Reviews

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

angus_mckeogh's review against another edition

3.0

A science fiction linguistic mystery. Perhaps that’s a weird sort of amalgamation, but then again in the pantheon of science fiction maybe a linguistic mystery isn’t so unusual. Pretty good. Better than just okay but certainly not mind-blowing.

tlhp's review against another edition

5.0

Challenging and ambitious. Progressive (even for its time). Recommend only to the truly literate in the English language. Complicated language and intense pacing.

noahjmack's review

adventurous informative mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

xeno2318's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

goofymango's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

casim's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

4.0

xxdon_schmelz_69xx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

eachz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Absolutely engrossing and brilliant 

The only reason it wasn't a 5 was because I was ever so slightly disappointed by the "reveal". I wanted a juicier explanation!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Death

Minor: Fatphobia

ohtarelenion's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

jovanas_cloud's review against another edition

1.0

God, this is so close to being as bad as Neuromancer.

Everything is so confusing, most of it doesn't even make any sense. I truly thank however came up with audiobooks because without listening to some chapters here I would've been even more lost.