Babel

Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution

by R. F. Kuang

eBook, 641 pages

English language

Published Aug. 31, 2022 by HarperCollins UK.

ISBN:: 978-0-00-850183-9

View on OpenLibrary

(75 reviews)

The city of dreaming spires.

It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.

And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.

Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.

Until it became a prison…

But can a student stand against an empire?

1 edition

scmbradley reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

We get it, Kuang, colonialism is bad

4 stars

I love the central idea of this book, it's a wonderful conceit that translation is magic. The story itself is sometimes driven along by things that don't make sense in the context of the world Kuang has built (see my two spoilery comments for a couple of examples) but on the whole it's an enjoyable book, albeit one that is perhaps a little heavy handed in making the morals clear.

Flauschbuch reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Captivating

5 stars

For a good chunk of it, it's a coming-of-age and "magic school" tale with a pinch of the chosen one narrative. The later gets subverted in a very interesting way. And soon there are more unexpected and emotional twists which lead to a confrontation with the imperialist and racist authorities. The magic system Kuang came up with is very original and intriguing. Often, with magic, language or the right words play a role but basing it on the power of translation seems quite unique. I loved all the in-depth discussion of language and translation. It inspired a friend and me to come up with our own word pairs and speculate about what those pairs would do. It's also one of the few fantasy stories that deals with how magic would be used in a capitalist society in a realistic manner. My only major point of critique is that the narrative …

Shane 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

杰作. Masterpiece.

enne📚 reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Babel

5 stars

This is a historical novel about a small group of scholars (mostly of color) in Oxford in the 1830's, with an added fantastical element of magical silver powered by language and translations. Historically, it covers a modified industrial revolution, British colonialism, opium wars with China, and even gets into the Luddites, all impacted and warped by the British empire being powered by silver. What I especially appreciated is that the magic silver mostly just exacerbated issues and functioned as a metaphor for power in all of these historical situations; this is not a book about historical divergence due to magic but rather a book where the magic is used as a metaphor to reexamine things in a fresh light.

The idea of magic silver here powered by translations is just so well done. Scholars (and thus language) are extracted from colonies to power silver magic as a parallel to other …

The idea of magic silver here powered by translations is just so well done. Scholars (and thus language) are extracted from colonies to power silver magic as a parallel to other resource extraction. The scholars are ultimately not really wanted for who they are but for the utility of what they know. And, I also love the detail that the empire is eating its own tail by its continual expansion and globalization weakening the magic. It reminds me a little of Yoon Ha Lee's Phoenix Extravagant where the magic system itself was intricately tied to colonial resource extraction.

It's a slow-building book that doesn't pull its punches about colonialism, racism, white folks siding with the establishment, or (as the subtitle to the book directly informs you) the necessity of violence. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Someology reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

It was OK. No surprises. Poor Character Development.

2 stars

2 stars means "It was OK".

If you already know a fair bit about Colonial British History, The Abolitionist Movement, The Opium Wars, Etymology, and Linguistics, then move along. You won't learn anything new. This book isn't written for you. I think it would be far more enjoyable if you know nothing of these subjects.

The magic system is interesting. Definitely some dark spots. The character development is not great. It would have been nice, for example, to have more character development of Victoire. We really only get a hint of it as what feels like an afterthought at the end. Ramy almost as bad. The main characters are all walking stereotypes, and each is simply an incarnation of their culture of origin. Even that exists not in a deep way, but mostly just as a function of their difference.

It was very transparent what the author was doing, all …

2 stars means "It was OK".

It was very transparent what the author was doing, all the way through. There were a few moments of delight (mostly etymological in nature), but the ending is blindingly obvious from very early on in the book. There was only one actual surprise in the entire book (and that was in the timing of an event, not the actual event). So, for me, this is an OK Historical Fantasy with a cool linguistic magic system, very strong anti-colonial theme, poor character development of most characters, and you can see the end coming for hundreds of pages. It was difficult to stay engaged all the way to the finish, because so much was so obvious. This took me far longer to read than most Fantasy books, because it was just hard to keep slogging through for so long with no surprises and no character depth.

loppear reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

a slog with lovely moments scattered through

3 stars

A primer on colonial exploitation around the opium wars, and the conflicts of allegiance for our young scholars of color at an imagined Oxford who feel the abstract distance from such concerns their academic pursuits entangle them in... that sounds pretty good, but the balance of storytelling just kept hitting sour notes for me, long sections of school shenanigans or minutia, or where the magical twist is so thinly veiled it hardly matters, where the characters actions are irrelevant to moving us forward.

Grimbolina reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Coming of age anti-colonism fantasy

4 stars

The story follows a Chinese boy pulled from his home and trained in the magic of translation to power silver ingots. As he matures, he questions his role in supporting the colonism that wrenched him from his home land.

It's well written, interesting and thought provoking read. It's not an escapist fantasy, and parts of it go into the day-to-day life of a scholar a bit too much for my taste. I enjoyed it but wouldn't recommend if you like your fantasy full of daring exploits and wizardly magic.

Olcia reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

Przez większość książki coś mi zgrzyta, nie pasuje, a na ostatnich 5% ryczę jak dziecko.
Nie umiem ocenić tej książki. Może kiedyś.
Za dużo sprzecznych emocji we mnie wzbudziła.

Bruce IV reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Brutally Gripping

No rating

I burned through this more quickly than any book I've read in months. It's a hard, unflinching look at the sins of colonialism and income inequality, and definitely hit my "I work in tech, I just want to solve fun puzzles and enjoy my comfortable life without thinking about what my work does" buttons in painful places.

Sharyl 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

This memorable novel is both ingeniously creative and importantly timely in its message. R.F. Kuang weaves together a story that injects magical realism into a novel that is both historical and revisionist. That is, this is a story that asks us to imagine the road not taken at a certain time in history, and the ethics of the decisions of those in power–and question how and why such power came to be, in the first place.

I felt that the characters were well-developed and realistically complex, making it possible for the reader to feel the emotion in their stories. The plot was also well crafted and paced.

Instead of summarizing the plot, I want to simply recommend this novel, which I knew nothing about before I started reading. Part of the magic, for me, was simply reading on to discover the shape of the world as it is created by …

Sean Gursky reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Surviving Babel did not necessarily mean survival.

What I learned from the Poppy War series is that Kuang will put characters through the emotional ringer and Babel was relentless. Kuang told a beautiful story that was reminiscent of Guy Gavriel Kay's historical fiction works, but slightly more accessible.

They were both shaken by the sudden realization that they did not belong int his place, that despite their affiliation with the Translation Institute and despite their gowns and pretentious, their bodies were not safe on the streets. They were men at Oxford; they were not Oxford men.

Among the action and magic of the Silver, what stood out for me was the heavy topic of isolation, racism and xenophobia Remy, Robin and Victoria experienced. The blinders that Letty had for what experiences her friends suffered was incredibly powerful and hit home in a real way for the current state of the world.

Language is a resource just like gold and silver. People have fought and died over those Grammaticas.

Historical fiction is a genre I don't actively seek out because I find the story can be bogged down in the history (sorry Mr. Kay, you write beautifully but it can be overwhelming). Kuang developed such a fantastic world with just enough magic to be inspiring but not bogging down the story with actual places and events. I could see this story being accessible for people of fiction and fantasy alike.

They'd chosen a good day for revolution.

The book was longer than my recent reads but I found my reading speed to be fairly fast. I was interested in where the story would go next and surprised how much was packed in here. The story never spent too long on one year of school or focusing on something irrelevant. This was a well paced and effectively edited book. There are surprising events and the stakes for the students, faculty and society is very real and present.

Akazia reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Astonishingly good.

5 stars

Magic, colonialism, slavery, gunboat diplomacy, opium wars, linguistics and language, the industrial revolution, Luddites...all wrapped up in the story of four intensely sympathetic and young scholars sent up to Oxford to study in the tower at the center of the Empire.

matt reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

DNF’d at 100 pages

Jos reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Alternative history, well thought through

4 stars

In its critique of capitalism, discrimination and blind reliance on technology, this is a highly modern book, though it takes place in the 1830s. The book doesn't contain too much plot or action, but is based on a clever idea that is taken to its full consequences.

RaveningHazelnut reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This was a fascinating look at the academic world of translation… with magic shoehorned in so that we could turn off a switch at the climax rather than writing an effective ending to the action.

I would have rather seen this treated as an exploration of bureaucracy, political intrigue and guerrilla warfare to effect a change in the world… rather than an alternate history with nothing changed beyond “there’s magic!”