Ok, not my regular kind of read, but this book was interesting in a different way, really enjoy the setting and all the references to try to keep it accurate. Surprisingly I did enjoy this book from the first page , really didn’t expect that, it really embraces the Dark Academia theme. Totally will recommend

“He buried his past life, not because it was so terrible but because abandoning it was the only way to survive.”

As readers we pride ourselves on our ability to immerse ourselves in literature and language on the daily. But have we ever taken a closer look at the language that makes up our beloved stories and characters? Babel requires us to take a closer look at language which in turn brought me a greater appreciation for it. Babel is not a book to tear through but is instead a book meant to be digested slowly. So slowly in fact that it took me weeks to finish this from the overload and onslaught of my brain’s experience every time I picked this up. It is extremely complex and requires active effort and thinking on the readers' part. The sheer amount of what was accomplished in this book astounds me.

“We are here to make the unknown known, to make the other familiar. We are here to make magic with words.”

The first and second halves of this book are entirely different. The first half for me was incredibly dull and gave me a headache to work through. Half the time we are listening to college professors give lectures on languages and the other half we are listening to the characters talk about language or how much work they have to do. In my opinion, in over 250 - 300 pages, nothing of importance happens except for a few tiny details. With that said, these lectures were incredibly well thought out and overall quite ingenious that at times I could only read with my mouth wide open in surprise. Despite this, those tiny details end up playing a massive part in the second half of the book where we start to see more action and things start to get moving. The last 10% - 15% of this was fantastic and it was an epic and awesome ending that, to me, was a fitting conclusion for the statement this book tries (and in my opinion succeeds) to make. The rest was definitely faster than the first half, but was still relatively slow.

"Power did not lie in the tip of a pen. Power did not work against its own interests. Power could only be brought to heel by acts of defiance it could not ignore. With brute, unflinching force. With violence.”

The problem was this book was just so complex and covered so many different things from race to colonization to empire and to gender roles that the reader gets lost among the complex dialogue and layers of nuance. The list goes on and on and Babel does a spectacular job of bringing these issues to light down to the everyday, offhanded, details and occurrences. But it was just so much to process and digest at once amid everything else happening that it was impossible to “tear” through this.

“We have to die to get their pity. We have to die for them to find us noble. Our deaths are thus great acts of rebellion, a wretched lament that highlights their inhumanity. Our deaths become their battle cry. But I don't want to die, Robin.' Her throat hitched. I don't want to die. I don't want to be their Imoinda, their Oroonoko. I don't want to be their tragic, lovely lacquer figure. I want to live.”

It is quite clear the level of research and effort that went into writing this. On a technical level, this book was a masterpiece. On an enjoyment level, most of the time I thought I was reading a college textbook. And yet the main focuses of this book are so important and illustrated so greatly. Which creates the lovely dilemma for me on how to rate this. I tend to rate on a combination of technical aspects and enjoyment. With that said, I gave this 3 stars. It is a fantastic piece of literature, but it just didn’t fully work for me.

“But the dream was shattered. That dream had always been founded on a lie. None of them had ever stood a chance of truly belonging here, for Oxford wanted only one kind of scholar, the kind born and bred to cycle through posts of power it had created for itself. Everyone else it chewed up and discarded. These towering edifices were built with coin from the sale of slaves, and the silver that kept them running came blood-stained from the mines of Potosi. It was smelted in choking forges where native labourers were paid a pittance, before making its way on ships across the Atlantic to where it was shaped by translators ripped from their countries, stolen to this faraway land and never truly allowed to go home.”

I think everyone should read this. It is important and relevant and it is just a truly astonishing example of beautiful literature. It took me a while to finish it, but what I learned and what I will take away from this was well worth the time spent. I could spend hours analyzing every piece of this but I will never be able to say everything I want to say. Language is not enough (haha the irony) to explain this book in all its glory. You just have to experience it yourself.

“A lie was not a lie if it was never uttered; questions that were never asked did not need answers.”

Thanks to Net galley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for a honest review. First of all, holy cow, this book is fantastic and amazing and had me hooked from page one. I will definitely be recommending this to all my friends. The integration of magic based off words and actual languages, incredible. One of the best books of 2022.

If you only read one book this year, read this one. Through the incredibly believable alternative HF, Kuang has distilled the truth about imperialism and colonization in our world. Kuang’s depth of knowledge of history and linguistics is breathtaking. This book is a masterpiece in every sense of the word, a true privilege to read.

**Thank you for the ARC!! All opinions are completely my own.**
4-4.5 stars. Immaculate, complex, and weaving!

THEMES: Dark academia; magical realism; colonialism; political intrigue; coming of age.

THOUGHTS: WOW. I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT READING THIS - and I don't regret it one bit.

R.F. Kuang has single-handedly pioneered and engineered another aspect of the dark academia genre. We are blessed to be reading R.F. Kuang's genius and literary prose. I'll start this by saying that yes, I was a fan of The Secret History, but Babel reaches me intimately and personally in ways that The Secret History did not and could never strive to.

I was enraptured, thrilled, and horrified by each character's story and complexity. I was bewildered and grateful to learn about many historical events I had not previously been aware of. I experienced the romanticism of Oxford and the gut-wrenching emotions when the romanticism was brutally ripped away, in the devastating face of colonialism and the intersectionality of racism, sexism, and violent oppression.

(Not a spoiler) The one weakness I felt was that the last plot arc could have been smoother. But perhaps its rushed and hurried pace was deliberate to show the astounding gravity of the situation our characters faced.

TLDR; Babel felt personal to me in ways that The Secret History did not. I'm still reeling from my read. Truly incredible.

Masterful. R.F. Kuang has outdone herself. As a fan of her Poppy War Trilogy, I had high hopes for her newest book, and she far exceeded those expectations.

CONTENT WARNING: death of a parent, racism, abuse, violence, blood, racial slurs, drug use, mention of slavery, torture

I was over the moon about getting approved for this book, and couldn’t wait to start this as a buddy read with my favorite buddy read partner, Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog. Somehow, I always manage to gain so much more insight and coherence when I’m able to process my thoughts with her, and there was just so much to process with this book. Normally, the two of us fly through our reads, starting by agreeing to read the first 25%, then the next, then mutually agreeing to finish the book, typically within 2 days. However, with this one, we wound up taking our time with this, mainly because it was a lot to process and we just wanted to savor what we were reading. Also, my mom had just had a major surgery, and Becky was being so patient with me because I wasn’t reading anywhere near as quickly as I normally do, even with this book that was consuming all my free thoughts and time (not that I had a lot of free time).

Like in the Poppy War trilogy, Kuang has combined history and fantasy in the most fascinating way. This time, her focus is the British Empire, and Oxford University in particular. Initially, it seems great—Babel offers opportunities to minorities and women, which is unheard of in the early 1800s, there’s plenty of darker undertones that don’t appear until a little later into the story.

Robin is an orphan, who was rescued by an English professor after his mother dies of cholera in Canton, China. He’s brought to England and raised with a strong background in various languages, in order to prepare him for schooling at Oxford. He’s smart, but relatively isolated, and when he finally arrives at Babel, he’s pleased to discover that his cohort involves a Muslim Indian man, a Black woman, and a white English woman with whom he develops a close bond rather quickly. The story gave me some The Secret History vibes with the level of foreshadowing and the way that the four characters create an insulated bond between themselves and no other characters around them.

However, over the years of their schooling, cracks begin to develop in their cohort. The story is a scathing indictment of colonialism and the British Empire especially. It talks about the mental gymnastics that are used to uphold colonialism within the empire, and how it is justified by the English people, as well as the foreign-born people who were raised in England, and the cognitive dissonance that they experience as they awaken to what is actually going on and the structures that they are working to uphold, whether intentionally or not.

It was intriguing to watch the differences between Robin and his closest friend, Ramy, who are both in similar situations but are at vastly different places in their journey of decolonization, and how their journeys differ. It was also fascinating to see how each person finds a solution that is unique to their own values and ideals, even as each of the people involved are forced to become morally gray because of the situation that they are placed in. In particular, one of the characters, who is born to privilege, struggles to understand what the issue is, even as the other characters consistently attempt to explain their own struggles, which are always dismissed.

The concept of languages and how translation can never accurately convey the full meaning of a word into another language was so fascinating to me. In addition, the story focuses on the roots of language and where words come from. I never realized how many words stem from other languages and have shared roots, even from such varied languages that I’d never have expected it. The magic system in this story requires users to live, breathe, and dream in the languages that they use, ultimately leading to the need for native speakers of multiple languages that have less crossover, creating an increased demand for people from ever-further corners of the globe, while simultaneously devaluing these very same people that they need so much.

Racism played a huge role in the story, and parts of it were so difficult to read, especially since it made me realize that while our world has come so far, our views on race and cultures have changed so very little. The very same kind of racism that looms large in this story has hung around and stayed the same in our society, nearly 200 years later. The ending left me shocked and distraught, since the characters ultimately felt so real. I was heartbroken at the events of this story, and I’m honestly hoping that the epilogue’s open-ended nature is leaving the door cracked for a sequel, where we get to see what happens next in this wondrous and fascinating story, because I’m not quite ready to let go.

Wow, this book left me absolutely speechless. I am blown away by the words and magic that R.F. Kuang formulates through her writing. She is, by far, my favorite writer. Please, please read this book. It’ll change your life.

This dark academia novel is both a love letter to linguistics and a criticism of academia as a whole. Despite being a little too ‘on the nose’ at times, I find Kuang’s overall illustration of themes like racism (including institutional), colonialism, eurocentrism, revolution, etc. through Robin’s journey very compelling. That being said, the narrative is definitely secondary to the portrayal of these themes and it reads more like historical fiction than historical fantasy. For this reason, I think that this book can be quite divisive. Readers who want to engage directly with the aforementioned themes and/or learn more about colonialism and its ties to academia will likely love this book. However, readers who like a more action-driven story and/or are looking for a piece with a strong fantasy vibe will likely be underwhelmed.

After cholera leaves Robin Swift orphaned, he finds himself in the company of renowned translator Professor Lowell. With little hope for a future in Canton, Robin travels with Professor Lowell to London to begin the first steps of his training as a translator. After years under Professor Lowell’s brutal tutelage, Robin is finally able to attend Oxford University’s Royal Institute of Translation. It is here that he will finally be able to learn silver-working, the magical force that saved his life from cholera and powers the British Empire. Though life at Oxford is better than Robin had hoped for, he is quickly challenged to think about who is benefiting from his personal pursuit of knowledge. Through his work in translation, Robin is empowering the very people who threaten his native China. When approached by the secret Hermes Society, Robin must decide whether to risk everything and join the student revolution seeking to sabotage the empire’s greatest weapon or turn his back on a homeland he barely remembers.

Robin’s character provides a really interesting, nuanced look at colonialism, eurocentrism, student revolution and racism. Though born in China, most of Robin’s formative years and education occur in London. As time isolated from his native country and culture passes, Robin feels more and more disconnected from it. Yet Robin will also never be fully accepted into the British society he has been brought into due to his Chinese heritage. By being ‘stuck’ between these two worlds, decisions that might seem obvious at first glance become more complicated in Robin’s position. Likewise, the discourse around language, power, and revolution are all given greater depth with the added context. Overall, Robin is easy to sympathize with and his position allows the reader to engage with the book’s themes in ways that feel fresh, engaging, and meaningful.

As previously mentioned, this novel clearly wants to get certain points across and is very direct in the ways it does so. A lot of the thematic/philosophical development is either discussed directly between the characters or delivered in a form of college lecture rather than shown through the plot. Where I found the discourse really intriguing, I can see where others would think it tedious or narratively lazy. Though I applaud this book for having a diverse cast of characters that I love, each of them (including Robin) have a clear role in the overall message Kuang is trying to convey. I don’t feel anything is necessarily reductive, but the fact that it is so obvious and limits some potential character development bothers me a little. Likewise, the magic system exists more as a platform for discussing the power in language and meaning than it does to create a complete alternate history of British colonialism. This book has been compared to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but I think those looking for a true historical fantasy with a robust, history-changing magic system like this will be disappointed.

Overall, I think those who have enjoyed Kuang’s other work know what to expect and will enjoy this one as well. I personally feel it is her strongest novel yet. However, it is very much a historical fiction piece with speculative elements more than a historical fantasy. For this reason, I think it will be very divisive for new readers.

CW: Racism, Child Abuse, Sexism, Epidemic (Cholera, very brief)

Babel is easily the most though provoking piece of fiction I have consumed this year. With it's lovable characters and intense social commentary it's not to be missed.

We follow young orphan, Robin Swift, as he is brought to London by a mysterious professor. This professor essentially grooms Robin to become a student at Oxford University's Institute of Translation — also known as Babel. Robin quickly gets romanced by the grandeur and stature that the university provides but as his years progress the sinister underbelly of higher education and all it's ugliness begins to reveal itself. Torn between what is right and what is just, Robin and his cohorts must choose the future they want.

Kuang has created the sort of book that readers will be better for reading. Tackling issues of race, classism, and elite education, I walked away felling both heartbroken and hopeful.

Endless thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the review copy.

I admit, like most dark academia, BABEL initially intimidated me by its size and gorgeous literary prose. I took breaks, first because it was a lot to take in, and then because as I became fully immersed in the story, I wanted to savor every sentence I read.
As an academic of color, BABEL is what the dark academia genre needs more of: students fighting against the system, remarks on society as a whole, and the toils of higher education against those of disadvantaged backgrounds. Kuang meticulously created a historical piece of literature filled with heart, endearment toward characters, and a deliciously extensive list of citations. I'm not sure words can properly summarize my feelings for this novel, but I want to leave with this: with times like now, BABEL shows history as well as present.

There are no words to describe my love for this book. There are so many underlying themes when it comes to what the main character goes through. I loved the setting, the story, EVERYTHING!

This review is my honest opinion, even though (1) I received a free advanced ebook copy of the novel from Netgalley/the publish, and (2) I knew the author when she was in high school, as a member of the speech and debate community.

The first 70% of this novel was one of the most exciting, fun fantasy novel reading experiences I’ve ever had, with world-building that rivaled Brandon Sanderson and roguish fun in a mostly academic setting that compares with the writing of Patrick Rothfuss. At the same time though, it’s a novel that neither Sanderson nor Rothfuss could have written; this was a uniquely R.F. Kuang work, drawing on the author’s multiple areas of expertise.

Then I got to the last 30% of the book and I remembered how grim and dark the Poppy War trilogy was; the author clearly wanted me to feel sad, angry, and uncomfortable and succeeded in all of that and more. Wow.

What an amazing and important novel! I highly recommend it. I plan to buy some physical copies of this one to put in my classroom and allow my students to read. It should generate wonderful, interesting thought-provoking discussions.

Colonialism, revolution, relationship, and betrayal all come together in this beautiful and gripping story about an orphaned boy who is given the opportunity of a lifetime to go to Oxford and translate for the prestigious Royal Institute of Translation known as Babel.But the more time he spends there, the more he begins to uncover what is the true purpose of the tower and what he is meant to be doing the more he begins to realize that everything is a lie. Robin Swift is left an orphan when his mother dies of cholera in Canton but is brought to London by Professor Lovell... who looks mysteriously like him. Professor Lovell takes Robin as his ward and trains him in languages, he practically beats it into him, all for the purpose of getting Robin to be accepted into Babel. When Robin begins his schooling at Babel he is introduced to three other students in his cohort who are all meant to be working on translating languages as well as enchanting silver bars, bars that have made the British empire unparalleled in power as it helps serve the Empire’s quest for colonization. Oxford is a haven for Robin at first, he is given wealth, food, friendship, education... but when a mysterious boy that looks exactly like him runs into him Robin’s entire perception of Oxford and Babel comes crushing down as he is lured into the Hermes Society, a group bent on opposing the Crown and stealing from Babel to fight the colonization. Robin will be pulled back and forth between who he is, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, and who he truly is meant to be. Robin must decide who he will side with, the place that has given him everything or his homeland, his people. This is a deeply touching story about identity, heritage, and the power that words have. I felt myself so deeply immersed in this story, and the struggles that Robin faced and the injustices and treatment of the students who were different. This is a story about language, and how it impacts us, from the languages we have and are raised with and the languages we take in order to adapt and fit in. As someone who was raised to speak my own native language of Vietnamese but soon lost the use of it over time as I adapted to speaking English more, it was so revealing of that experience, of how we can lose ourselves trying to fit in and what it means to revel in your own culture and tongue. Seriously this book will be with me long after... I am still processing it and I can honestly say, yes please read this, it is a must read.

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager, Harper Voyager for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

<b> " Pre-reading review: </b> I got approved for this ARC only to find out there is no romance to my fantasy. We will see how I do.

<b> <I> Thank you so much to Net Galley and to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of “Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution” by R.F. Kuang in exchange for an honest review. All of the following opinions are formulated on my own. Any quotes in this review should be cross-referenced with the final copy for any possible edits.</I> </b>

<b> Overall rating: </b> 5 out of 5 stars

<b> My favorite elements: </b> The quotes in this novel! No doubt about it - I am over the moon for this novel's writing and I think that is where the greatest strength is. I really enjoyed the intelligent language in the novel. I would not just pass this off as a novel marketed as dark academia! The way that academia is pictured it also incredibly unique as it pulls out the peaks and valleys of academia - IN A WORLD IN THE 1800s! The themes of colonialism, revolution, oppression, violence... how wonderfully this whole thing was crafted and it was not surface level. The magic system! ALL OF IT - JUST READ THIS

<b> My criticisms: <b> No. I refuse to write any because any criticisms coming from me... They mean nothing compared to how much I loved this.

<b> Will I finish the series? </b> This is a standalone novel from what I can tell!

<b> Does it deserves the hype?: </b> I'm going to say yes. My only hesitation is that I think people will pick it up looking for fantasy romance and will be disappointed when they do not find that.

<b> Important Elements (not tropes today!): </b>
- Diverse Cast
- Dark Academia
- Revolution
- Intricate Political Landscape
- Beautiful magic system
- QUOTES FOR DAYYYYYYYYS

<b> Favorite quote(s) </b> “Language was always the companion of empire, and as such, together they begin, grow, and flourish. And later, together, they fall.”

I loved what R.F. Kuang did in The Poppy War and Babel is perfect for fans of dark academia, history, languages, and found family.

The characters in this story are so well written and even the side characters play important roles in the larger story. I loved out main crew - well all but one anyway - and was constantly rooting for them all the way through. The ending was so fitting and still so heartbreaking and perfect.

"Babel" is such a uniquely crafted story, which I can best describe as dark academia meets science and historical fiction.

The novel is told from the perspective of Robin Swift, a boy of Chinese descent who is orphaned after the death of mother and taken to London by a mysterious Professor Lovell. There, Robin is given a regimented training in Latin and Greek, as well as his mother tongue Chinese, all in preparation for his entry into Oxford's School of Translation, better known as Babel. While Babel does indeed focus on language and translation, the school's focus lies in the mysterious art and science of silver-working, which takes a deep dive into the study of etymology to harness a strange magic.

Robin befriends three other students in his school, Ramy, Victoire, and Litty, as all three spend their years at Babel. Unbeknownst to the others, Robin stumbles across a mysterious group known as Hermes Society, which pilfers from the silver stores at Babel for the great good - or so he's led to believe. As Robin continues to work with the group, he puts both himself and his time at Babel in danger, and is forced to confront his own truth and the history underlying both the school and the different countries and civilizations he only once studied from books.

It's clear that R.F. Kuang has done an extensive amount of research for this novel across language, the study of translation and etymology, and the history spanning Great Britain, India, China, and the economic and financial ties between these bodies of power. Her strength as a writer is evident in the structured world-building, and her crafting of this version of Oxford and its construction of Babel. There's a number of characters and backstories to keep track of as well, including not only Robin, but his friends, his true and adopted family, classmates, teachers... it can at times feel overwhelming to keep track of them, but Kuang introduces them in a way that feels natural to the storyline and contributes to the overarching plot.

I was pulled in from the first page and loved seeing the story unfold across the novel. Definitely a recommended read that I'm sure many will come to enjoy after its release in August 2022!

R. F. Kuang wrote on goodreads that Babel is the most ambitious thing she’s ever written, and that means something because not only does she have two master’s degrees, she’s currently working on a PhD at Yale. Babel certainly reads like a book that took blood, sweat, and tears. It’s astonishing, vindicating, a story with a soul. I really believe that it is a landmark work of fiction.

It’s protagonist is young Robin Swift, a cholera-stricken orphan plucked from a bleak situation in southern China by a white benefactor and installed within the hallowed halls of Oxford University to pursue the distinguished discipline of translation. Over his four years of study, we watch as he forges friendships with a diverse circle of fellow language scholars and learns the skill of silver working, a type of magic that harnesses the power of shared meaning between words.

The comparisons to a certain other book about a magical English school will be inevitable, but the similarities end there. Imagine Harry Potter, but students of color are fully realized characters. Imagine the know-it-all white friend gets called out for her privilege and her microaggressions. Imagine the villain isn’t some shadowy bogeyman but colonialism itself. This is a fantasy book for grown-up people.

Kuang weaves an intricate story that is wholly absorbing, but she also infuses it with incredible nuance and empathy while tackling issues of systemic and internalized racism, of colonial legacies that pervade academia, of the insidiousness of exploitation masked in the rhetoric of free trade, and the question of whether true, meaningful change to the status quo can ever really happen without shock and violence.

This book destroyed me in all the best ways. It was incredible. Very easily one of my top three reads of the year. I want to give it to everyone.

There are books you love because there are entertaining, and there books you love because they are life changing, because they stay with you even after you’ve shelved them away. Babel is one of the those books that will stay imbedded in your soul. I gratefully got accepted for an arc of this beautiful book and there’s no doubt I will be re-reading it when it releases in August.

This book may be fiction, though it sheds a light on very real topics such as colonialism, racism, misogyny, and xenophobia and Kuang isn’t here to sugar coat any of it. The characters themselves are so beautifuly written I found myself falling in love with all of them. Besides a choice few of course.

Babel has blown my standards for a good book out of the park, R.F Kuang just gets better and better.