ash's Reviews > Babel

i received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

RFK has grown a lot as an author. i’m so relieved to see how well-executed this book was. babel is an ambitious book with important themes that could only either be a total bop or a flop. idk abt everybody else but when reading TPW you could tell that RFK was still grasping at words and plot, and while TPW had solid themes, it’s not as sophisticatedly executed as in babel. so i’m very happy to find that babel is an absolute bop.

the themes are straightforward and presented in an authentic manner. it is dark academia, after all. i have always held an interest in linguistics and philology, and this tickled my brain in just the right way without being too overwhelming. you simply can’t compare this to other dark academia books. this is on another level of the genre. RFK has redefined dark academia and set a new standard for the entire genre. we sit through enlightening lectures (very nerdy!), go through rigorous exam season (miserable), and ofc— we experience whatever makes dark academia dark (but it’s darker, because the true horror of dark academia lies in the foundation of the institution itself). RFK’s writing has grown to be more refined and mature too; the sentences flow better and paragraphs are smoother than before. the atmosphere, the tension, the setting of every scene is thick and palpable and (idk if it’s the coffee but) i thought my heart would burst out of my chest (haha). with babel, the author has proven herself capable of executing her ambitious ideas. it’s chock full of 19th century British vocabulary, footnotes, historical events, and philology and linguistics texts while still maintaining appropriate humor and a compelling storyline. it sounds intimidating and heavy, and you might be expecting an academic textbook by this— but RFK makes them accessible without dumbing it down too much. it's sobering to reflect on the themes presented, because language is something people don't think much about every day, and one doesn't realize how deeply connected it is to colonialism. so it's excellently done.

but it’s not perfect ofc. the author's presence in the text is quite large; i could feel the sincerity and passion from RFK, but also her plan with certain characters and her train of thought. i found that RFK has a tendency to write specific traits into her main characters and she’s quite heavy-handed with it; it’s like she cannot help but write these kinds of personalities, which is okay, ofc, given the themes and context, but i wonder what type of characters the author could create without these fundamental traits and qualities to their personalities. i mostly enjoyed the characters though i still hope to see her write different types of characters next time.

anyway, there is a little stumbling towards the end, but this is still no doubt an excellent book. i loved reading it! i love learning alongside the characters, experiencing campus life again, and having the story unfold so slowly. the gradual progression of the story felt SO GOOD, idk how else to describe it. i loved the first half better than the second half, and the last part of the book was my least favorite, but i still love the whole book.

TLDR ; this is not your usual dark academia, and i feel like it deserves its own category in the genre. this was absolutely fucking brilliant, what else can i say? just read it on your own and see for yourself.