting. The amount of historical and linguistic research that has gone into Babel deserves a medal and I will forever be in awe of the feat the author achieved in writing this book. And now someone tell me if I need to run to the bookstore to get Katabasis by R. F. Kuang right now? Yes? Thought so.

If you’re interested, I have written a review for If We Were Villains that you can read here, as well as a blog post about the ultimate bookish villains right here. Happy reading!