Babel, or The Necessity of Violence

Just the... scope of this book.

No dark academia novel can even come close. Not a single one. Where the sub-genre has let us down, Babel has risen above and beyond.

Sure others have written of the glamour and danger of academic elitism, but the harm is always so contained. Always so personal and even romantic. The truth is it's not just personal, it's systematic and its effects are not contained but part of a larger framework of colonial oppression that we still feel to this day all over the world.

RF Kuang plays into these themes masterfully. Everything was pretty until it stops being pretty, and then you need to face that even the pretty bits have always been rotten.

Most dark academia books end leaving the readers in a state of, what I call, emotional euphoria. It's a heady feeling where your emotions are all over the place and you can only sit and ponder the beauty of its tragedy. Babel does not end like this, it's honest. It's a sharp pain followed by ugly self-reflection and a touch of hope still laced with foreboding. I think that's what makes it effective. Take down the system, shatter the illusion. Don't swoon and sigh, rally together and commit to direct action.

The message is both idealistic and realistic. No cause is won through one avenue and not all of those avenues are virtuous and just. Equality is not something you can ask for but something you must take. Things must change, and things can change, but change is destructive and violent. Is it worth it? It has to be.

((Additionally, love Kuang's absolute refusal to let her stories go by without making her protagonist go through a corruption arc that only their death can redeem.))

There's so much more I want to say about this book, about how beautiful and fleshed out the characters are, how potently you can feel their struggles, the beauty and utility of language, but then this review would be way too long and it rambles enough as it is so I'll practice restraint.

Now, the big question, did it unseat The Drowning Faith Trilogy in my heart? Absolutely not, that shit is immovable and has a permanent spot on my faves shelf. But this one is GOOD, guys. It's like GOOD good.