I haven’t read Yellowface yet, but it had a lot in common with the tone of Babel! I felt it was more of a slowish burn? You’re thrown into the fire, pun intended, early on but things really ramp up around the halfway point.

The magic system was super intriguing! The plot was good with several cool twists, but it did lull in some places. He writes a ton of helpful lore info in the index so if you jump in, check that out! I wish I had seen it earlier.