I feel the Kuang doesn't do good character development, in any of her works. Babel was better than the Poppy War, by far, but I think she has a ways to go as a writer in this regard.

I enjoyed Babel more than her previous works, and I liked the connection of language. In fact I feel that the book is much more about the being an outsider bit and the examination of language than anything else.

Side note for you, when doing hidden text, don't put a space after the !, otherwise it doesn't take.