Babel

This is a big book, and importantly shows the affected and oppressed victims of empire and industry. The magic system is clever, and unique, and leads to racism and imperialism, with students also exploited.

I enjoyed the description and the language; the author's long preface describes her choices for Oxford and slight tweaks to historical events. Geographically, a perfect setting for this book.

Historically, the setting doesn't fit as well. It reads as our historical British empire, with industrial gains enhanced (or in some cases replaced?) with silver and magic. This, like some bridges and buildings, falls down some towards the end. If the silver made the mechanical smoother or safer, the mechanical would survive instead of collapsing. Perhaps the author should have focused on silver replacing the need for maintenance ;)

Comparisons to a series about a magical school are inevitable. The evil here is more believable, systemic instead of the cult that Rowling chose. Some students are oppressed in each, with Kuang's racism more believable, more demonstrated instead of described. This magic is only a small part of the Oxford campus. The other major difference is that Hogwarts was spread over many books; Kuang uses only one, though it is both large and dense.

Yet this book is not highly rated for me. Two reasons - the characters, while important archetypes, are also mostly caricature. The magic, while creative, falls down some later in the book. These two combine to make a 544 page book feel a lot longer. One very bright point, the reader of the audiobook does a very good job with the wide range of accents required.

I added this to my reading list years back, and in general prefer to read a solo book from an author before tackling a series. I'm glad I read it, and the clever magic is something to think about. It's better than 3 stars, but short of 4.