"This is a book of ideas, and as such, Kuang's creativity shines, her vehicle for story a prose that's smooth as butter. Katabasis is a formidable, timeless work, destined to be a modern classic." -- Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six "What an adventure! Katabasis is a tour de force - literate, witty, and wise, it thrills and delights all the way to a hugely satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed it tremendously." -- Gareth Brown, international bestselling author of The Book of Doors "Viciously satisfying.addictive." -- New York Times Book Review on Yellowface "Well-executed, gripping, fast-paced novel." -- NPR on Yellowface "Babel has earned tremendous praise and deserves all of it.

It's Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass by way of N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season: inventive and engaging, passionate and precise. Kuang is fiercely disciplined even when she's playful and experimental . Like the silver bars at its heart--like empires and academic institutions both--Babel derives its power from sustaining a contradiction, from trying to hold in your head both love and hatred for the charming thing that sustains itself by devouring you." -- New York Times Book Review "A fantastical takedown of 19th-century imperialism that's as meaty as its title. R. F.

Kuang proved her prowess at blending history and magic with her debut series, The Poppy War, and she's done it once again in this sweeping novel that blends historical fantasy and dark academia.If, as Babel suggests, words contain magic, then Kuang has written something spellbinding." -- Oprah Daily "Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the Industrial Revolution, turns it over, and shakes it out." -- S.A. Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of Brass, on Babel.