Babel, or The Necessity of Violence

While reading the reviews on the jacket of Babel, I noticed one word kept popping up: masterpiece.  That's a pretty weighty word to throw around.  To me a masterpiece is something that not only achieves everything that it sets out to do but redefines the field that it's in while doing so.  I was fairly skeptical that the bookwould actually live up to the expectations placed on it by that word.  After all, very few pieces of media in general could be considered masterpieces.  And yet now that I have finished reading it I have to say that Babel is in fact a masterpiece.  As with most great books    As with most works of this quality, I find it hard to describe just why Babel is so good, so I'll just start by going over the basics.  Babel initially appears to be a Harry Potter-esque book about a boy rescued from a rough situation at home and whisked away to a magical school where he meets new friends and has great adventures.  But it quickly becomes far more ambitious and serious.  I will give my first of many praises to author R.F. Kuang here for escalating the scope of her story in a way that feels natural.  She allows us to get used to the existing plot before expanding our horizons again and again, taking the reader across many topics without making them feel overwhelmed.  For a book that takes on issues such as racism, sexism, colonialism, war, labor unions while also inventing a new magic system, that is a genuinely remarkable feat.  While the transitions can sometimes feel a bit clunky, this is a pretty smooth 540+ pages and I don't think many writers have the sheer narrative skill to weave these difficult topics together in a way that doesn't feel forced.  What makes this work even better is that at no point does the book stop becoming a genuine joy to read.  There are times when I have read fantasy stories like this one that I feel bored or disinterested when bigger issues come into the fray.  Not all writers can make the reader face serious societal issues while also keeping them entertained, but Kuang has done that in spades here.    Of course, all of what I said above wouldn't mean anything if the characters and setting that exist within the narrative fail.  Luckily they don't.  One really smart choice that Kuang makes is that she keeps the list of important characters pretty small.  In a story of this scope it's easy to introduce a massive cast of characters but Kuang doesn't do that, instead opting to focus more on each individual character (this reminds me of what N.K. Jemisin did with her ‘Broken Earth' trilogy).  The protagonist Robin is an obvious standout here as someone we see grow into someone truly willing to be a martyr, even if for not the greatest of reasons.  Other highlights are Ramy, Letty and Victoire (who make up Robin's group of friends), Griffin (Robin's half-brother who introduces him to work as a vigilante) and Professor Lovell (Robin's father).  This is a seriously strong group of characters and they all feel tremendously realized.  Some of them meet tragic fates, but we get so much time with them beforehand that I don't find myself missing them after they depart the narrative.  That's not to mention Oxford, which feels like a character as well.  Kuang herself has studied at Oxford, so it's no wonder that she's able to make the college so vibrant and full of life (similar to how Leigh Bardugo has made Yale such a fun fantasy setting in her ‘Alex Stern' series).  Setting is such a crucial part of a fantasy novel, whether it be partially based on real life or totally fictional, and Kuang makes Oxford an extremely enjoyable place to transport oneself into.     I'm in genuine awe that this book is as good as it is.  Going into it I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it but I've been completely blown away.  I can say without hesitation that it's one of the best books I've ever read, and I heavily look forward to checking out Kuang's ‘Poppy War' trilogy as a result.  She's made me a very big fan of her work.