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It was a nice read and I definitely will read the entire series. But ..

The story went too fast. Introduction of too many characters in the first chapter. The hidden agenda of every character was confusing plus the building up on the bond between Elizabeth and Nathaniel was not enough to get lost in it.

The book ended abruptly. As if the author stopped in the middle of the story to finish it ... and it wasn't even a cliffhanger.

I found it hard to really get sucked in to the story. The series got acclaimed as the legit successor of Outlander. Diana Gabaldon promoted the series. IMHO it might have a third of it.

That said I want to end my feedback for this first book in a positive way. It is a good read and not boring at all. Interesting characters (once you are way in the book), great stories behind the characters (even if all challenges get solved very smoothly). I did like reading it and am truly curious about the 2nd one.

A story about what makes an empire run is thrilling, although not surprising. Babel is a fantasy novel you can totally apply to the real world. Money, (modern) colonialism and slavery, wars ... all the tools of economic power. I also loved to learn about etymology and language in general. As one who reads a lot and loves to read it doesn't come as a huge surprise that magic lies in words.

The reason for my mediocre rating is the book itself. I like the way she writes but she uses a ton of footnotes. Some of them necessary, most of them not. those would have fitted in one way or another in the text itself. For me, the footnotes hindered the flow of reading so it was really hard - especially in the beginning of the book - to get "into the zone".

Especially the ebook version is awful since you are jumping back and forth. For that I preferred the paperback since it made it easier to stick to it.

It's a pity that the book only got interesting during the last third.