Babel: An Arcane History

It’s been a few days since I finished this one, and honestly, I’m still processing. It was on my TBR long before it came out, since I’m typically a fan of Dark Academia, but this was a difficult read.

The concept is phenomenal – a Cantonese immigrant is raised in London and attends Oxford, specifically to become a translator. The makings of a great story are all there: elements of magic in the work, a group of mismatched friends, and a mysterious group of rebels.

Unfortunately, to me, the details overwhelm the plot, leaving some important plot points unanswered; with some character twists that don’t line up with the character development. The last third of the book focuses on the revolution itself, which again gets lost in the details, then quickly wraps up.

This one really could have been fantastic, but to me, it was just exhausting.