This is why I read. Best book of the year hands down. Books like this make me cease reading for a while because nothing will compare.

While not a direct comp to Babel (fantasy fans, especially dark academia fans will be a bit disappointed), there is a lot of overlap in themes and the use of language. Language of Liars is like the academic level up from Babel that linguistics nerds want (that's me, I'm the linguistics nerd). There is so much technical linguistic jargon that I worry it will dissuade non-linguists and more casual readers, but hopefully such a short format at under 200 pages will convince readers and most of that jargon can be skipped without sacrificing understanding of the story. If you want to know *why* Ro knows things, the linguistics helps, but it's not necessary.

This is also from the academic colonizer's point of view rather than the revolutionary, and instead of Babel's "is violence necessary for true revolution" question, this one asks "can we lessen the harm we've already enacted without causing more?" This is the "after" of Babel, the realization of and "what do we do next" after the atrocity has already been committed, a question so many of us are currently asking. This book provides no answers, but does what the best sci-fi books do - it poses the question in a way that forces us to look at it with fresh eyes and from a new angle. Take away the aliens and the astral fields and this book is pure cautionary tale of something that's happened countless times in our own history (and still happening) topped with the philosophy of how to prevent it from happening yet again.

There are plenty of criticisms of course: the book is told solely from the colonizer point of view with plenty of (alien) white guilt and a touch of saviorism. There is grief over what was lost and generational guilt from the act of destroying it, and while there is a focus on reparations, there is no input from the colonized (which makes sense in the book's context, but should not be taken as a guide). However, it does a fantastic job of showing how even the best intentioned colonizers are still colonizers, how "minimal harm" over time can be maximal, and how our abysmal ability to recognize our own influence in the present can change our perception (and record) of the past and future. Certainly a cautionary tale for those who want to study or participate out of respect, as even mere existence as an outsider can cause irreparable harm. As Babel's "an act of translation is always an act of betrayal" continues here, Language of Liars takes it even further to declare that the act of scholarship on another being is always an act of violence.

This will be the book I won't shut up about in 2026. Consider yourself warned.