The Memory of Babel

The Memory of Babel
Christelle Dabos
Star Rating
★★★★
Reviewer's Rating
Feb 23, 2024

After almost no progress for two years and nine months, Ophelia finally is able to track Thorn’s trail on the ark of modernity, Babel. With the help of her friends, Gail, Fox, and Archibald, Ophelia reaches Babel under the false name of Eulalia. As she meets the ark of the twins, Pollux and Helen, Ophelia enrolls at the conservatory of the Good Family with the aid of Ambrose, a young ecstatic boy, in order to find Thorn and discover who God really is. But, as she delves deeper into the dynamics of what really is occurring at the Good Family, strange deaths happen with terror written on the faces of the corpses, and Ophelia herself may be one of them after making enemies with the Seers, a powerful group who is targeting her specifically. As Ophelia searches deeper, she finally meets Thorn at the Babel Memorial, where he had taken refuge in order to find God. However, God’s true identity is hidden in books made for children by the author of Eulalia Gonde, who’s last name had been distorted to the point that it had led her to be named as God. But, this raises more questions than answers for both Ophelia and Thorn. If Eulalia is God, then who is the Other? 

This installment of the series was a wild ride as well. The plot was… albeit a little confusing at times but I was able to get there eventually! There were multiple times in the series where I audibly said, “Huh?” and even rereading the page didn’t help. But everything makes sense later on, I promise! The novel is like a ginormous puzzle where all the pieces come together only during the last few chapters. Some people may dislike this sort of format, but I sort of liked it because I was able to piece together a few sections! Not many, but it’s much better than… what I’ve done in the past. The only reason this book is a four star and not a five star was that I hated how the book just leaves the actions of the Seers be. They threw a bucket of glass shards on Ophelia while she was showering for pete’s sake! As the book nears to an end, do we see any action done to the  Seers? No. We don’t even hear about them after the incident of Ophelia getting locked in the isolated room. And I think that’s my main issue with the book: it completely forgoes characters that played a huge role in the first two books. Yes, I am specifically targeting Fox, Gail, and Archibald. They were the best characters in the series, if I’m being honest. And they barely get mentioned besides the one time that they showed up to Ophelia’s house to help her get passage to Babel. I’m still adding them to the plot summary above because I refuse to let them go like the author had. :(

Written by
Iqra N.

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