Babel

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

By: R. F. Kuang

Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Billie Fulford-Brown

Length: 21 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

1828. 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 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?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 R. F. Kuang (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

The novel language lovers have been waiting for

Beautifully narrated. I was drawn in immediately. And the novel itself is so lovely. As a student of history and someone who works in the language industry (which is still incidentally dominated by Britain), I found it to be brilliantly conceived, well researched and expertly told. It’s the best novel I’ve read since A Gentleman in Moscow. If you like Amor Towles, Anthony Doerr and Donna Tartt you’ll appreciate the ambition and skill behind this historical fiction. As someone who doesn’t typically prefer fantasy writing, I found that the fantastical elements did not distract in any way from the novel’s historical relevance and integrity. It’s a love letter to language that highlights the role language played (and still plays) in geopolitics, conquest and resistance. Just brilliant.

Mixed Feelings

I picked up Babel written by R. F. Kuang on Audible, narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi and Billie Fulford-Brown. This book is very different from The Poppy War. Kuang picks the 19th century as the setting for her fantasy. Life in the 1800s was very unimaginably hard for most of the world. The world was rife with exploitation, prejudice, and intolerance. So much so that it is often hard to reconcile with today's moral standards. The world was a place of a few haves and many have-nots. We all know that power can corrupt. Kuang presents a question in this book, what would have happened if a significant advantage in the way of magical power was introduced in 19th century England where colonialism and exploitation were the acceptable norms?

I have very mixed feelings about this book. This book is a character-driven novel that I enjoyed but did not love. I appreciated the research and the deep dive into the history of language. The magic system in this book is very subtle but interesting. The writing was excellent, and the author did a good job in world-building, relying heavily on 19th-century colonialism. On the downside, this book is a very slow burn with minimal action. In addition, the author employs one writing technique in this novel that I did not like. Instead of weaving background and information into the dialog and story, she uses footnotes to provide information and apologies. In the audio version these footnotes, were narrated by Billie Fulford-Brown, and they felt clunky, and I thought they distracted from the story.

While I developed sympathy for the circumstances of Robin’s life, and I recognize that he was a product of his upbringing and the racial prejudices of the time, for most of the book I struggled to like him or even relate to him. Even though he is fighting injustice, Robin starts out weak and grows into a terrorist. Colonialism, racism, and exploitation were not traits exclusive to England in the 1800s. Yet almost every English character is an over-the-top racist, while the non-English characters are somehow more enlightened despite this book being set in the 19th century. As a result, I felt the book felt heavy-handed and preachy, and not very fun. In the end, I will give the book 3.3 stars rounded down to 3 stars.

Enthralling

Fantastic book and amazing narration. The book was wonderful but I was truly blown away by the narrator, he made it such a joy to listen too.

It ended up being something totally different

It end up being something so different than what started. Half of the book everything changes into a different narrative and I have to say I liked much more the first half. However, this world is engaging and interesting all the way through, Its a delight in literature and the love of translation. But also is a wonderful study on colonialism and explotation. It also gives a raw reality on inmigration and cultural explotation.
Definitely worth discovering

Fantasy….or possible reality

Took me about 6 chapters to get into the book, not my typical novel but OH wow! Fantastic adventure that makes you question everything.

Huge Highs, Low Lows

Starts off super interesting. This book has an amazing magic system. Using language and etymology as your magic is so unique and fascinating. It is so interesting and really drew me in to learn more. They tie the magic system in well with the theme of race, identity and colonialism. Powerful writing that really demonstrates what it must’ve been like for minorities from the British Colonies in the early 18th century.

And then, that’s it. Nothing profound happens. The main character is extremely passive outside of two moments in the book. The characters, while diverse, are super bland and too similar to stand out much. Nothing really happens for about 15 hours worth of this book and it shows. Toward the last half I was counting down the time until it was over it was so boring. The ending was very anti-climatic.

The topic of colonialism and race are so well done, that the book looses that certain whimsy which makes you want to reread a book. You want find Harry Potter levels of excitement or The Witcher levels of unique and likable characters or Game Of Thrones level of story beats. Is the aspects of race, colonialism and identity well done? Absolutely! But it wasn’t exactly fun. I’ll pass on any sequels.

Is it worth a read? Yes. The magic

In my top 5 of all time

Thought-provoking, intelligent and emotional, this is an incredible book I think everyone should read. Plus, the narrator is amazing. I finished Babel three days ago and haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

so good

it was so good all of her books are amazing and rip my heart apart I feel so sad for the character

I’m shattered

I don’t have enough words to express how much I love this book. My heart aches. Its beautiful, and devastating, and utterly magical. This may be the best book I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing. The characters captured my heart, and I will carry them with me. 100/100.

Good story, well read.

A good story, very interesting first two thirds… I found the final third a touch drawn out and unfortunately I kept waiting for it to end. I struggle sometimes with the readings on audible, but this was pleasant to listen to.