Such an amazing novel. R.F. Kuang is dazzling. This story resonates with sincerity and heartbreak. I absolutely love the rich tapestry of culture and linguistic gymnastics at play throughout the world she has shown us. The narration is above par ( there are a number of edited areas with the male narrator; however, top-notch otherwise). And a beautiful and weighty tome. I have the hard back print of this book and purchased the audio to help me with the French pronunciation. Highly recommended. Wonderful.

Beautifully realised and detailed story with light but satisfying use of magic and wonderful writing on language, translation and culture. Gave me new perspectives on power, empire and privilege, not all of which I agreed with but all of which really challenged me and left me thinking for days. Parts of it are anachronistic and I wouldn't recommend if you are easily annoyed by 21st C attitudes applied to 19th C thinking, but it is fantasy, after all! Top class narration, as well, as I think the second narrator for the footnotes was a masterstroke....this is a rare case of the audio book doing things better than in print.

I’m literally so tired of books that hate and want to destroy one of the greatest civilizations to date. Wake me up when woke has run it’s course.

The book was very interesting, especially with all the etymological references.

A book between history and sience fiction and entirely up to date where values are concerned. Well written and narrated. Educational and entertaining. I am glad I chose it.

Whoa! First of all R.F. Kuang basically wrote lectures in this book on the entomology of language. Super interesting however not a light read. Though this is fantasy, I feel that I can see how the underlying themes in the book can be extrapolated to current societal divides between the haves and have-nots, those of race, and gender. A narrative of those in power doing whatever they can to stay in power. Kind of Robin Hood-ian....if Robin Hood was a foreign-born academic.

Very insightful. Very smart. I enjoyed listening more than reading because of all the different languages referenced.

Worth reading

Brilliant

if i could give this masterpiece more than 5 stars i would. it’s one of the few books that, immediately upon finishing, i wanted to reread so i could annotate EXTENSIVELY. the narrators were also phenomenal and i’m glad i was listening along while reading so that i could fully experience the different languages sprinkled in throughout, especially the ones with non-roman characters.

My first RF Kuang and i enjoyed it!

A masterpiece!

Made me cry for the last 2 hours of listening and all the rest of the day after I finished it!

Brilliant. A fantasy of a possible reality more real than our present reality. Also an exquisite moral tale of today's society. Perfect narration. If this is made into a movie, I would hope to see our narrator enter the cast as Robin.

The inclusion of the intrusive footnotes in the audio ruin the sense of story.

The beginning was somewhat slow, but last part was definitely worth it. A world depiction is vivid and bright, and as a non-native English speaker I liked the main idea of magic being lost in translation very much.

Enormous and beautiful in every way

Pretty good

Very good

This was a fun book, despite some irregularity

Wonderful clever and interesting analogy. Great narrator. Recommended.

I loved this book.

Really engaging book. Strong perspectives and commentary in a great historical fantasy

Overall it’s pretty well written, but for how much she spends time with a limited cast of characters, the personalities seem a bit two dimensional. She is also a little bit heavy handed regarding the moral point that she’s making regarding colonialism and racism. The historical facts that she recites and uses are accurate, but pared down to the most basic black and white bullet points as she makes her case. One large issue I have is the character Leticia Price. The author describes her as an English girl coming from an aristocratic family, her father a retired admiral, as growing up with every possible social advantage. The narrator is quite good and does a solid American accent

Simply amazing!

excellent narration, wonderful story. creative setting with a powerful and poignant message. if you are familiar with this author you'll love it. if you have never experienced her work, this is a great introduction.

Babel was an enticing story about knowledge and languages. I feel like I learned so much about different root words and where certain words actually originated from. I absolutely loved this book.

There was such great potential in the idea of this book but it didn’t work for me. It felt too long and I could have done without the footnotes.

Impeccable use of the English language. Linguistically masterful.