sydyscapes commented on a post
sydyscapes wrote a review...
I wanted and expected to like this book more than I did but I certainly still liked it. It’s a book I’ve been meaning to read for a long time, and because of that it’s been so hyped up in my head. I’ve so many reviews raving about it and how amazing it is so I was so excited when I finally cracked it open.
I’m very picky about exposition, it is my make or break in every book, and I found Kuang’s exposition, especially her character exposition very clunky and awkward, it stiffened the book and sounded out of place a lot. Show me these things don’t tell me, I don’t really care to know if your main character prefers this author and thinks another is boring, I don’t need the author’s literary opinions spoon fed to me through the exposition and that’s how it felt a lot at the beginning.
However, once we moved further into the books, where characters were more established I started being able to fall into the book more and get carried away by the story. I think it is a very well created story filled with themes and commentary that though sometimes heavy handed still flowed well with the narrative. I learned a lot about translation and history and those are both big interests of mine so will always enjoy that.
I think if this is your usual kind of book you will definitely enjoy it, if it’s a bit of a stretch from your genre I could see you being like me.
sydyscapes started reading...

True Crime Story
Joseph Knox
sydyscapes finished a book

Babel
R.F. Kuang
Post from the Babel forum
Post from the Babel forum
sydyscapes commented on a post
sydyscapes commented on a post
sydyscapes commented on a post
The fact that some people don’t recognize this is satire has me concerned after how blatant that first chapter was!!!
sydyscapes commented on a post
Letty… girl…she’s so well created and a very strong character but boy does she get at me sometimes.
Post from the Babel forum
Letty… girl…she’s so well created and a very strong character but boy does she get at me sometimes.
Post from the Babel forum