Babel : Or the Necessity of Violence

A dense, multi-layered story that opens up a window into golden age era Britain, painting a vivid picture of the colonialist zeitgeist with all the casual and flagrant racism, exploitation and slavery that comes with it. In particular, it highlights the critical role of intellectual institutions (by example of Oxford) and uses language as stand-in example of how foreign culture is imported and in turn used to opress the colonised countries while further strengthening the existing power structures. To use a coming-of-age "wizard" story as the backdrop is quite a genial move, making the whole subject matter all the more relatable on a very personal level. This book manages to educate about many different subjects that would normally be quite boring to learn about in such a fascinating, thrilling, moving way - I could barely manage to put the book down every once in a while.

Dark academy, прекрасне за атмосферою. Читається довго, але із задоволенням. Захотіла прочитати після того, як закінчила «Жовтолику», бо був цікавий доробок авторки, адже пише вона чудово.

Книжка, яка починається легко та, з першого погляду, щасливо, поступово стає важкою та темною. На героїв тисне вага відповідальності та обрушується неприємна правда, і разом з ними цей тягар відчуває і читач.

Після прочитання захотілось більше дізнатись про колоніальну Англію, в книзі багато політики та дипломатії, роздумів про відповідальність за наслідки дій або навіть бездіяльності.

Впродовж сюжету головні герої буквально піднімають голови над книжками і стикаються з реальним світом. Так, боляче, так, не хочеться втрачати ілюзію безпеки, але разом з тим, я раділа разом з ними, що вони все-таки спробували подивитись в обличчя кривдникам та пригнічувачам, знайти з ними спільну мову, будучи при цьому — іронічно — у Вавилоні. Шкода тільки, що бар'єрів виявилось більше, ніж тільки один мовний.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.