I loved this book. We follow main character, Robin, as he is pulled from his home in China to study languages and eventually become a student at Oxford's prestigious translation college, Babel. During their time at Babel, Robin and his cohort face varying degrees of racism, sexism, and violence. They oscillate between feelings of joy and appreciation for their time at Babel, and anger, frustration, and sadness for the circumstances that brought them there and the conditions that they must meet to continue to "belong" to the college and its associated community. The members of the cohort grow and change based on their experiences and through their education of the world and how people in the world are treated by/through Babel.

I have not read a book that has so effectively tackled colonialism, language, and racism, and how a person's situation can be multi-faceted in regards to them. It is by no means an easy book to read, but it's a beautiful, difficult, thought-provoking one. I didn't know much about Babel going into it, just that it was a dark academia book. Upon reading, I discovered a group of very complex characters that were all relatable for different reasons and found myself becoming attached to all of them as their journeys evolved throughout the novel. I would highly recommend Babel.

I’m so honored that I got this digital arc of one of my highly anticipated releases. Kuang Drew parallels from her own experiences at Oxford University. I loved that this book doesn’t shy away from talking about racism.

Arc provided by the publisher via NetGalley; Thank you.

Babel: or the necessity of violence: an arcane history of the Oxford translators’ revolution, centre’s around four students (robin, ramy, victoire, and letty) in Oxford’s translation institute and it explores topics such as colonialism, racism, revolution, academia, language and translation, and decolonisation.

There is no doubt that R. F Kuang is a master of world building and descriptive writing. It takes a certain talent to inject visuals into words, and Kuang’s descriptions of the architecture and ambience was vivid with details. I felt as if I lived in each of those sentences — in the libraries, the dark grey streets, the translation tower, etc. The writing and prose was divine and eloquent; it was picturesque and I heavily enjoyed it. Kuang’s portrayal of colonialism was honest, raw and polemical. She did not shy away from addressing important discussions such as student revolutions, especially the necessity of violence.

The characters' experiences, their insights of how ingenious Colonialism can be, their stories, and their grief all feel authentic and true. As a south asian, it felt wonderful and very emotional to see the brown representation, and not only were the characters perfectly portrayed, they had depth and influence. The mentions of Buddhism, Islam, south Asian culture, customs, traditions and languages were not only well researched but respectful; you could really tell Kuang put much thought and research into it. I’m really thankful for it and words cannot describe how proud I felt reading them.

The magic system in Babel, silver work, is unique and I’ve never seen it done before. I enjoyed reading about etymology and the artistry and elegance of various languages, and their relevance in this system.

Babel really shows the importance of knowing one’s mother tongue and background, it emphasise the beauty and the need for it. Not only was this an enlightening piece of art, it was educational and got me pondering and questioning about things throughout. I was able to relate and understand to some of the questioning and complex growth the main character, Robin Swift, went through regarding his identity and beliefs. The ability to connect with the characters is an important factor to me and this book did not disappoint.

Babel shines in the dark academia genre, which is predominantly white, and is a perfect work of literature. It captures important topics, represent diverse characters and backgrounds, delve into the prejudice faced by people of colour, marvellously examine and present academia, and showcases complex and difficult topics in a straightforward and unsubtle (as it should), genuine manner.

(P.s: Ramy Mirza is the most perfect and brilliant boy to exist and he holds my heart)

Incisive and brutal, this book is an unflinching look at the tragedy of empire and an apt parable about the role of language as a tool of imperialism. This is a deftly written alternate history, using one major change (silver working) to really emphasize the brutality of empire and how it exploits the resources, labor, language, and cultures of those that they colonize. It's not a happy book; in fact, I'd say it's fairly tragic. However, it certainly makes you think and takes you on a journey that is enlightening and appropriately uncomfortable. R.F. Kuang has done a masterful job of using the story of several young people caught up in the machinery of empire to make you think about the inherent evils of imperialism, racism, and capitalist disregard for the humanity of workers.

There is so much to say about this book, but most of it has already been said so I will be brief. This book does a perfect job of detailing so many issues with the world that have not changed in the nearly 200 years since it was set. From the way visible minorities are treated in academia, being expected to stay quiet in exchange for a seat at the table, to the way white people, and especially white women, often fail to understand that race and gender are not equivalent axes of oppression, this book needs to be set when it is for the conflict to take place, but it needed to be written now for these ideas to have full impact.
On top of all that it crafts a historical fantasy that both perfectly serves it's themes as well as makes me want to see how it would have developed into the modern day. One character states "the revels of the Empire were simply unsustainable", and I wonder how much of that is true. How does silver-working impact the trajectory of the world from the events of the book until the present day? Would silver help or hinder the independence movement in India in the 1940s? Would it be used to power the space race? This book is a stand alone but it makes me speculate about a hundred different stories that could live in this world and others like it, where the magic and the conflict are not only intertwined but grown together.
I am so excited for this book to be released so I can recommend it to everyone, from patrons at the library to my 96 year old grandmother. I already have the eBook but I'll buy a copy to put it at point-of-pride on my shelf. This was a must read for me now and I can't wait for everyone to be able to curl up with a copy this fall.

5 incredibly beautiful stars

Babel is a historical fiction fantasy about an orphaned boy named Robin brought to Oxford to explore an education in language in the tower of babel. His journey through his academic career is filled with friendships, betrayal, grief, and injustice that result in Robin forcefully taking a path that may change both himself and Babel forever. Kuang has such a talent for writing character complexity and immersive settings, I was drawn in from page one. It’s truly such an impactful novel and I can’t wait for my physical copies to start arriving (I think I’m getting a total of 3…. Oops.)

I've been dying to get my hands on Babel by R.F. Kuang because everything about this novel *screamed* THIS IS THE BOOK WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR. And it did not disappoint.

Babel is set in an alternative 1800s Oxford, where silver magic is only accessible to those with the skill to master languages and translations. This is such a creative and refreshing twist on the roots of magic, which I've never seen in literature before.

And it's clear to the reader immediately that extensive research when into this novel, which makes it a richer and more immersive experience. I absolutely loved all the dark academia in misty Oxford vibes! Kuang is sensitive and thoughtful in her approach to weaving in the elitism of the academic corner, as well its hand in racism and colonialism in a way that invites conversation and reflection. It's never a lecture or overtly done in a forceful way; it's part of this world and, thus, part of our natural exploration of it.

Although the story began quite slowly, it was *never* boring or dull. Everything was vivid and inviting, beckoning me deeper into this heart-wrenching tale of sacrifice, grief, and violence. It's everything I didn't expect it to be, and that's why I couldn't put it down.

A massive Thank You to Harper Voyager for the ARC.

This is an important, challenging, thoughtful entry into the "dark academia" genre. Kuang is not hesitant about calling out the colonialism, classism, and racism that exists in both academia and this literary genre. The characters themselves grapple with these ideas and draw a variety of conclusions about the best way to approach these issues. The answers that Kuang comes to are not easy, but they are earned.

Added to this, the wordplay throughout is fantastic and a lot of fun. I have to admit that I had a hard time wrapping my head around the magic system of silver and match pairs, and sometimes it seemed a little inconsistent (though I'm not sure if that's because I didn't understand it or if that's because it actually was). I tried to just roll with it as much as I could, but it did occasionally pull me out of the story as I wondered how things worked.

Overall, a must-read.

3.5 stars.

A stunning and heartbreaking examination of racism and imperialism via historical fantasy.

In 1800s Oxford, England, in a universe where silver magic relies on nuances of languages and translation, an institute of translation called Babel holds great power. The book follows the stories of several young students, chosen for their intellect and their mastery of other languages, as they develop their skills and come to terms with the implications of their work.

The story works well on so many levels. The coming of age story, the university friendships, the struggle to do the right thing - all work well on their own. When you add in the strong critiques of academia and empire, and the difficult questions raised regarding when and how violence is justified, it becomes something else entirely. It's hard to describe without giving too much away, but this is an incredibly powerful book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

4.5 stars. Now this is (not) dark academia. Let me explain: after reading it, I'm not sure if I'd consider Babel dark academia. Or, rather, I consider it what I'm deciding to call anti-dark academia dark academia. Sure, it's got the aesthetic trappings of dark academia; it's set in Oxford, after all, and focuses on a group of students studying arcane languages (among others). However, I think people often forget that dark academia is not just an aesthetic but a subgenre, a subculture, one that revolves around the fantasy of pure, unfettered scholarship, the striving for the ideal, and the hubris and the power that comes with it. In this context, Babel entirely inverts the themes of dark academia. It indicts the very foundations of dark academia, tearing down the fantasy of "pure scholarship" that can be unconcerned with the happenings of the real world, because the institutions in which this scholarship takes place -- indeed, the real-world institutions that inspired dark academia in the first place -- are inextricably tied to colonialism, exploitation, violence, and empire, both historical and contemporary.

This is the heart of the novel: the inherent violence of these institutions, the complicity of all those who participate and uphold those institutions and pretend they can be separated from their bloody foundations. Because of its reflections of the real world and its history, Babel often reads more like a historical text than a fictional novel, which honestly works really, really well for it.

I won't try to sketch the outline of the story in this review, because to go any further than the blurb already does would do a disservice to anyone who hasn't yet read the book. But I will say that Babel's story felt so real, so raw, that it was sometimes difficult to remember that I was reading a fictional novel and not some amalgamation of real-world history and my own experiences as an Asian student at a predominantly, historically white university. It's clear that Rebecca Kuang's own experiences informed her writing of this novel, and she masterfully communicates the nuances and complexities of the internal conflicts felt by Robin especially, but also the rest of his cohort, as they attempt to navigate the contradictions between empire, university, and morality.

For fans of dark academia, worry not, there still is much academia in Babel; both the romance of scholarship in the "city of dreaming spires" and the reality of the grueling lifestyle of academia. For those who love linguistics and languages, there's no shortage of interesting explorations of etymology and translation theory. Even for those who might not, it's hard not to get caught up in Robin and co.'s work, to feel just as engaged and excited as they were with their research. In those moments, Oxford really is beautiful; a dark academia dream. It makes it all the more effective when this is all torn apart. Babel is heartbreaking, because it should be. Because how else can the story go? How else can the story of an institution built on a system of violence and exploitation, one so deeply dependent on this system and so entrenched in power it cannot imagine any other without a revolution, eventually, inevitably, end?

I reserve the last 0.5 stars of my rating for issues with some of the dialogue, the pacing at some points, and what I feel was just slightly underdevelopment of some of our central characters (I wanted to know so much more about Victoire!). But as a whole, Babel was truly an incredible story; it's dark academia that doesn't shy away from what dark academia really is, what it was built on and inspired by, or the reality of colonialism and -- as it says in the title -- the necessity of violence. It's a story that broke my heart, and one that will stay near it for a long time.

Worth the hype. So glad I got to read this one early. R.F Kuang is a masterful writer. Pick this one up, when it releases. You will not regret it one bit.

Babel was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it completely exceeded all my expectations. Now that I’ve read it it’s safe to say that this is the best book I’m gonna read this year. There’s just no way anything else could top it.

First of all I want to commend R. F. Kuang for the amount of research that went into this book. It was just insane, you could really feel that while reading. The worldbuilding relies in real events but also in translation and linguistics and these aspects were explored in such an original way. The basis for the magic system is translation, and being someone who doesn’t have English as my native tongue I’m never going to think about translation in the same way, specially when a word doesn’t really convey the exact same meanings in a different language

This book just made the standard for the Dark Academia genre so much higher. First of all, I really loved the way Kuang used footnotes cause it was kind of like reading an academic text. There was a lot of focus on what they were learning, and the themes of linguistics, etymology and translation are so interesting. At times it felt like i was at a lecture learning about these things, but it was never boring.

I also love how the magic system was linked to england’s colonialism and the exploitation of the countries, specially because that is so linked to academia. This book made me think a lot.

The first 20% was a bit slow, but after that the pacing turned really great, I just couldn’t stop reading. Some of the twists were shocking but even the ones you could see from miles away were done in such a brilliant way that I still felt the emotional impact. Kind of like a trainwreck that you can see coming but you can’t do anything to stop it, it built so much anticipation.

I loved the characters and while I felt emotional attached to them, I sort of think the secondary characters could be as developed as Robin was. But I understand maybe that wasn’t the focus. It was all about the story and a bigger picture.

I also felt like the title “The Necessity of Violence” was really fitting. It provoked outrage and visceral reactions in me and I love when a book can do that. I was speechless several times at how the themes were treated, I think it was different from everything i’ve read. R. F. Kuang created a masterpiece here and made this book an instant favorite of mine.

Lucky me having felt prepared for the book content having just learned about this time period in England in my history class.
This book consists of a lot of educational narrative. It constantly tells you what words in English originated from. I found it quite unnecessary. In the beginning it provided insight into the whole structure of word and their original definitions, but after that it just took up so much of the page.
Similarities to tpw for those interested:
- Chinese mc w/ dead family
- Colonialism (obviously)
- Kinda an anti-hero (not close to Rin’s level)
- Found family
- Grief ridden mc
- mc racks up human casualties
- Feels powerful after violence (slow burn to that tho)
- mc feels undeserving of life & status
- Racism
- Rising against oppressor
- SACRIFICE
This novel had my undivided attention around 70%. The novel really picked up there in action. Before that there was a lot of uncertainty. It went through periods of joy when Robin was hanging out with Letty, Ramy and Victoire, then the tedious vocab and forgettable history lessons.
I really wanted to love this but I think tpw discussed these topics better.
I did learn a lot about history in this that I enjoyed and that will stick with me.
The best way to describe the 4 scholars friendship is w/ this quote “all four of them were drowning in the unfamiliar, and they saw in each other a raft, and clinging to one another was the only way to stay afloat.”
The ending was how I expected and when you read it you will know the conclusion way before you’re at the end.

I am utterly incapable of forming any words that are truly able to encapsulate my love and praise for this novel.

With her unparalleled craftsmanship, meticulous research, and passion for linguistics R.F. Kuang’s Babel is a marvel in the fantasy, dark academia, and historical fiction genres. In the scope of one novel, she has crafted a story that beautifully encompasses the complexity of linguistics and the power of language (through her passionate translations within the novel), colonialism, the lead up to the First Opium War, and the experiences of non-white residents and the roles they played in the British Empire in the early 19th century.

I adore the characters in this novel, and if you're a fan of the found family trope you will too. There is a diverse cast of characters, and the relationships they build with one another over their time at Oxford are incredible. Their relationships never felt forced, and every character was well developed, each bringing their own perspective and background to the story. I won't lie, the progression of Robin's relationship with Professor Lovell had me feeling every emotion.

The use of fantasy in this novel is easily digestible, and it adds to the plot so effortlessly.

Babel is an absolutely brilliant novel. It has easily taken its place as a favorite of mine.

-

Thank you Harper Voyager for the ARC.

This is undoubtedly Kuang's best work yet. So much of the dark academia that I've been reading hardly ever pays mind to the academia part. But leave it to The R.F. Kuang to write something very detailed and informative while being able to maintain its entertaining quality. I'm afraid nothing will ever top this. I mean what I say, it's not up for debate.

THIS IS WHAT DARK ACADEMIA IS MEANT TO BE! It doesn't just wear the term like a mere accessory, it brings the substance and the complexity. I do not have the skill to articulate the genius of this novel and it's many themes, but R. F. Kuang delivered it beautifully. Her passion, knowledge, and extensive research in the art of translation was evident on every page, and lovers of language will enjoy the etymology lessons woven into the prose and the magic system.

The themes in this book will stick with me for a long time. I can't wait to have a physical copy in my hands to fill with annotations.

Trigger warnings: racism, xenophobia, colonization, sexism, misogyny, plague, child abuse, medical content, slavery (off-page), microaggressions, drugs, suicidal thoughts/suicide, grief, torture, mild body horror/gore, classism

Writing: 4.5/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot: 3.5/5

An alternate / speculative history version of the British Empire in the 1830s where the wheels of commerce are driven by magic, imbued to bars of silver through the machinations of Translators. Robin Swift is plucked from Canton in the midst of a cholera epidemic by a Professor at the Royal Institute of Translation in Oxford. Robin’s gift of languages has made him valuable to the empire, and he goes from an impoverished childhood to one of plenty: plenty of material goods and plenty of work. I absolutely loved the first part of the book which built a world based on the impossibility of accurate and precise translation and the extractable magic embedded in the difference. The author is Oxford and Yale educated, specializing in Contemporary Chinese Studies and East Asian Languages, and I thoroughly enjoyed the linguistic forays and the consistency of the model she built.

From there — unfortunately from my perspective — the story veered into the politics of oppression, injustice, and racism. Robin and a group of (also foreign and dark skinned) classmates become enraged at the impending war Parliament is likely to launch on the Chinese who have declared Britain’s Opium contraband and burned the lot. Embracing violence — with all the complications that entails — comprises the plot of the rest of the book (in case you missed it, the subtitle is “On the necessity of violence.”)

The story is very well-written, the characters have depth, and the history is accurate. While I said it was an “alternate” or “speculative” history, that only applied to the “magical” components — the rest followed real history accurately until the very end. I enjoyed the philosophical discussions of morality, ethical behavior, and fairness, though I wish she had not made the representatives of empire so absolutely nasty and clearly wrong (I always think there is more subtlety to any individual than is apportioned to novelistic portrayals).

Not surprisingly, I learned a few new words:
- synecdoche — a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa.
- discursive — digressing from subject to subject (too many people write and talk this way!)
- rhotic — of, relating to, or denoting a dialect or variety of English

Some quotes:

“That’s just what translation is, I think. That’s all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they’re trying to say.”

“English did not just borrow words from other languages; it was stuffed to the brim with foreign influences, a Frankenstein vernacular.”

“Their minds, enriched with new sounds and words, were like sleek muscles waiting to be stretched.”

“The poet runs untrammeled across the meadow. The translator dances in shackles.”

“It was like tunneling into the crevasses of his own mind, peeling things apart to see how they worked, and it both intrigued and unsettled him.”

“What was a word? What was the smallest possible unit of meaning, and why was that different from a word? Was a word different from a character? In what ways was Chinese speech different from Chinese writing?”

“Every language is complex in its own way. Latin just happens to work its complexity into the shape of the word. Its morphological richness is an asset, no an obstacle.”

“London had accumulated the lion’s share of both the world’s silver ore and the world’s languages, and the result was a city that was bigger, heavier, faster, and brighter than nature allowed.”

“Robin saw immediately that London was, like Canton, a city of contradictions and multitudes, as was any city that acted as a mouth to the world.”

Such an incredible and powerful read. I loved the dark academia setting, The prose is beautiful, and I loved the translating aspects with some magic sprinkled in with the silversmithing. This book deals with important themes surrounding colonialism, language, racism, and revolution.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC! I have read the author's previous series and easily fell in love with her writing, so I was excited when I got the opportunity to read this book. And R.F. Kuang did not disappoint with this book. Babel is a historical fiction that heavily ties in with the colonial aspects of the 19th century British Empire. Through her characters, Kuang wrote a beautiful story of friendship and the wonders of language, holding onto the dark academia aesthetic. However, like her last series, this book includes darker topics and as the story progresses, Kuang transports the reader into the characters' perspectives. Reading this book as a woman and a person of color really reached out to me. In so many aspects of this book, I felt seen, and the struggles that these characters faced felt similar to my own. I connected so easily with the main characters that I had to hold in my tears throughout the book. Overall, this book is a great read and I would recommend it to anyone, it easily became one of my top reads of the year.

I already knew I loved R.F. Kuang as a writer after reading The Poppy War but reading Babel definitely cemented her as my all time favorite writer. Throughout the book, she managed to bring out nearly every emotion imaginable. I was in tears for the last three chapters, she had me rolling my eyes in annoyance and yelling at certain characters in anger or frustration at several points throughout the book, at one character in particular who has a special aptitude for displaying white fragility, and she also had me laughing and tearing up from how much I adored some of the characters. Ramy might just be one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. All of her characters are well thought out, the good an the bad ones, as was the plot, and even though this is a fantasy novel, there are not any outrageously evil characters like you would often find in most fantasy books, but the antagonists of Babel are particularly terrifying because we all know these people in real life. Yes, the story takes place all the way back in the 1830s so it was more extreme than today but there are still people today who think in very similar ways to the colonizers in this book, and a lot of the racist ideologies written about in this book are still prevalent today. It's a fantasy, but a fantasy based on real life and real history. I will be in recovery from the emotional damage caused by this book for the foreseeable future and I will be on a mission to get all of my coworkers to read this once it comes out. I would also like to give some special appreciation to all the little footnotes that made reading Babel an even more immersive experience than it already would have been, that gave further insights to this fictional world and its characters, as well as insights to actual historical events that took place during this time. R.F. Kuang is truly a genius and I thank her for crushing my soul with every single book she writes