Book Thoughts: Babel
I finished the audiobook version of Babel by R.F. Kuang, and while I had a great time with the majority of the book, I feel like it really got lost in its own message at the end, which really killed an otherwise enjoyable story taking place in a slightly magic-ified alternative late 1800's Britain.
Honestly all aspects of the story were interesting, and I found that the anti-colonialist theme, while laid on fairly thick, was channelled very well through the characters and plot. At around the 3/4 mark, however, the author just kinda threw it all away to beat the reader over the head with the message, and as a result flattened the characters, truncated the story, and just kinda poisoned the experience.
Maybe that was the plan all along, but it honestly felt rushed and poorly thought out at the end, which is a shame because the rest was great.