Babel

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

eBook, 641 pages

English language

Published Aug. 31, 2022 by HarperCollins UK.

ISBN:
978-0-00-850183-9
Copied ISBN!
4 stars (74 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

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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!”

incredible

5 stars

Easily the best book I've read this year and in recent memory. It does everything it wants to do perfectly and fully. I am going to read this book many more times. I came to Babel having just finished Pheonix Extravagant, which has a very similar plot at a high level but feels like just another fantasy book, stopping short of making a strong statement. Its clear Babel has a reason for being written and needs to tell its story desperately.

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Subjects

  • Fantasy
  • Historical Fiction
  • Languages
  • Colonialism

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