I came in this book blind; and I suggest you do the same too.

This book not only broke me in a million pieces , but filled every single quota of what I expected in a Dark Academia Fantasy. By far, its one of the best books I've read this year, and that's saying stuff cause I actually read a lot of good books this year.

This book was the most well-researched, and thoroughly written that it felt like reading a very entertaining AND HEARTBREAKING Academic text.

It took my breath away, in a way that made me just fixated with the story, with the writing, with what I can relate to and mostly, it made me have a newfound respect to Kuang.

This book is more about translation and language. Honestly, with these kind of books, I fear that what I say, will never be enough. And fact is, the more I love a book, the more I can't comprehend my feelings towards it.

This will be a messy review and dump of train-of-thoughts, and I may revise this on a later date after I actually calmed down, but these were my rawest reactions to the book, and I'm writing this right after I had finished it.

Lets break down each aspect one-by-one. And this will be Non-Spoilery, but more of what to expect (if you have expectations, and you obviously will) to make the experience of you reading the book more enjoyable.

Is this a Character-Driven book or Plot-Driven book?
Babel is a PLOT-Driven BOOK.
Which means that the book follows a story that derives most of its action from a well-constructed plot. A good plot-driven story will have compelling and multi-faceted characters but will place plot and story structure ahead of deep character development.

This means that, whilst we follow the journey of mostly Robin in his endeavours from Canton to Oxford, we will also get glimpses of other characters such as his friends, his guardian and as well the people that he met along the way. Whilst I expected the book to be a character-driven book, I think making it plot-driven works so well with the sentiments and what Kuang is trying to portray in the book. Its not just about the struggle of a Single Character . Its a struggle and the movement of a bigger cause, that affects and gives consequences to generations of people to come. What made this book special because , there was NEVER a boring moment, and that Kuang had developed the characters so well, to a point that you will care about them, cry with them and equates their pain to yours.

If you're wishing this would be a character-driven book? I kindly suggest for you to touch grass

Like I mentioned, the book does not focus on the characters, mostly to accentuate the bigger picture, which is the The Act of Violence Itself and Affects of Translated Language to Colonialism . If this were to be a character-driven book, the point may not come across as effectively as it should. The plot was divided well and the whole point of the book is to highlight the Longer Title itself, (which will make sense as you read along). Kuang had created such a world that seems so close and real, and the fact that it coincides with real Historical Moments makes it sometimes suffocating to read, on how naive and constricted the views on our world can be.

Kuang had focused on certain events that made impacts , and the fact that, she had so CLEVERLY insinuated every little detail, to the point that if you blink, you'll actually missed what she was trying to convey. The quote

But if its not Character-driven.. how will you relate to the characters?
The thing with Kuang is that, she KNOWS how to write characters, and she KNOWS how to make it PAINFUL. Albeit a plot-driven book, you'll get attached to the characters that are so flawed, but also you'll want to protect them from the pains of this world.

Kuang had written such fantastic characters for Babel and a well-represented at that. We have a myriad of characters from different backgrounds and religions, and my respect to her became tenfold when a Muslim Character was not misrepresented in a book, and lowkey thats saying something. Kuang had based off her characters to a variety of people that are a mismatch but can somehow take your heart away. EXCLUDING THAT ONE FUCKING BITCH The question of morality and the lines of black and white you will need to cross in this book is excruciating, but we somehow understood why the characters had done what they did.

The Footnotes which sealed the 5 stars from Chapter 2
I find it entertaining that I had actually sealed the 5 stars for Babel in Chapter 2, SOLELY from Kuang's footnotes. In fiction, I don't really like the idea of footnotes very much, as its just only facts that I can google about at some point of the day .

But Kuang's footnotes are one of the reasons why I will actually recommend everyone to read this book. Her footnotes are by far, one of the most entertaining (in a dark humour way) and informative, without being draggy. The fact that she wrote it in her own words and it encapsulates what she wanted to let people know without it sounding off-standish or even pompous. The fact that the footnotes had not only criticised some of the decisions from past leaders, it brings us to the minds of Kuang and how she thinks in a way that makes it amusing yet resourceful.

On Colonialism and Translation
Being a South East Asian, and from a country that has been colonized by the British, it made me represented in a way that showed the true horrors of what colonisation and the importance of translation and our mother-tongue to the Englishmen. It wasn't surprising to read about the rich and powerful, but what disgusts me was the ignorance of it all.

Imagine being stripped away of your identity, being transported away from our homes from a younger age, but expected to be grateful. These are not the acts of love, but the acts of slavery, which is concealed by good education and proper etiquette learnings.

The anger that I felt from the sentence alone, that showed how ignorant can the colonizers be without having thinking the consequences it can do to a person and the identity-crisis that will knock on your door whilst you growing up.

Its ironic, that even to the generation now (and even I was whitewashed at a certain period of my life), we tend to pretend that the problem and the root of it all is not there. I feel that with this book, we have a bigger appreciation towards language, and its Etymology. It feels like reading a very eventful academic text, and I love that as Robin is learning, I'm getting lessons as well.

On the Criticism to the Rich and Powerful
And that leads to this point, where Kuang had criticised the Rich and powerful to a point that, it will be daft of you to think otherwise. Its an educated suggestion to not everyone who had read this to not only realize that the root and cause of the problem is not only from the powerful, but also from our own mindset.

I absolutely loved that Kuang had criticised not only the social system, the racism and the acceptance of the people of the colour, she had also given criticism to the privileged, unnecessary (but included) to only the rich . Privilege can mean a lot of things and Kuang had shown that different privileges can blind us to certain things in this world, and it had shown that every single thing in this world is somehow intertwined with one another.

Necessity of Violence. How this sentence means more
It came to a point of the book, where WHEN the title made sense, it left you a crying and sobbing mess, and a whole load of appreciation for the book.

Morality will be questioned, but sometimes, in situations that demands your voice to be heart, VIOLENCE IS A NECESSITY. And yes, it can be wrong, and yes, it will affect the generations to come, but without one person trying to shake the world, no one, especially the ones that are ruling the country would do anything about it. And what makes it sad, was how CLOSE TO REALITY this situation is in our real world now. The fact is, if nothing goes viral, nothing will be done to fix stuff up. Whats eerily scary is how close Babel is to our real world and that there is not much change other than the fact we're just more educated, but are we vigilant enough to make a change.

That's the question isn't it.

This book is more than the dark notes in academia. Its the extortion of power, extortion of language to the contribution to colonialism and the extortion of manpower that masked slavery to being given translators as a title. Its to show that the source of power can only hold so much, when there are people that dies for it. It shows that whilst one voice can do so much, it may change the whole world. It shows that, there is more to just accepting your consequences as it is. Its on change. On loyalty, and mostly, on the importance of language and translation, and the appreciation for the art.

Kuang had never ceased to amaze me with her talents, and this book, is a wonder of its own. A masterpiece that I consider and plead everyone to read.

Biggest thank you to Times Reads for this copy! I can never thank you enough.