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Babel

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Billie Fulford-Brown
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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

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What listeners say about Babel

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  • Overall
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Spectacular

Themes like colonialism, revolutionary awakening, and navigating privilege and marginalization are so skillfully rendered and incisive. Th wonderful performance compliments this immensely satisfying book.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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amazing book

R.F. Kuang is such an amazing author. this book does not disappoint. highly recommend.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A literary masterpiece

There are no words to accurately translate the sheer silver joy of listening to this piece. But isn't that the point of the book?

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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I usually don't go for these kinds of books

However as a linguistic I couldn't resist despite the magic. This was a fantastic audiobook from beginning to end. I highly recommend it if you're in the mood.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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Incredible Story, okay narration

I was absolutely enthralled by this story, from beginning to end. I think I would’ve rather read the text version, except for being able to hear the foreign words pronounced correctly.

The audio seems to cut between quality quite severely in several sections of the book.

Overall, I loved it, but the audio book is disappointing.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome

I'm a linguist, so I am partial to stories about language. This author wrote an entertaining story where you learn about the relationship between language and power, without reading a textbook.
I loved it!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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interesting and educational

loved the references to languages, philosophy and literature. easy to listen to. would like to follow Victiore's adventure

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful Book; Terrible Sound Mixing

I love R.F. Kuang, but the sound mixing of this narration is terrible. I listen to a lot of audio books and I was disappointed by how poor quality this production was given the acclaim that Babel received. I still enjoyed the story, but I was taken aback every time a phrase or word was edited in at a very obviously different tone or sound level from the rest of the narration.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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a must read

The most trajagicaly beautiful stodybu have read this year. Love the book from beginning to end.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely amazing story, absolutely terrible mixing

The is an amazing story with deep characters and interesting prose throughout. Truly the best work from the author I’ve read yet. However the mixing of the narration is terrible, often the sound cuts out and an obviously redone take is thrown in at a completely different pitch and it’s disorienting and continues to be an issue through out the book making it a less enjoyable experience than it could’ve been. It’s so obviously bad I wonder how in the heck it was shipped this way.

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