Aug 7

Aug 7 Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution

Author: R.F. Kuang
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

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 of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel's research in foreign languages serves the Empire's quest to colonize everything it encounters.

Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports 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? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?

Babel — a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal response to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell — grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of translation as a tool of empire.

TL;DR Review

Babel is the standalone, low fantasy, dark academia, alternative history of our dreams. R.F. Kuang has written a great story that looks unflinchingly and creatively at the devastation of colonization.

For you if: You like low fantasy (takes place in our world) and books that take place in a university setting.

Full Review

Say hello to one of my (and many people’s) most anticipated books of the year! As you might guess from this novel’s full title, Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang is a dark academia novel. It’s also a low fantasy (meaning it takes place in our recognizable world, with a magic system introduced on top) alternative historical fiction. And…WOW.

Babel is about a character named Robin who was born in China in 1828 but spirited away from a cholera-infested household to England as a young boy. There, he was raised to study translation (and thus a magic called silverworking) at Babel, the preeminent institution on Oxford’s campus. He and three his fellow incoming classmates — two of whom are also people of color, and two of whom are women — arrive and begin the daunting work of proving themselves, as students and as outsiders. But soon it becomes obvious that sinking into the privileges afforded to them, built on the colonization of their own homes, would mean turning their backs on their consciences.

The absolute GENIUS of this novel is the way translation and silverworking stand as the most perfect metaphor for the parasitic relationship of Britain (or any colonizer today) and its colonies. A fluent speaker of two languages translates one word into another and carves them into a silver bar. But there’s no such thing as a perfect translation; some nuance is always lost. That nuance fuels the bar’s magic. In this version of the world, everything is powered by silver — carts run faster, old buildings stay up, illnesses are healed. The economy is built on it, and international “trade” is fueled by it. But as European languages merge more and more, silver powered by translation between romantic languages is becoming less potent. So fluent speakers of other languages — ex. Chinese, Hindi, etc — are becoming more valuable. But to what purpose does Britain put the knowledge and power they gain from the students they “rescue” from these countries? As R.F. Kuang writes this story, she stares you in the eyes unflinchingly, unblinkingly, and dares you to look away.

OK this is getting very long but the last things I’ll say: the characters are amazing (each member of our foursome is compelling and together they form the perfect group to probe one another’s prejudices and blind spots). This book has some of the best footnotes (mix between informative, funny, sarcastic, etc) I’ve read in a novel. If you love language you’ll love this. And while it was long and I expect some will call it slower paced (it covers a span of years, from Robin’s childhood to the end of his time at Oxford), it never bothered me for a second.

This is my first R.F. Kuang — I haven’t read The Poppy War (yet!), but from what I’ve heard, her writing has gotten better and better with each book. And while this one is super different from her debut trilogy, it sounds like her fans are loving this too. I hope you decide to read this book!!