Review:

​​​Characters and Plot

R.F. KUANG DID IT AGAIN!!! Babel brutally expose colonization for what it really is - stealing, bullying smaller countries for resources, with the facade of fair trade, when the truth is, all the wealth keep coming back to Britain, while the colonized countries had to suffer from economic loss, their identity being rip, and had to bow down because Britain had suppossedly "help them". Reading this book make me genuinely angry, and rightfully so, because of the way some British people see themselves as superior, because they are richer, stronger in army, when in truth, all this wealth and power only come from unnecessary violence and cruelty.

​

The way the professor justify the opium trade war with China that the Chinese wanted the drug, and that it is a fair trade, that the Chinese are animals that are begging for these drugs is infuriating, and the worst part, this actually happen in real life. Britain wouldn't regret pumping a country filled with innocent people with an addicting drug, killing them as long as it bring them all the silver and gold. 

​

I enjoy the linguistic lesson, sure, it was confusing at first, and takes a while to get through them, but once I cracked the lore of the silver bars and the languages, it was fascinating and fun. I deeply admire R.F. Kuang's linguistic knowledge, the amount of research she had to do to write this! Just like the Poppy War trilogy, this book starts happy and academic at first, and then in the last part, is when all the characters spiral, depressed and angry. When I went into this, I was expecting the worst to happen, and it did happen, to the point that I was reading the ending with a straight face :))

​

The friend group... ye I know that pretentious bunch ain't lasting, it's so funny seeing Robin trying to convince the readers and himself by telling us that they love each other, that they are each other world, while showing us how fragile that friendship is, how they turn a blind eye to each other's struggle, the way they treated each other, especially Letty. I think Letty isn't evil. Still, she is the product of her surroundings, the only white British girl in the friend group, and she wasn't subjected to racist remarks from other students on campus, nor was she subjected to harmful stereotypes. Letty didn't understand what her friend was going through, because she had never experience them, from her eyes, her friends were being given everything, a prestige education, a roof, all their food and supplies were being cover by Babel. 

​

However, I do had to say that I didn't found myself connecting to the characters that much, I think R.F. Kuang prioritize developing the theme surrounding colonization and the opium trade war that she didn't spend much time developing her characters, Robin seem more like an observer than an actual human living through colonization. 

 

Conclusion

Overall, Babel is a academic masterpiece, it flesh out the truth about colonization so well, the linguistic lesson are well thought, adding so much depth to the story, and the ending was depressing :)) It is the perfect book to read if you want to learn more about the opium trade war and colonization, or you just want to feel sad and angry the whole time. 

​