Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
R.F. Kuang
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Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
R.F. Kuang
A novel that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization. For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide… Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?
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0There are a few layers to this book. Each performs differently and maybe supposed to be ranked separately. Let's try that.
Philosophical & historical value ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Someone on Tiktok called it the most important book of this year and in this category, there won't be much of a competition. Every single thing in this book is dedicated to the condemnation of colonialism, racism, and classism. Even though the existence of a globally used form of magic changes some details, obviously, still most of the world resembles our world of that time. And we learn in details, I mean DETAILS and from many perspectives, about colonizers' crimes. The volume of this colossal book tells how much was invested into research. There is also a fair share of philosophical thoughts stuck by the author anywhere possible.
It was all very thought-provoking. No doubt there.
So for this category 5 starts are very well deserved. The point couldn't have been more clearly and thoroughly getting across.
Magic system ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It's the only convincingly explained magic caused by saying a magical word. Nothing else, maybe except oriental concept of the power of a true name, make any sense.
Yes. That's something I am thinking about quite often.
So props to the author for a great idea.
And the amount of work that was put into the examples, origins, the whole linguistics... I could not produce a book like that in three lifetimes.
I just wish it was more useful to the characters. Yes, it's being incorporated into the story as economical leverage, the main resource, and is very important and used widely in the world.
BUT.
Our characters use it a handful of times. Someone could've thought that rogue mages fighting British Empire and colonialism would invent some sick moves and fight epic battles with this magic. Nope. We practically study it ourselves, taking how many classes are described in this book, but we never get to see this knowledge utilized for something new and unexpected.
Characters, plot and pacing ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Here comes the weakest category in my opinion.
The build-up was sooooo sloooooow
0I’m inconsolable and I don’t think I’ll ever be okay ever again. Somewhere in between 4.5 and 4.75 stars at the moment. Review to come.
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