Storyline: 2/5 
 Characters: 3/5 
 Writing Style: 3/5 
 World: 3/5 
 Curious, inventive, intriguing, graceful: these were my feelings after reading chapter one. 
 Brash, discordant, jarring, iconoclastic: these were my impressions after reading chapter three. 
 The curious, inventive, intriguing and graceful elements disappeared for chapters at a time to be replaced by the brash, discordant, jarring, and iconoclastic splotches. It felt like two books had been mashed together. This must have been a genre-changing work at the time of its release; it must have redirected the field and influenced a generation of writers. In fact, I finally understand a connection between a number of more contemporary books I've come across (view spoiler)[: Gibson's Neuromancer, Stephenson's Snow Crash, McDonald's River of Gods (hide spoiler)]. Babel-17 carried with it that attitude and edginess that is so prevalent in the cyberpunk genre. This was an amazingly creative book, but I felt dirty, claustrophobic, and tainted as I read it. Perhaps it is to Delany's credit that he can make me feel it so vividly, but it is a far future world that I'm glad I'll never experience.