Babel, the new standalone novel by R.F. Kuang (author of the Poppy War trilogy), has the lengthy subtitle: or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution. It may seem strange to talk about violence, revolution and academic translators in one breath, but make no mistake, this is a compelling story of revolution in response to the concentration of wealth and power and the impact of racism in the British Empire in the 1830s. And it’s also clearly about the world as it is today.
Babel An Arcane History

Babel is part bildungsroman, part disquisition on language, part adventure of anti-colonialism and empire building, part love of Oxford and privilege, part alternate history of early industrialization, part story of deep friendships, part analysis of racism and power, and more besides. I was skeptical at first how this could all come together, but it does so quite brilliantly.

The story begins in Canton, China, where a young boy is dying from cholera after seeing the rest of his family wiped out by the disease. He is rescued by a gruff Englishman, Professor Lovell, who brings him back to health with the aid of a strange silver bar. When he’s better, the Professor offers the boy the chance to be raised and educated in England and then to go on to Oxford. Or he can go back to live in the poverty of his Cantonese home without family or much hope for any kind of future, just as early death. Not really a choice.

The Professor insists the boy adopt an English name. He uses Robin, taken from a children’s book earlier in his boyhood, and chooses Swift as a surname because of Gulliver’s Travels and the parallel between himself and the adventures of a man thrust into strange new worlds. Robin agrees to the Professor’s terms and sails to England. He lives in the Professor’s house where he is tutored in several languages but gets little or no personal attention or affection from Lovell. The Professor seems interested only in his development of linguistic proficiency, for his goal is to prepare him for attending the Oxford Translators Institute, housed in the massive tower named Babel in the heart of the exclusive Oxford campus.

It turns out in this alternate England of the 1830s that the whole country and much of the world is in the midst of the silver industrial revolution, and the center of the special magic within silver is Babel. The work of the Oxford translators is to inscribe silver bars with pairs of words from different languages that are rough translations but have important shades of meaning that provide an energy that the silver can work with. The result is a vast number of silver bars that do most of the things that keep British life and the empire going. They heal, make engines more efficient, smooth out coach rides, give structural strength to bridges, speed up the British fleet and can also kill. Babel is not only the central repository of silver bars as well as the translation and inscription process, it also contains a special room that generates the resonances that keep the silver energies working. Because of its importance, Babel is heavily protected by wards or spells that block intruders but admit the staff whose biometrics it recognizes.

In their search for linguistic talent, the elder scholars of Babel, Professor Lovell foremost among them, have persuaded Oxford, a bastion of white male English privilege, to admit foreigners and women. So it is that Robin, who is half Chinese, is allowed to study at Babel along with Rami, from India, Victoire, from Haiti, and Letty, who is white and English but a woman. These four meet and form a great friendship, as they share their love of languages, Oxford and each other. Though most of the novel records Robin’s point of view, we gradually learn the backstories of Rami, Letty and Victoire in interludes.

...........
This is a remarkable novel that has its nerdy components (criss-crossing notes on many languages and a supply of footnotes) but becomes an exciting story of friendship caught up in revolutionary times. Babel examines every aspect of the hard choices, brutal consequences and interplay of external forces and personal needs that beset its characters. R. F. Kuang is an impressive writer with four big novels in print, not to mention a batch of advanced degrees, at the age of 26. Fortunately for us, she’s just getting started.

Trigger/Content warning: death of a parent, racism, microaggressions, colonialism, imperialism, gun violence, blood, vomiting, sexual harassment, murder, suicidal ideation, child abuse, parental abuse

When Robin Swift’s mother dies of cholera in Canton, a British professor Richard Lovell whisks him off to England to be trained in Greek and Latin to attend the translation program at Oxford University. He befriends his cohort of three other students, Ramy, Letty, and Victoire, but what lies beneath is a mechanism that furthers white British supremacy and goals of global domination. This book and its characters are having none of it, and it begins an exploration of the role of language and translation as a weapon and tool of colonialism.

Magical, nuanced, intense, and gut-wrenching, this is definitely going to live in my heart as one of my favorite reads of 2022.

I have been dying for a dark academia the likes of Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko that makes the actual academics part of the darkness and the horror. But there is also a reverence for a place and what it does to a person in a moment of time. There is clear affection for the time spent at Oxford throughout the narrative, but also a contempt for its legacy and what it does to the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed students that walk through its halls. Babel does not flinch at the intensity of the academic rigor, but also at the precious moments of genuine connection among our four main characters, Robin, Ramy, Letty, and Victoire. Academia is far more than an aesthetic here—it serves almost as a character itself, with the complexity of the living people within its hallowed halls.

What I also find most fascinating is how much of this book is an exploration of theme rather than a character-driven, plot-focused journey. There is an elegance with the plot progression, but so much intricacy with regards to how the magic works and what Kuang is trying to say with this narrative. This is absolutely a thematic exploration on the role of language and translation, and what happens when both are used as another commodity like precious metals or luxury goods. There is clear enthusiasm and a depth of knowledge with the way concepts and words move between languages that, honestly, was such a joy to read. It’s clear that Kuang had a blast writing the specifics of match-pairs and the literal magic of silver-working, while also tackling the nuances of being a foreign transplant in a culture that seems to hate, well, everyone that isn’t them.

That all being said, the characters themselves are also incredibly compelling. In one volume, Kuang pulls off what feels like the impossible with having four incredibly developed characters, even though the story is told entirely from Robin’s point of view. This book also hit me directly in the feels, as someone caught between the culture of my upbringing and the culture of my contemporary life. He expresses so much interior rage, with measured responses, and a complexity that is painfully relatable. The arc of his family history between trying to fit in with Professor Lovell and his own heritage, coupled with the twist that he has a half-brother that is a literal revolutionary. It had me clutching my head and screaming because the angst is so tasty and meshes so well with all the other themes found within these pages.

If you’re looking for a book that spends its time roasting the British and showing profound contempt for academia’s role in colonialism and imperialism while also having deep love of its characters and respect for the rigor of academics, there’s a reason this book is definitely added to my new favorites of all time.

This book is a triumph. It’s a heavy-handed (rightfully so), scathing indictment of academia and British imperialism, using a language-based magic system as an allegory for the way the British Empire wielded language as a weapon to disenfranchise, enslave, and overthrow everyone in their path. This book reads as a mixture of historical fiction, fantasy, and non-fiction. It’s simultaneously a love letter to academia (immediately evident by R. F. Kuang’s absolutely masterful use of language and ability to weave through-lines of actual history into her storytelling), as well as a probe into the racism still present in higher education. At times quiet and contemplative, then explosive and wrathful, this book will fill you with righteous fury. It will ready you to take up the torch of this wonderful cast of characters. It’s a book I’ll be thinking about for years to come, and I know you will too.

When Robin Swift is left orphaned by a cholera outbreak in Canton, an Oxford professor takes him under his wing and raises him to become a translator for the British Empire. Robin studies for years at Oxford, but, when he’s approached by a shadowy organization to help steal from the university, he’s left torn between divided between his loyalties.

Babel by R.F. Kuang is a historical fantasy that brilliantly explores diaspora, the power of language, and the consequences of British imperialism.

Now, this book might not be everyone’s cup of tea but it certainly was mine. The story focuses a lot on the process of transition and questions what makes a good translation. The author herself is a translator, after all, and I really feel like her love and knowledge of language shines through here.

On top of that, the characters are morally grey--selfish and cowardly at times--but all the more human for it.

All in all, this was a deeply absorbing read that reminded of me what it’s like to truly sink into a good story again, and I cannot recommend it enough if you love dark academia.

Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution is not only a hell of a title, it’s a hell of a book. Author R.R. Kuang (The Poppy War) has produced a brilliant alternate history in which The British Empire rose to power utilizing magic based on silver and linguistics. In the 1820s, a young man from Canton (Guangzhou) is taken from his life on the docks where he picked up bits of language from sailors and raised in London by a man named Professor Lovell. Re-named Robin Swift by his own love of English literature, the boy is drilled with lessons on Greek and Latin, preparing him for a new life at Oxford University.

When Robin arrives at Oxford to take his place at the Translation Institute, however, nothing is what he expected. His neighbor, Ramy, is immediately welcoming (perhaps because they’re both outsiders by virtue of their foreign birth), while the rest of the residents of their hall are less so. A dark conspiracy seems to be building involving a looming war between England and China, and Robin’s skills in the languages of both nations will play a part, whether he wants them to or not.

Kuang’s latest work is a brilliant novel exploring the dark sides of academia and colonization. Robin’s conflict between his heritage and his upbringing mirror the greater struggle between England and China. Class warfare and linguistics blur together as Robin navigates a world that is simultaneously much larger than he knew and much smaller than he could have imagined. You’ll have to read it to believe it.

Babel is out on store shelves as of yesterday. Check it out.

My utmost thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

This review originally appeared here: https://swordsoftheancients.com/2022/08/24/babel-a-review/

An epic fantasy about the magic of language and the mystical power of translation, Babel initially felt as if it were written just for me. Then it felt as if it was written at me, like a lecture from one of the novel's condescending Oxford professors. Then again, that's fitting. Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of Oxford Translators’ Revolution, is set in the fairy-tale-like surrounds of Oxford University. The novel follows an orphaned Cantonese boy who chooses the anglicized name Robin Swift at the urging of a highly esteemed Oxford professor. Professor Lovell tutors Robin, insisting he become a student at Oxford's Royal Institute of Translation, aka Babel. Initially enchanted by Oxford and Babel, Robin grows to resent the institution's role in England's barbaric colonial pursuits. I read somewhere that author R.F. Kuang considered this both a love letter and a break-up letter to Oxford, where she herself studied. The resulting novel is a critical alt history -- a sharp interpretation of history -- more accurate than the history we know. The book, essentially about what it takes to move the needle on how powerful institutions operate, has flaws. Despite its frequent slips into didacticism, it still gets five stars from me. I was especially impressed with its innovative magic system involving silver and pairs of words that mean the same-ish thing in two different languages. The difference in exact meaning between the two words creates a mystical effect. This book is for lovers of words and language, and for those who love a meticulously researched novel aimed at moving the needle away from racism, colonialism, and institutional oppression.
[Thanks to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

I’ve had quite a few people get slightly annoyed at me (myself included) for not yet reading this book, even though I received the ARC in May. It’s been two months, and you’d think that for how much I can’t shut up about RF Kuang, I’d have torn through these pages faster than lightning.

Imagine a large clock that opens in the back from a key and allows you to peer into ever corner of the machinery and reach right into its beating heart and turn it around and observe it from every angle. Imagine poking though the gears and dials and then reaching in and picking them apart, to then bring in soap and water to clean out all the corners even though the dust covered your wounds. Lastly, imagine me the clock and this book the key.

Babel is the first book that has described language the way I see it. It asks the question multiple times, what language do you dream in? It asks, what is home, and what does it mean to betray it?

I’m an immigrant from South India, who moved to America at 13 and is now going to college here as well. I’m rather privileged I’d say, despite my status in this country. Babel read my life story and spit it out with a slap to my face.

I wish I had the shape of mind to dissect it right now but I don’t. I don’t even know what I’m saying, I feel like I’m still in fetal position after the end of it. What am I supposed to do now? How am I supposed to keep on going? I do indeed feel like a broken clock, all the machinery ripped out with nothing left inside but a bleeding heart.

RF Kuang lives and breathes the subjects she writes. It’s apparent through her understanding of colonization and history in the Poppy War, and her understanding of colonialism and language in Babel. It’s apparent that she’s so incredibly enamored with these subjects that we as the reader can’t help but be too. She attempts to do so much with Babel, and in my opinion, accomplishes all of it. I can’t speak for every aspect of this book.

Not only, does she ask the questions, is translation always betrayal? Does revolution require violence? She also answers them to her utmost ability, giving a clear and brutal response.

Brutal. That it what her stories are. There’s such a stripped down truth to her prose that is tantalizing. I know at the end of this book as I’ve known from the first time I’ve heard about it, that Babel will change the way I view the world. She has forced me to look at what is easy to look away from.

I won’t be shutting about about this book for while. Do yourselves a favor, and grab a copy when it comes out!

3 stars, this book is academically interesting but often stumbles emotionally

Babel is the story of Robin Swift, a Chinese boy taken from Canton to become a magical translator at the fabled (and imaginary) Royal Institute of Translation in Oxford. Robin at first loves his work but slowly realizes how much of his school's magical findings power the exploitation of people around the world by the British Empire, he begins to sour on the project and slowly falls in with a group of rebels trying to undermine the empire. From that brief description, you can already intuit many of the strengths of the novel: it's depiction of empire and colonialism as exploitative, its sympathies with people who have been victims of racism, the academic rigor that went into building a book that leans so heavily on language as a theme, and the unrepentantly radical politics that undergird the entire story. Babel is in many ways a cathartic scream of a novel that one can't help but admire.

However, there are missteps that keep me from loving the work outright. Much of the novel is academically dense in ways that are interesting but often don't further the story beyond being interesting etymology lessons. This can dull the pacing from time to time but it is not the biggest flaw. No, the far bigger flaw is that the characters and their relationships often feel underdeveloped in ways that make the story less powerful than it should be. Robin builds close friendships with several characters (mostly other colonial sponsors who also feel the racism of the empire like he does) but spends far more time in lecture halls than building their relationships with each other. As a result, the friendships seem a bit shallow to me. This is a real shame because much of the climax of the book rests on those friendships being put to the ultimate test but when they're so cursorily sketched out, it's hard to feel as invested in those emotional moments.

This doesn't kill the book outright but it was enough to drop my enjoyment from 4 to 3 stars. I still appreciate the intelligence and radical nature of this novel but just wish it had made a bit more space for the characters to develop more meaningful connections.

Babel was one of my most anticipated reads of this year and it did not disappoint!

Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC!

A fantastic fantasy take-on of the dark academia genre. Kuang is stretching highly promising writing muscles, and this being on the heels of her The Poppy War trilogy only shows great promise for the future.

Babel was my most anticipated read of the year, so it pains me to give this only 2.5 stars. I devoured Kuang's Poppy War series (despite not loving the last installment, The Burning God. More on that in a moment...), but unfortunately Babel fell flat for me. Kuang is obviously brilliant, and her research and writing is impeccable. But, intellect and and being good with words is not the same thing as being able to write an engaging story. My main issue with Babel is that it is just...boring.

With the Poppy War, Kuang built an entire fantasy world based on real historical events. She mad me BELIEVE in this fantasy world of shamans, angry gods, and floating cities. Her characters were complicated and real, their relationships layered, tragic, and beautiful. She was able to do all of this because she spent 3 books SHOWING us these things. In Babel, she spends one long (in need to trimming) book TELLING us how the magic system works and how friendships were built and (should) be important. I didn't buy it. While she tired to create complicated characters she failed to make them believable and instead created tropes of ignorant, privileged white girl and sad brown girl. The male characters, which were intended to be the focus, were even more flat than the female characters. I felt zero love between these 4 characters, which ruins one of the main plot points in the book.

Kuang also fell victim to treating the reader as if they are not intelligent enough to pick up on the important messages in the story. She literally tells us COLONIALISM! and RACISM! and SYSTEMATIC OPRESSION! repeatedly throughout the book. The Poppy War was filled with some of the most detailed and beautifully choreographed battle scenes (both literally and figuratively) that made the reader ponder topics such as violence, PTSD, colonialism, racism, and the long-term effects of war. In Babel, the only action would be a blatant act of racism which then Kuang would have a character say "Look! This is racism because..." or "Let's talk about how violence is bad but is sometimes needed to upset the system that uses us for their own advantage." Kuang began using this tactic in the middle of The Burning God, and as a result she almost lost me, I almost gave up in the middle of that book because for chapters upon chapters she had the characters merely traveling and TALKING. So much talking AT the reader. Unfortunately, Babel had none of the world-building or character depth that the Poppy War had, therefore it read like a research paper (that was admittedly historically fascinating at times) with a watered-down magical system thrown in.

Are there readers that will love this book? Yes, I do believe so. Was it for me? Nope. Will I read more books by Kuang? Absolutely. Lets just hope that in between now and her next book she realizes her readers are smart enough to pick up on the important things she is writing about without her having to spell it out like we are morons. We may not all have degrees from Cambridge and Oxford, but that doesn't mean we can't understand and appreciated what someone with those degrees is trying to say.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy for review.

Everything about this book was fantastic! Babel is a low fantasy novel with a very believable magic system that intertwines itself in historic Oxford. All of the characters were extremely compelling, especially their flaws and views on the world. I personally loved all of the levels of critique on racism, classism, and sexism in old London and the academic field, especially scenes that also provided critique on issues that transcend time to present day. Though the pacing was a bit slow, it was a very compelling read.

Babel by R.F Kuang blew me away with it's creativity, world (and word) building and character driven plot. As a young boy, Robin was brought from his destitute life in Canton to be raised in England and groomed to be a student at the illustrious Babel Institute at Oxford. However, the intensity of his language and translation lessons don't even hold a candle to the trials he deals with beyond his books. Between the Griffin and the Hermes Society and the hidden agenda of Professor Lovell, Robin quickly learns that there is nothing predictable about everyone's priorities in this silver driven city.

This book makes me want to point out two things first and foremost. One is that it is not a simple read at all. Now this is not a bad thing in any way, but simply a point of fact for those readers looking for either a book that is light or heavy; this one is heavy. Ms. Kuang puts in incredible detail about nuances in and the history of linguistics and has built up such world around this real, but not exact, version of Oxford; that this speculative fiction read has its own endnotes. I loved this, but it may be more effort than some readers are expecting.

My other point to note is that even though book is thick with interesting linguistics, it should be noted that the relationships are where this story gets you in the heart. Robin, Letty, Victorie, and Ramy all brings something unique to the plot and their dynamic with each other is what has you wanting more, if only to see how they deal with it together.

All in all, a wonderful read from Ms. R.F Kuang and I can't wait to read anything else she has to offer

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read this book.

**Thank you to NetGalley for providing an arc for an honest review.**

RATING: 3.5 ⭐️

First and foremost, this is some of the BEST writing I’ve seen in a novel. It’s truly incredible what Kuang has accomplished here and there’s no doubt it is deserving of all the literary high praise.

That being said, this book wasn’t for me. I really tried here but this story was just moving too slow. The plot seemed to come secondary to the lecturing, and I found myself dreading reading time.

The themes here are powerful and how Kuang reveals and unpacks colonialism throughout is beautifully researched and executed. So I do believe the work here is deep and rich.

I just got so lost in the scholarly lectures and descriptions, ultimately realizing this book is not for me and I need to let go of my pride and just accept that my brain would rather curl up with something cozy.

Robin Swift is an orphan plucked out of Canton by Richard Lovell, an British professor who raises the boy with one goal: to enter the Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford University, also known as Babel. Babel is the center of silver-working, a process of enchanting silver with translated word pairs that is used to heal the sick, perform parlor tricks of wealthier Londoners, and, most importantly, bolster the British military to maintain imperial rule. I have one word for this book: WOW! It is clear from the first page how much time, effort, and love went into this book. Kuang does a fantastic job weaving fantasy with historical fact. The worldbuilding just blew me away. And the languages! I can’t speak to the accuracy of any of them, but it seems that Kuang really did her due diligence.

She also does a great job building the characters. Robin and the three other students in his cohort, Ramy, Victoire, and Letty, become fast friends. However, their relationships with each other, both as a group and each individually, are incredibly complex and shift continuously during their years together. Since he is the main character, we spend most of the book in Robin’s head, and his character arc is wonderful. He starts out as shy and conflict-avoidant and watching him change was heartbreaking yet also satisfying. I won’t say much else since I don’t want to spoil anything, but the range of emotions he goes through over the course of the story felt quite realistic.

A major aspect of this book is the political commentary. It takes place in an alternate version of the Victorian era, so we see quite a bit of historically accurate classism, sexism, and racism. Babel is largely a statement on the violence of colonialism. However, while this all takes place in the 19th-century, almost all of the political commentary is relevant today, particularly in regard to academia. On one hand, the book is a love letter to Oxford, but it also contains scathing critique. And I can say that as someone within academia (and hating it), all of Kuang’s criticism is fully warranted.

Overall, Babel is a masterpiece of the historical fantasy genre. It’s a book I’m going to be returning to again and again and recommending to everyone I talk to.

This book left me speechless for days after finishing it.

A fantasy story set in our own world, during the British Empire, told through the lens of a Chinese boy who was brought to England so his professors could take advantage of his language. A story about appropriation and theft of culture and language. A story about hope and dreams and personal duty. All wrapped in beautiful prose and compelling characters.

Babel truly has everything. Easily one of my favorite books of all time. Though some of the wording relating to Rami made me wince, it was still mostly respectful of all the characters. The details of translation and linguistics were seamlessly woven into the plot, ensuring that it never got too heavy-handed. The plot was intriguing and easily made it a page-turner.

R.F. Kuang’s new historical fantasy has certainly been one of my most eagerly anticipated books of the year, and judging by the splash it’s already made all over the Internet before even coming out, I’d say that’s true for many of us. And even though my expectations were, perhaps, too high, Babel is a splendid book.

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

In 1830s Oxford, Robin Swift, brought as an orphan from Canton to England to be raised by the enigmatic Professor Lovell, studies language and translation at the prestigious Royal Institute of Translation: Babel. The act of translation has magical consequences, and that magic - through translations inscribed on silver - powers the British Empire, and turns the wheels of history. When he finds himself caught between the academic utopia of his Oxford fantasy and a secret revolutionary cabal, Robin must choose his own place in that history…and decide what he’s willing to sacrifice for the sake of justice.

Babel is an ambitious, thrilling, gorgeous book, and one I know will be a beloved favorite for so, so many readers. And if it sounds like I’m not among that number, I am! I loved it, five stars, fantastic. Could it be a bit subtler and less of a hammer on certain elements? Perhaps. Could it have felt more wholly and immersively historical? Maybe. Do I wish the drily sardonic voice that occasionally peeks out in the footnotes had had a stronger narrative presence in the main text? Yes.

But my criticisms are fairly petty, and really, it’s so close - *so close!* - to being the book of my dreams. I do love it, for the strength of the world (which is, in all its messiness, our world, after all), the characters, the genuinely sky-high stakes, and most of all, the magic, which feels inevitable and true, integrated into the realities of history so perfectly it’s easy to believe it’s reality as well. Babel has lofty ambitions, and it reaches them; a much-needed addition to both the fantasy and the dark academia canons.

This book was an adventure from start to finish. R.F. Kuang remains a master of prose, and created an entire universe that sucked me in, immediately. I can't recommend this book enough across the board; it brings in elements that fans of Dr. Strange and Mr. Norrell and Discovery of Witches will love.

Let me start by saying I absolutely LOVED Babel. The prose was absolutely beautiful, and there are many passages that will stick with me for a long time. I think this is the most I've ever used Kindle's highlight feature.

It took me a moment to get into the story, but once I did (after the first few chapters or so) I was HOOKED. This quickly became an all time favorite book of mine and one I'll recommend to everyone I know.

I wrote a full review linked below.

Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution, is precisely what I expect from writer and historian R. F. Kuang. It’s complex and highly literate. Plus, the struggle between colonizers and those they oppress is at its core. The characters are well-developed, flawed, and fascinating. And Kuang skewers academia, capitalism, and industry. Most importantly, she builds an alternate reality worthy of the dozens of footnotes.

Our main character is born in Canton, China, in the early 1800s. His family perishes in a cholera outbreak, but an Englishman, Professor Lovell, fortuitously offers to take him in as a ward. In the process, this young boy chooses an English name, Robin Swift. He’s already gifted with languages, and Professor Lovell starts schooling him on their voyage to England. Once there, Robin is tutored in multiple languages and subjects. The goal is University College at Oxford University, specifically the institution called Babel, where translators learn their trade.

Robin is a quick study and soon becomes close to the other cohort members at Babel. There’s Letty, born to privilege in England. The second woman is Victoire, a formerly enslaved person from Haiti by way of France. And last is Ramy, a young man born in Calcutta and brought to England, similarly to Robin’s own experience. The four form tight bonds.

Combining Social Commentary with an Alternate Reality
Kuang traces their path through four years of college, detailing the slights from other students due to their outsider status as women and people of color. We learn along with them how things work in this alternate reality. The English Empire depends on silver engraved with pairs of magically combined words from different languages. I’ll let Kuang explain this complex idea, which she does expertly. As the cohort gets deeper in their studies, they learn that the Empire depends on and exploits people from countries with non-Romantic languages. The characters in Chinese, for example, are a wealth of nuanced words with multiple and complicated meanings. And there are few Mandarin or Cantonese speakers in England, so Robin’s knowledge is highly valued.

But Robin also begins to see a huge divide in how the upper and lower classes use silver. It’s used to make life easier for the wealthy. And conversely, it helps automate various industries to push the underclass out of work. As a Chinese man, Robin sees this for what it is and decides to work for the oppressed. And while he’d like to work inside the system, he finds another option that proves more dangerous.

My Conclusions
I appreciate Kuang’s ability to make the world of Babel come fully alive in the book. As a result of her words, I imagine the tower where the library, workspaces, and classrooms exist. I feel the darkening claustrophobia of Oxford academia and the excitement the young scholars have about their burgeoning knowledge. And Kuang also makes the global power imbalance eminently clear, even taking us on a journey with the young students to Canton. I cringed at the old, white men’s racist attitudes and cheered whenever they got a bit of comeuppance. But nothing is simple in this world, and that’s part of its appeal. Kuang kept me guessing until the very end.

Babel isn’t all history and social policy. It’s also a story of maturation and the bonds of shared experience. Kuang expertly develops the character of each student and a few other vital members of her cast. Each one experiences snobbery, whether based on financial status, gender, intelligence level, or race. How they deal with this is an essential element of the story.

Kuang’s writing style is unique. Be prepared for lots of detail, including footnotes with information from Kuang’s built world and our reality. After closing the last page, I immediately realized that I could read this book multiple times and continually find plenty of nuances.

I recommend Babel if you enjoy dense storytelling with history and social policy at its core. And if you appreciate vital fantasy elements. This was one of my favorite 2022 books!

Acknowledgments
Thanks to NetGalley, Avon, Harper Voyager, and the author for a digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for this honest review. Babel’s publication date is today, September 23, 2022.