Babel

by R. F. Kuang

English language

Published Sept. 2, 2022

ISBN:: 978-0-06-302144-0

(44 reviews)

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.

Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a …

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide…

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

15 editions

vprokopets reviewed Вавилон by R. F. Kuang

nasamuffin, book enjoyer reviewed Babel by R. F. Kuang

Must-read for knowledge workers in the age of nationalism and fascism

5 stars

There is so much to love about this book, I'm not sure where to start. There's a very clear, explicit association: power comes from our differences, and our diversity. The book reeks with a love of language and culture, and with a careful, systematic, structured description of (and dismantling of) imperialism. It emphasizes that with a long enough lever, a small group can move the world - and that knowledge workers in imperialist nations have that lever, if they can only notice. I found it fascinating, painful, and informative - and the pace picked up as it went. Wholeheartedly recommend this book, especially to tech workers like me, and language lovers.

Content warnings for death, a lot of death, and casual colonial racism, a lot of that too.

Katch reviewed Babel by R. F. Kuang

Great themes, good characters, and thoughtful writing

No rating

What first struck me was how this book used a smidge of magic to allow certain aspects of themes to be easier to comprehend. The writing does something with themes where it makes them recognizable and able to be investigated in more profound ways by shearing off the sides, so to speak. Yet while I noticed this up front, I was surprised how deep the book went as it reached its zenith and turned toward a conclusion. There were comments about colonialism and empire that I recognized, but the way they were delved into thanks to the aforementioned tactic struck me more deeply than I could have expected. The characters, despite being somewhat symbolic in their deployment, also grew on me immensely. It made me think, and it made my eyes tear up a few times. And that's without mentioning all the fun translation, history, and cultural movement details the …

jay. reviewed Babel by R. F. Kuang

long, but worth your time.

5 stars

Content warning i non-specifically reference the ending

it took me a lot of run-ups to get this finished, but I loved it. bleak, but ultimately beautiful. one of the most elegant magic systems I've ever read, and it ties into the thesis brilliantly.

(the pessimist in me thinks revolutionary suicide doesn't galvanize the public nearly as much as it should, but I suppose they took out a lot of support structures when they went, so maybe it would work in this universe.)

Tereza reviewed Babylon by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babylon' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Babylon se stal mojí novou nejoblíbenější knihou a rozhodně si zaslouží aspoň 6/5. Ze začátku byla kniha pomalá, pozvolná, což mi ale vůbec nevadilo, aspoň se člověk dostal do příběhu a kontextu. Hodně mě bavily poznámky pod čarou. A ještě víc jsem si užívala všudypřítomnou etymologii.

Babylon se odehrává v 1. polovině 19. století, zejména v Oxfordu, a v „alternativních dějinách“ se věnuje globálním tématům jako kolonialismus, lidská práva, rasismus, rovnost žen nebo kapitalismus. Objevují se tam ale i „menší“ témata jako přátelství nebo loajalita, soudržnost. Líbilo se mi, že všechno toto autorka do románu vnesla velmi přirozeně, nemusela dávat žádný odborný výklad, aby do příběhu člověk vplul.

el dang reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

spoiler-free vague review + CWs for this book

5 stars

A long, heavy, beautifully written and very biting book about the ways in which colonialism coopts people and institutions, and the simultaneous difficulty and necessity of resisting that. Deeply and cleverly tied in with real 19th Century history of Britain and its empire, while also being a fantasy story with a very specific magic system that I enjoyed in itself.

I highly recommend this book, but it should also come with some content warnings: * Colonialism * Lots of depictions of racism * Abusive parenting * Abusive academia * Violence * Not afraid to kill important characters

#SFFBookClub

bbbhltz reviewed Babel by R. F. Kuang

Remarkable

5 stars

Fantastic from beginning to end. While it is a work of fiction, the parallels to fact and history are powerful.

The book's synopsis did not pique my interest, but I was quickly lost in the story. Just an amazing read.

Rainer reviewed Babel by R. F. Kuang

An Anticolonial Classic

5 stars

I am having trouble finding words to describe this book. Great? Profound? Fantastically entertaining and terrifying? All of the above?

Do yourself a favor and read this book as soon as you can.

Alexander reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

review of Babel

5 stars

i really enjoyed the read. i think, the book is in almost every aspect able to walk a middleroad between epic theatre and a "real" novel und it's story. the world building is just a sidestep away from the real events and the world in the mid 19th century. i did not read it as a fantasy novel with a smart magic system, but rather a historic novel in a setting auch style of magic realism. all the characters are clearly models of a specific world view and situation, but at least in my experience of the book, they are also able to induce sentiment. if you would ask me, it is the same effect, Eco and Brecht would likely achieve.

Jaelyn reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

But to power its silver industrial revolution, Britain not only needs to plunder the world’s silver but also its languages for new translations and translators who are fluent enough to dream in multiple languages.

Enter the students of Babel, Oxford’s translation institute. Robin is taken from his home in Canton, his family dead from Choelra which could have been cured by the enchanted silver England hoards, by an Englishman who trains him up to serve at Babel. To put his language and culture at the service of the Empire.

I’m late to the …

In an alternate Oxford where the British Empire is founded upon silver, enchanted by the act of translation; two words in different languages on each side sharing the same root but with slightly differing meanings. These silver bars make ships faster, factories more efficient and bridges more stable. Those put out of work are just collateral malcontents.

But to power its silver industrial revolution, Britain not only needs to plunder the world’s silver but also its languages for new translations and translators who are fluent enough to dream in multiple languages.
Enter the students of Babel, Oxford’s translation institute. Robin is taken from his home in Canton, his family dead from Choelra which could have been cured by the enchanted silver England hoards, by an Englishman who trains him up to serve at Babel. To put his language and culture at the service of the Empire.

I’m late to the party on this one and wanted to ensure I’d read this before the end of the year. It’s a beautiful exploration of culture, language and translation; but also a hard-hitting account of colonialism, imperialism, racism and capitalism at its very worst. It strikes a hopeful yet bitter note of revolution and revolt against the seemingly overwhelming and immovable force that is the empire and how it radicalises people against it.

There were so many moments in this book exploring these themes which I adored. Especially around the beauty of language and its relation to our cultural thought and perspectives. But perhaps the hardest being around the dehumanisation of those in the global south and the need for the whites to centre themselves in every debate while participating in or overlooking the racism right in front of them.

But what surprised me the most was that a book of this weight and length never felt slow to me. It was so engaging in what it was saying that I would happily sit through years of lectures at Babel. Maybe not taking the tests though…

EtherReads reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Honestly if I could give this book 6 stars, 8 stars, 10 stars, I would. It is a brilliant piece of alternate history with a fantastically inventive magic system and its message is incredibly relevant to the world today. A biting and merciless examination of colonialism which still manages to offer hope, but not a worthless, nebulous hope. This is a hope that requires will and sacrifice to back it up. An utterly brilliant book which I would encourage everyone to read.

Enno reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel : Or the Necessity of Violence' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

In early victorian England, foreign translators at Oxford try to take on the empire, which works on a translation-based kind of magic that involves silver bars. Many times, we think it's all over for our protagonists, and they receive a miraculous rescue, it's quite gutting. Until at the end, they don't.

I liked it, the magic is very clever, the parallels to our real world are there, although events have been altered. There's still an opium war, an abolitionist movement, English exceptionalism and disdain for others, all the loathsome things that make up British Empire.

broonie reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel : Or the Necessity of Violence' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

At times the book seems to want the characters to be complex people, but most of the time they are more there to fill a more fable like role and teach us lessons, similarly for the world building. Either of these approaches could work well but done at the same time they undermine each other.

Hyzie reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel : Or the Necessity of Violence' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was on the list of books I went back and forth on reading. The concept sounded interesting, but, to be quite frank, it also sounded potentially boring. I'm glad I did go ahead and read it.

I won't argue that it isn't slow (it is), but it hits that lovely academia feel that I so loved in The Historian (and that made me at least start grad school. Grad school is not actually like this for most people, alas.), and I found the entirety of Babel and Oxford itself charming. I understood why the characters got so caught up in the world, and I can't say I wouldn't have done exactly the same.

My problems with the novel (and the reason why, despite devouring it rather quickly, it is not a five star for me and I actually debated on giving it a three) are mostly the last half. Things pick up a bit there, but to the detriment of the feel of the book, even if it does serve the story.

The characters were interesting, and I did get attached to Robin, but they were held at arms' length by the text itself, which felt strange given how close we were told over and over that they were. All three of the other main characters in this adventure kept coming up with surprises late in the game that didn't feel like real surprises so much as "oh, somehow this character trait never came up at all despite everyone being best friends and oh-so-close," and that didn't feel great.

The magic system, though, was super neat. Watching pairs of words get traced through the lineage of history felt cool every time it was done, and it's not something I've seen before. I understood why the characters found it so enthralling, and that made it much easier for me to get excited about it.

There was a moment that was supposed to surprise us later in the novel that seemed too telegraphed for our theoretically very clever characters to have not seen. Maybe I was supposed to count on a relationship that had been built to make them feel blinded by it, but the relationship was never built to the point where I believed that.

The ending is a bit rough in that Robin seems to devolve into a different character rather quickly. I don't know that it is wrong that he does, given everything that happens (trying to speak around spoilers here), but the suddenness of it after the slow pace of a lot of the rest of the book felt bizarre. I didn't hate the ending, but it was not what I was hoping for and it didn't have the feeling of rightness that makes up for getting an ending you don't love. I'm not considering it a spoiler that something with the word "Revolution" in the title doesn't end perfectly cleanly.

Overall, I enjoyed this quite a bit, but more for the delights of watching a neat magic system get attached to a dark academia book than because things hung together perfectly. If that's your cup of tea, I do recommend this, but it's a soft four and if you are not up for footnotes and lots of discussion of how the empire is problematic (I mean, it definitely was, but there's a ton of coverage of it in here), it may be a bit slow.