Infobox
Babel
Info
Author RF Kuang Status read Year Read 2025 Rating ★★ Shelves Fiction,Fantasy,Asian lit,East asian lit,Historical fiction,Award-winning,Speculative fiction (SFF)
Progress Notes
100%
- 2025-08-08. 92/542 // Done with Chapter 4 / Book I. I’m so smitten by the Institute and the way language is described and conveyed and treated! This is so imaginative and original. I’ve bookmarked Chapter 4 because I feel like I’m going to want to read this again and again.
- 2025-08-17. 216/542 // 40% // Done with Book II. I’m still pretty invested and I like how intricate the world-building is with silver, but I’m feeling more of the hammer-on-the-head style of Kuang, the way she discusses colonialism. I often feel like she’s doing a puppet stage play with the characters, and when she gets on those long dialogues it takes me out of the immersion and makes me see the puppet master’s hands and “remember” that it is just a play.
- 2025-08-29. 326/542 // 60% // Done with Book III. Finally, something has happened. Unfortunately, I’m not the target market of this book. I really want to be, but I am not.
Review
| Criteria | Rating |
|---|---|
| Plot | 3 |
| Storytelling (style, voice, narration, dialogue, pacing) | 1.5 |
| Setting/Worldbuilding | 3 |
| Characters | 1.5 |
| Personal impact | 3 |
| Entertainment factor | 2.5 |
| Average | 2.4166666666666665 |
| Adjustment | 0 |
| Final | 2.4166666666666665 |