Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Welcome back! Today we’re reviewing Babel by Rebecca Kuang. You might remember her Poppy War trilogy, which is an epic high fantasy. But this story is quite different, focusing on a university and what we call ‘dark academia.’
This is an alternate history set in 1830s England during the height of its colonial expansion. The university uses a magic system based on languages. And a group of students from colonised countries realise that their work with languages is helping the British continue their dominance over their own people.
There’s some really excellent character writing, and rich themes of imperialism and the art of translation. And despite the story focusing so much on books and study, it still has a fast moving plot. At 544 pages long, I felt like this story was always charging forward at an exciting pace.
Buy MY books here! michaelcronk.com
To support the channel, check out my patreon and my shop:
patreon.com/c/CronkTheBookGuy
rainbowspaceunicorn.com
Instagram @cronkthebookguy
00:00 Intro Song
00:22 Overview of Babel
01:54 The Concept
02:47 Language-Based Magic
06:11 Conflicting Characters
09:05 Plots
10:50 Themes
13:48 Representation
14:28 Content Warning
14:50 Is the Ending worth it?
15:22 Outro
Welcome back! Today we’re reviewing Babel by Rebecca Kuang. You might remember her Poppy War trilogy, which is an epic high fantasy. But this story is quite different, focusing on a university and what we call ‘dark academia.’
This is an alternate history set in 1830s England during the height of its colonial expansion. The university uses a magic system based on languages. And a group of students from colonised countries realise that their work with languages is helping the British continue their dominance over their own people.
There’s some really excellent character writing, and rich themes of imperialism and the art of translation. And despite the story focusing so much on books and study, it still has a fast moving plot. At 544 pages long, I felt like this story was always charging forward at an exciting pace.
Buy MY books here! michaelcronk.com
To support the channel, check out my patreon and my shop:
patreon.com/c/CronkTheBookGuy
rainbowspaceunicorn.com
Instagram @cronkthebookguy
00:00 Intro Song
00:22 Overview of Babel
01:54 The Concept
02:47 Language-Based Magic
06:11 Conflicting Characters
09:05 Plots
10:50 Themes
13:48 Representation
14:28 Content Warning
14:50 Is the Ending worth it?
15:22 Outro
