Name: Taylor's review of Babel by R. F. Kuang
Item: Babel
Rating: 5
Author: Taylor

R. F. Kuang

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History? and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell 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?

Or, the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution

Babel

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 of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel’s research in foreign languages serves the Empire’s quest to colonize everything it encounters.

Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports 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? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down? 

Babel — a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal response to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell — grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of translation as a tool of empire.

Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution

describes professor lovell quite accurately 

There are people, after all, and then there are things.

‘I know it.’ The sun had long set. Robin could no longer see Griffin's face, half-hidden in shadow. ‘That used to be my room.’

One thing united them all - without Babel, they had nowhere in this country to go.

Ramy grinned. In the years to come, Robin would return so many times to this night.

But Professor Lovell was adamant. ‘Languages are easier to forget than you imagine’, he said. 

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

Liv Wukasch

The origins of the word anger were tied closely to physical suffering. Anger was first an 'affliction', as meant by the Old Icelandic angr. and then a 'painful, cruel, narrow' state, as meant by the Old English ene, which in turn came from the Latin angor, which meant 'strangling, anguish, distress'. Anger was a chokehold. Anger did not empower you. It sat on your chest; it squeezed your ribs until you felt trapped, suffo- cated, out of options. Anger simmered, then exploded. Anger was constriction, and the consequent rage a desperate attempt to breathe. And rage, of course, came from madness.

nice

'But that's the problem, you see.  No one's focused on how we're all connected. We only think about how we suffer, individually.'

Reality was, after all, just so malleable — facts could be forgotten, truths suppressed, lives seen from only one angle like a thick prism, if only one resolved to look too closely.

Sara Salem

‘But thats the great contradiction of colonialism.’ Cathy uttered this like a simple matter of fact. ‘It’s built to destroy that which it prizes most.’

‘You must know the barbarians to control the barbarians, don't you think?’

And perhaps all that was morally compromised, yes — but was it so wrong to want to survive?

‘You see?' asked Anthony. ‘Languages aren't just made of words. They're modes of looking at the world. They're the keys to civilization. And that's knowledge worth killing for.’

It was difficult to disdain a man who so clearly adored the accumulation of knowledge for knowledge's sake.

...A city of contradictions and multitudes, as was any city that acted as a mouth to the world.

Robin was radicalized after seeing his friends and comrades get raided and murdered. He realized that Empire would only respond if their economy and society cease to function. However, some that joined him are becoming skeptical of his intentions and the thought behind their tactics. They disagree on whether violence should be used as a last resort, and only harming strategic targets, or if total violence and destruction spreading across the city is a result of the colonizers choices, and therefore absolves them of responsibility. 

It’s interesting that this book doesn’t really choose sides or frame a certain perspective as right or wrong, but rather presents all types of perspectives that one would encounter in a similar situation. 

sujj

“But that's precisely the devil's trick,” Robin insisted. This is how colonialism works. It convinces us that the fallout from resistance is entirely our fault, that the immoral choice is resistance itself rather than the circumstances that demanded it.”

“Even so, there are lines you can't cross."

“Lines? If we play by the rules, then they’ve already won- ”

This was a failure of nerve. A refusal to push things to the limit. Violence was the only thing that brought the colonizer to the table; violence was the only option. The gun was right there, lying on the table, waiting for them to pick it up. Why were they so afraid to even look at it? 

“Violence shows them how much we’re willing to give up,” said Griffin. “Violence is the only language they understand, because their system of extraction is inherently violent. Violence shocks the system. And the system cannot survive the shock. You have no idea what you're capable of, truly. You can't imagine how the world might shift unless you pull the trigger.”

White girl discovers revolution for the first time and asks why the oppressed didn’t try to be nice first. 

“The trick is how to get the average Londoner worked up over a war they're not likely to have ever heard of.”

“Appeal to their human nature and sympathy for the oppressed,” said Letty. 

 “It simply seems to me that all this aggression is quite pre-emptive,” Letty insisted. “I mean, you haven’t even tried making your case to the public. Have you ever considered you might better make your point by being nice?”

“If we push in the right spots - if we create losses where the Empire can't stand to suffer them - then we've moved things to the breaking point. Then the future becomes fuid, and change is possible. History isn't a premade tapestry that we've got to suffer, a closed world with no exit. We can form it. Make it. We just have to 

on educational institutions servicing empire

“The professors like to pretend that the tower is a refuge for pure knowledge, that it sits above the mundane concerns of business and commerce, but it does not. It's intricately tied to the business of colonialism. It is the business of colonialism… Everything Babel does is in service of expanding the Empire.” 

“Robbery, butchery, and theft - they call these things empire, and where they create a desert, they call it peace." 

bri 🍂

“You want to do the right thing,” said Ramy, bullish. “You always do. But you think the right thing is martyrdom. You think if you suffer enough for whatever sins you've committed, then you're absolved.”

mionne

After all, we’re here to make the unknown known, to make the other familiar. We’re here to make magic with words.

‘They make oats taste so good,’ he said, ‘I understand the joys of being a horse,’

Taylor

robin as a protagonist reminds me heavily of katniss, a hero not because they choose to be, but because revolution needed them to. would read it all again just to remember how sweet innocence can be.

i will be thinking about this for the rest of my life actually 

shadee

Broke my heart. Want to give it 4.5 stars but that would be an injustice.

Tari Rosario

the writing of this book is truly impeccable!! i loved following robin, ramy, victoire and letty throughout their babel years and they are obviously all so different from eachother and all have their own quirks and even though the ending was quite tragic, it was written so beautifully + it was a sacrifice that had to be made in order to make a change but truly wow!

micki

I literally cannot deign to give this book any less than 5 stars. What an epic, what a journey, what an incredible winding story. Kuang is an absolutely brilliant writer - both when it comes to character/story and just in her command of language alone. I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around the complexity of the work that was done to polish this novel to its absolutely shining final form.

There are two reasons why this book was a significant challenge for me. (1) This is a MEATY book. It is HEFTY. It’s written with eloquence and scholarly wisdom befitting the characters and the setting. It reads almost like a work of historical documentation (which like lol it is almost) and sometimes I found myself going over paragraphs frequently and constantly checking footnotes, etc. It’s not a light read, and I most definitely felt it as a strength training in my literary perception. (2) I typically read and enjoy media (book, movies, games, etc) to explore art and to escape the banality and depressing nature of living. This book…. Allowed me none of that. It’s full of colonialism, of hubris, trauma, psychology of humanity and psychology of power - of the patterns of history we make again and again and are even watching crumble us to ruins in real time. It was hard to swallow and made me a bit sick to my stomach, if we’re being honest. Which, might be a good thing for someone like me who is content to wander the planes of nonexistence so often.

Fair warnings aside, I don’t have anything else to say but “wow.” Thank you for the journey, Kuang. Even if at times I resented it. I don’t believe in spoilers so you’ll just have to go read it for yourself now.

I literally cannot deign to give this book any less than 5 stars. What an epic, what a journey, what an incredible winding story. Kuang is an absolutely brilliant writer - both when it comes to character/story and just in her command of language alone. I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around the complexity of the work that was done to polish this novel to its absolutely shining final form.

There are two reasons why this book was a significant challenge for me. (1) This is a MEATY book. It is HEFTY. It’s written with eloquence and scholarly wisdom befitting the characters and the setting. It reads almost like a work of historical documentation (which like lol it is almost) and sometimes I found myself going over paragraphs frequently and constantly checking footnotes, etc. It’s not a light read, and I most definitely felt it as a strength training in my literary perception. (2) I typically read and enjoy media (book, movies, games, etc) to explore art and to escape the banality and depressing nature of living. This book…. Allowed me none of that. It’s full of colonialism, of hubris, trauma, psychology of humanity and psychology of power - of the patterns of history we make again and again and are even watching crumble us to ruins in real time. It was hard to swallow and made me a bit sick to my stomach, if we’re being honest. Which, might be a good thing for someone like me who is content to wander the planes of nonexistence so often.

Fair warnings aside, I don’t have anything else to say but “wow.” Thank you for the journey, Kuang. Even if at times I resented it. I don’t believe in spoilers so you’ll just have to go read it for yourself now.

The concept for this book was very cool - having language be the mode for magic. There is something nice about how that translates to how we can make change ourselves. Describing the intricacies of etymology and having that be the building blocks for technology was also fascinating. It also showcased how language is the literal embodiment of how you write/ talk about something skews how it is perceived by others. Also when you translate, you can't always capture the original meaning - and it must cross some special dimension - and have an approximate translation. However, language is the backbone of how the world operates, and it was very clever to use that metaphor and extend it into how resources were extracted from colonies/people to Britain and other colonial powers. Similar to how must cross a spatial dimension to translate, you must carry goods across trade routes and the way they are perceived in one place differs from where they came from/ value is ascribed differently. 

While Kuang was very explicit about her themes (and banged it on the head of the reader so they couldn't misconstrue what she was saying), I don't think it detracted from her prose and characters. Some of my favorite passages were describing the friendship between the 4 students, the depictions of them "falling in love with one another" and making memories really warmed my heart. Even the 1-2 paragraphs that clued the reader into the longstanding complicated relation between Griffin and Sterling before their final showdown had me in awe - being able to so concisely convey a history that passed between 2 people. 

Letty's character also chilled me. The second Oxford was no longer just a classes and readings, she was not someone the group could trust. It made me sick because each step of the way it felt like her betrayal was inevitable. Her depiction made me really analyze my own behavior because Kaung was also very explicitly using Letty to speaking to people who could never fully understand/internalize the experiences she described in this book. 

This book also made me wish more people would just stop and listen to each other. Ramy and Robin have a conversation where they say they get along not only because they listen, but because they "hear" each other and get the meaning of their words or experiences. Yet, many people don't take the time to fully analyze and get what people are going through or understand. This was a wonderful read. 

Ashley Denktas

The concept for this book was very cool - having language be the mode for magic. There is something nice about how that translates to how we can make change ourselves. Describing the intricacies of etymology and having that be the building blocks for technology was also fascinating. It also showcased how language is the literal embodiment of how you write/ talk about something skews how it is perceived by others. Also when you translate, you can't always capture the original meaning - and it must cross some special dimension - and have an approximate translation. However, language is the backbone of how the world operates, and it was very clever to use that metaphor and extend it into how resources were extracted from colonies/people to Britain and other colonial powers. Similar to how must cross a spatial dimension to translate, you must carry goods across trade routes and the way they are perceived in one place differs from where they came from/ value is ascribed differently. 

While Kuang was very explicit about her themes (and banged it on the head of the reader so they couldn't misconstrue what she was saying), I don't think it detracted from her prose and characters. Some of my favorite passages were describing the friendship between the 4 students, the depictions of them "falling in love with one another" and making memories really warmed my heart. Even the 1-2 paragraphs that clued the reader into the longstanding complicated relation between Griffin and Sterling before their final showdown had me in awe - being able to so concisely convey a history that passed between 2 people. 

Letty's character also chilled me. The second Oxford was no longer just a classes and readings, she was not someone the group could trust. It made me sick because each step of the way it felt like her betrayal was inevitable. Her depiction made me really analyze my own behavior because Kaung was also very explicitly using Letty to speaking to people who could never fully understand/internalize the experiences she described in this book. 

This book also made me wish more people would just stop and listen to each other. Ramy and Robin have a conversation where they say they get along not only because they listen, but because they "hear" each other and get the meaning of their words or experiences. Yet, many people don't take the time to fully analyze and get what people are going through or understand. This was a wonderful read. 

I think it's truly crazy how this book is just a neat retelling of the original tale of the tower.

Sunkist’s Darling

I think it's truly crazy how this book is just a neat retelling of the original tale of the tower.



Usman Merchant

It's full packaged of languages and literatures, and historical in a one book. I love how they describing something with etymological term

Seka.

OMGGGG WHAT AN INCREDIBLE BOOK T....T

It's full packaged of languages and literatures, and historical in a one book. I love how they describing something with etymological term

Cried for several reasons (used this for my undergrand thesis #academicweapon)

It lets you live a different and very needed perspective 

angel

This was one of the most thought provoking and interesting books I’ve read in a while. The fantasy elements combined with the societal commentary and themes of revolution and resisting imperialism were done in a really unique way. The author didn’t hold back from describing the logic behind armed resistance. 

I wish I had more, and the ending left me questioning so many things, which I think was the intention. My only complaint is that the beginning was a bit slow, and the entire first half of the book felt like setting up the plot. But the rest of it made up for it. I had to hold back from highlighting a paragraph on each page in the second half. 

I highlyyyy recommend all my friends to read this book! It’s easier to digest because it’s fiction, but has some really interesting and important connections to real life! I could write an essay but I’ll spare you. 

This was one of the most thought provoking and interesting books I’ve read in a while. The fantasy elements combined with the societal commentary and themes of revolution and resisting imperialism were done in a really unique way. The author didn’t hold back from describing the logic behind armed resistance. 

I wish I had more, and the ending left me questioning so many things, which I think was the intention. My only complaint is that the beginning was a bit slow, and the entire first half of the book felt like setting up the plot. But the rest of it made up for it. I had to hold back from highlighting a paragraph on each page in the second half. 

I highlyyyy recommend all my friends to read this book! It’s easier to digest because it’s fiction, but has some really interesting and important connections to real life! I could write an essay but I’ll spare you. 

WHAT THE FUCK FUCK ASS BOOK😭😭😭😭😭😭

asher

I just finished it and cannot describe it but it will stay with me for the foreseeable future 

Julieta

Chase Leitner

annaaa

Anastasiia 

Poorva 

The heavens fell, and the earth collapsed on itself.

Karmen 

i started this book and read a third of it in like, two days. it was extremely interesting and captivating, and i still do think the ideas and concepts behind it are phenomenal. the execution, however, ended up leaving much to be desired.

i've seen many people describing babel as lacking subtlety, and in a way it's true. as i read this, it felt like the author was constantly leading me by the hand and telling me “this is wrong, this is bad”. perhaps it's a book i'd recommend to some very dense white friends who are rather clueless about the history of colonialism, but it didn't do much for me, personally.

stylistically i find kuang’s prose a bit plain, but that's a me thing because i tend to put great importance on writing style. the problem was that for a book set in the 1800s, it reads way too modern. oftentimes it felt like i was reading a recently published academic paper on colonialism, which i can still excuse because it isn't necessarily bad, but the dialogues? the way most characters spoke reminded me of people i could interact with any day on twitter.

that being said, this is still a solid book. i can totally see the appeal, it's just not for me.

i started this book and read a third of it in like, two days. it was extremely interesting and captivating, and i still do think the ideas and concepts behind it are phenomenal. the execution, however, ended up leaving much to be desired.

i've seen many people describing babel as lacking subtlety, and in a way it's true. as i read this, it felt like the author was constantly leading me by the hand and telling me “this is wrong, this is bad”. perhaps it's a book i'd recommend to some very dense white friends who are rather clueless about the history of colonialism, but it didn't do much for me, personally.

stylistically i find kuang’s prose a bit plain, but that's a me thing because i tend to put great importance on writing style. the problem was that for a book set in the 1800s, it reads way too modern. oftentimes it felt like i was reading a recently published academic paper on colonialism, which i can still excuse because it isn't necessarily bad, but the dialogues? the way most characters spoke reminded me of people i could interact with any day on twitter.

that being said, this is still a solid book. i can totally see the appeal, it's just not for me.

Kuang has a lot to say and I am always impressed by how she says it. This is an important read

Treyden Talbot

hyun

Oxford, 1836. The city of dreaming spires. It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world. And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows. Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.

An Arcane History

Can I say that I have a love hate relationship with this book. The book started agonizingly slow. It was a snoozefest but I am a patient person after all so I gave it a chance. Like let us not draw any conclusions yet, let us wait. And so I waited for it to be good and that happened around 200 pages. I was happy because finally something good is happening. 

The Book I, is just full of studying and information. The story started in the protagonist's point of view but I just realized how I never really see his character. He was timid, obedient child. But in the end he sacrificed himself. Honestly looking back this book is definitely plot driven. I don't feel the character's vindication. And I never see a clear image since the author likes to interrupt with history or facts. 

Book II, has new people and I was excited and then exactly at 200 pages there's an action that made me hopeful to continue. But there's this part where it made me furious because this is the time where we can truly see the characters mingle with their upperclassmen but it never happened because the author described the whole thing with little dialogue. 

And then by the end the main protagonist, Robin did a 180. His personality is very much different but we can see it in a mile away but I don't know, I can't pinpoint my problem with this change. The author is not good at showing the transition. I guess he started to change when he killed a person but I'm not convinced by the change in the end. 

I don't know but even with the great ending, the book is clunky, I never really fully immersed myself in it because it reads like a textbook. The author doesn't use the 'show not tell' rule because she will describe things and not show us. I think that's why I never truly felt the characters in the book. 

The author is a great writer nevertheless but you need to cleverly know where to explain and describe a scene or to show the readers the actions of characters through their body language or behavior. 

It breaks my heart because this is a great story but after all it says it's An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution. It is the history of their bravery but I feel disconnected, the atmosphere wasn't set. I never truly felt the characters' feelings. It does tell you a lot about history and I understand what revolting to an empire is. 

In the end, it is a great read. I did enjoy it, some parts made me livid because it can be told in a way the reader can see it themselves. I think the author should trust her readers more. But on the bright note, the plot is amazing and the arcane arts was great. 

Can I say that I have a love hate relationship with this book. The book started agonizingly slow. It was a snoozefest but I am a patient person after all so I gave it a chance. Like let us not draw any conclusions yet, let us wait. And so I waited for it to be good and that happened around 200 pages. I was happy because finally something good is happening. 

The Book I, is just full of studying and information. The story started in the protagonist's point of view but I just realized how I never really see his character. He was timid, obedient child. But in the end he sacrificed himself. Honestly looking back this book is definitely plot driven. I don't feel the character's vindication. And I never see a clear image since the author likes to interrupt with history or facts. 

Book II, has new people and I was excited and then exactly at 200 pages there's an action that made me hopeful to continue. But there's this part where it made me furious because this is the time where we can truly see the characters mingle with their upperclassmen but it never happened because the author described the whole thing with little dialogue. 

And then by the end the main protagonist, Robin did a 180. His personality is very much different but we can see it in a mile away but I don't know, I can't pinpoint my problem with this change. The author is not good at showing the transition. I guess he started to change when he killed a person but I'm not convinced by the change in the end. 

I don't know but even with the great ending, the book is clunky, I never really fully immersed myself in it because it reads like a textbook. The author doesn't use the 'show not tell' rule because she will describe things and not show us. I think that's why I never truly felt the characters in the book. 

The author is a great writer nevertheless but you need to cleverly know where to explain and describe a scene or to show the readers the actions of characters through their body language or behavior. 

It breaks my heart because this is a great story but after all it says it's An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution. It is the history of their bravery but I feel disconnected, the atmosphere wasn't set. I never truly felt the characters' feelings. It does tell you a lot about history and I understand what revolting to an empire is. 

In the end, it is a great read. I did enjoy it, some parts made me livid because it can be told in a way the reader can see it themselves. I think the author should trust her readers more. But on the bright note, the plot is amazing and the arcane arts was great. 

‘Be selfish. Be brave.’ This book shattered my heart into a million pieces and also made me reevaluate the world I live in and also made me smarter probably. 

Gigi Wood

'Betrayal. Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?'

Hoo boy. This is a gut punch of a book that will hit hard for book historians and linguists. It's a long book, but a short epic. I'll be thinking about the world and philosophy of this book for a long, long time, so it gets the very rare 5 stars from me.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

Taylor &
Babel by R. F. Kuang

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Babel by R. F. Kuang