2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Babel by R.F. Kuang.

Pages: 544 pages

Length: 1 month (June)

Participants: Alina, Janine, Amitha, Sydney

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

I'm looking forward to reading this this month. It's been on my radar for quite a while, and on my kindle, but I just haven't gotten round to it.

The only book by R.F. Kuang I've read before is Yellowface which is contemporary fiction, not fantasy, but I've been wanting to read both this and The Poppy War for a while so hopefully I'll enjoy this and that'll inspire me to finally pick up The Poppy War!

I am excited to read this book as I have read “Yellowface” before and I absolutely loved the plot. I have heard great things on “Babel” and that’s why it was on my TBR. Hoping this book would be great too!

I´m so looking forward to this book - as y´all I have read Yellowface and thought it was pretty good.

I only heard good things about Babel so I´m excited to get started (even though that might take me until mid-june as I´m currently still reading two other books)

I also have The Poppy War on my radar but I am not sure yet when I will start this as I want to finish a few other series first.

However I suggested R.F. Kuangs new book Katabasis as a buddy read in september if any of you are interested!

Can´t wait to hear what you all think about Babel!

Thanks Alina! I can see my library has Katabasis on order. I might see how I enjoy Babel first :) Haven't started it yet, got a few others to finish first!

I have started! I made it to the end of ‘book 1’ (which is 17% of the way through) so I figured it was a good point to pause and come here.

I’m reading on kindle so the footnotes are all links to the back of the book which I don’t like as much as actual footnotes. Some of them don’t add a huge amount, but others I like so it’s hit or miss when I click the link!


Thoughts on book 1:
(view spoiler)[This was a little slow to get going. A lot of etymology and a little bit dry, but I like our main character and am very intrigued by the whole silver magic. It really picked up once they got to Oxford and I’m so curious who the person who looks like him is and what they were up to. From the ending to book 1 I think we’ll find that out soon. (hide spoiler)]

I made it to the end of book 2 (40%) and thought I’d come add a few more thoughts:

(view spoiler)[I’m surprised how quickly we’re zooming through the years. Can’t believe Robin is more than half way through his third year! I feel like it’s all just setup and not a huge amount has actually happened yet, and we’ve learnt a lot less about the others in his year than I expected. I’m not sure where the story is going to go next tbh, with book 2 ending with him, at least for now, no longer helping Hermes. (hide spoiler)]

My progress slowed down a bit as I've been quite busy, and picking up my much lighter, easier romance read more often than this at the moment!

But I made it to the end of book 3:

(view spoiler)[I feel like things have finally started to happen. We'd previously been going fast through the years in terms of time, but it didn't feel like much happened. Now the pace has picked up. I wasn't surprised Ramy and Victoire also got tangled up with Hermes, and it makes complete sense Anthony was too after his suspicious 'death'.

That ending to book 3 though... wow! I can't say I saw that coming! (hide spoiler)]

Can I join this? I just picked the book up!

I'll start this week!

@John yes, please Join.

i might ask If WE can extend this read to July as I'm Not Sure If I'll be able to Finish by the end of june

Of course John! I am almost finished, about 85% of the way through I think so I will probably finish today. But I'll keep all my comments under spoiler tags like I've been doing so far and would love to check back and see what other people think when you get round to it :)

I finished this yesterday. I didn't update between book 4 and 5 so the thoughts under the spoiler tags below are all the way up to the end, so don't look unless you've finished!

(view spoiler)[What a seriously dramatic last bit. From Lovell's death to the end it's all pretty wild and intense for Robin and the gang. It's really interesting to reflect how different these sections are to the first couple, but I guess the contrast makes sense - Robin's life is utterly changed multiple times.

Letty's betrayal and Ramy's death were devastating. I think Letty's betrayal was hinted at and it was pretty clear she wasn't as on board as the others, and was struggling to see from their perspectives as the only white member of their cohort. But I didn't expect her to end up killing Ramy.

The overall ending was sad, but fitting too. I'm glad Victoire continues to carry on their legacy. Quite emotional though! (hide spoiler)]

My general non-spoiler thoughts: I ended up giving this 4 stars. There were some really slow and slightly dull moments for me, particularly near the beginning, but the second half was much better and I thoroughly enjoyed it. By the end I was fully invested in the story and glad to have read it :)

This has been moved July's folder

Thanks for moving this to July as I couldn’t start in June. Hoping to start soon!

I finished book 1 and am really intrigued - I had a little bit of a slow start as I couldn´t find much time and only read a few pages per day. (I normally like finishing a whole chapter instead of reading only 3-5 pages but I just couldn´t find the time)

The story so far really intrigues me - I think Kuang is really good at describing everything and giving us background stories.
I like the protagonist and am really excited to see what´s next.

Janine wrote: "I have started! I made it to the end of ‘book 1’ (which is 17% of the way through) so I figured it was a good point to pause and come here.

I’m reading on kindle so the footnotes are all links to..." I didn´t mind the slower start as I really enjoyed getting to know the protagonist.

(view spoiler)[ I wonder what the silver magic is and how it works or what it is used for. Also I wonder what all of these sponsors like Lovell are up to, that they take seemingly random kids in and help them go to college.
For Robins doppelgänger I have two ideas - maybe he´s a big brother of some kind. One of the men said to Lovell said that Robin looked even more like him than the other - so I believe he must´ve had another young boy in his home.
My second idea is, that the doppelgänger is Robin. Like a timetraveller if will? I don´t know if that makes any sense I just came up with this because of the magical element this book has. (hide spoiler)]

I hope to start book 2 today and maybe even finishing it this weekend

I made it through book two. I´m not sure what i expected but it ended in a way where I know don´t really know where story will go



Janine wrote: "I made it to the end of book 2 (40%) and thought I’d come add a few more thoughts:

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I feel a lot like you Janine! I was kind of hoping to get to know the other characters a little better. However based on actions I could´nt tell you the difference between Victoire and Letty.
I´m not sure what will happen next. While reading book 2 I felt like there could be more happening and I´m hoping that´s what´s going to happen in book 3 now.
I see a lot of political parallels to our time and age - I feel like silver bars could be like Artificial Intellegence is nowadays - with all it´s people losing jobs over something new. Also Griffin who´s agenda is to make silver bars accesible to everyone. (hide spoiler)]

I finished book 3 and omg the plot twist! I didn´t want to put my book away this morning.

(view spoiler)[ I already suspected that Anthony would be a member of Hermes and I thought the same about Ramy and Victoire so this wasn´t a huge surprise.
However things are starting to happen! I did not see it coming, that Robin would kill Prof. Lovell and can´t imagine what´s going to happen next - I guess it´s war time.
I wonder how Robin will get intouch with Griffin again as they cut all of their contact. I hope I´ll find some more time today to start the fourth book (hide spoiler)]