The Memory of Babel by Christelle Dabos

 

**This review will contain spoilers for the previous books in this series,  A Winter's Promise and The Missing of Clairdelune.**

For my next read, I continued making my way through The Mirror Visitor Quartet with The Memory of Babel. This is the third book in the series, and I was excited to get started since I really enjoyed the first two. I was the most curious to see how the relationship between Ophelia and Thorn would continue after his last moment declaration of love in the previous book. I settled in with some pretty high expectations, hoping to enjoy another trip into Christelle Dabos' magical, mysterious world.

The plot of the novel picks up about two years after The Missing of Clairdelune. Thorn is still missing after his miraculous escape from prison and Ophelia has been living back on Anima with her family, waiting impatiently for a chance to go find him. Her wish is granted one day when Archibald appears and whisks her away to a compass rose, a sort of magical crossroads enabling her to travel to many distant locations instantaneously. Rather than choosing to go back to the Pole, she decides to head to the ark of Babel, a place she has never been, to follow up on the only clue she has to Thorn's whereabouts. 

Arriving at Babel, Ophelia immediately discovers that the only way to potentially get closer to Thorn and further investigate the mysteries of God is to become an Aspiring Virtuoso, a position akin to being a research assistant, at their massive library. This position would give her access to important documents and artifacts that she could mine for information. Her skills as a reader help her get accepted into their training program, but the competition for Virtuoso positions is intense and the other students in Ophelia's group find creative and painful ways to sabotage her as she tries to impress her superiors. The work she is expected to do is difficult, and she struggles to balance the demands of her lessons with her secret investigations into the spirits, God, and Thorn. Eventually, she stumbles onto some information that unlocks a key piece of the puzzle connecting the spirits, the arks, and the being known as God, and she is left with the daunting task of figuring out what to do with the knowledge.

I really enjoyed this novel, and I thought that it was a return to form after I struggled a little bit with the pacing in book two. The Memory of Babel is shorter and the narrative was a little more focused and easier for me to follow. It also had a dark academia vibe that I really liked. Looking at the reviews on Goodreads, I can see that lots of readers preferred book two to this one. I think the biggest determining factor in which one you like more would be whether you gravitate more towards political intrigues versus the dark academia trope. Since I prefer the latter, I enjoyed this entry more. 

I continued to be impressed by Dabos' worldbuilding throughout the story. In changing the setting to Babel, there is a whole new world to explore. It's an an interesting blend of new technologies and dystopian elements. The governments of Babel strictly forbids all forms of crime, including innocuous lying, and strictly monitors what people wear and say. They have replaced nearly all of their human workforce with automatons, claiming that men performing menial labor is unjust when a machine could do it. This has caused unrest among the worker class, as there are suddenly very few jobs available for them and they have nothing to do. Expressing dissatisfaction with their government, however, is illegal, so there's a lot of tension continually bubbling under the surface. I found it more interesting than the courtly intrigues of Clairdelune, but that's purely a personal preference. 

I still enjoyed the characters as well. Ophelia and her steadfast determination has found a place in my heart, and Thorn's prickly personality continued to be fun to read about. The relationship development I was waiting for between the pair of them did not disappoint either. In addition, we are introduced to a slew of new characters, including some ancestral spirits, some new friends, and a few new enemies too. I did miss some of the characters from the previous books that did not appear in this one, but as this novel is set in an entirely new place, that made sense. 

One issue throughout the text was the way one character in particular was described. I gather that she was supposed to look like a person of Asian decent, and she was described using some outdated terms repeatedly throughout the story. As these books are translated from French, I'm not sure if this is a cultural thing or a translation issue, but it was very noticeable and very cringeworthy. It was a minor enough character that it wasn't too disruptive, but it was odd to see.

Overall though, I definitely really enjoyed The Memory of Babel and I'm excited to pick up the final book next to see how everything ends up. The plot of these is getting pretty complicated, so I'm sure I won't fully understand it, but I still want to go along for the ride. 

Challenge Tally

Finally in 2022 - Series Edition: 16/28

Total Books Read in 2022: 41