Babel, or The Necessity of Violence

By all means, this is a brilliant book. It also was a challenging read to be sure. I usually don't love reading about history precisely because of how horrible it was and reminds you of how much it sucks today. But this book did it so well that I just had to read it. For some reason, because it was so clearly about colonisation and everything around it was what made me want to read it. 

I loved the characterisation of everyone, especially the difference between Letty and Professor Craft, in the end, was what made an impression on me. They don't make it seem like someone like Letty can only ever make the choice she did. And Robin's realisation about Canton also stuck with me long after reading that chapter. It was all just so good. 

One thing that bothered me was the ending. Not the last chapters necessarily, I had realised soon that this was the only way it could really end and which way Robin and Victoire would go in that moment. But the fact that we don't get an extended epilogue. Not knowing the future of this alternative history is so frustrating after everything they went through. I want to know what happened with the war, with Abel and the other workers, if they succeeded, if it had any impact at all. All we got saw a very poetic “we'll see”