Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

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I was lucky enough to go into reading Babel with very little information about the book. I knew it was about Oxford University in the nearish past and that was about it. Having recently read The Poppy War, I knew I was in for gorgeous writing and a well executed plot, but I was not prepared for the scope and emotional impact this book would deliver!

If you would like to enjoy that same experience, know that I loved this book highly, highly recommend it. Now stop reading and go buy it or put it on hold at your library. Bye!

If you want some more excited ramblings…thanks for staying!

Robin Swift finds his life forever changed when, after his mother’s death, he is taken from his home in Canton to the home of Professor Lovell in London. His days are spent with tutors, learning Greek and Latin, and spending hours memorizing new vocabulary and learning how to adjust to life in London. These grueling days of study are all in preparation of his enrollment at Oxford University and a lifelong career of words, languages, and translations. In Robin’s world, a complicated magic system employs the use of silver bars and match-pairs, words that trigger a magical event, to make life easier and in some ways, just function. Finding students who are fluent in multiple languages are crucial to the creation and maintenance of these silver bars.

Once Robin is fully enrolled at Oxford, he discovers that there is a much darker side to the world around him. He and his fellow language translation students, Babblers to those at Oxford, find themselves the subjects of racism, colonialism, and sexism, as well as many other forms of discrimination, all while their work and study is crucial to everyone’s daily lives. Together, Robin and his friends discover how friendship can become family, how hard work and determination are just as important as love and hope, and how to forge a path towards a better world.

This book is incredible! It truly is a masterpiece of fantasy fiction. Kuang has crafted a book for adults who grew up wanting to be a part of a magical school and shows us all the good and evil parts of that experience. At first, I felt it was moving along too slowly and was anxious for the real action to begin. But then once the action began, I had a true moment of Ah! That was why we had to see them all develop this incredibly close and fond friendship that made them a family. We are shown all the ways they hurt through overt racism and discrimination, as well as the microaggressions they have to endure by those closest to them. We watch them go from innocent, people-pleasing children to brilliant and disillusioned adults who know that world cannot continue forever as it is. Babel is a glorious mix of dark academia, found family, magical realism, and historical fiction. Kuang has created a brilliant world and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

If you would like to add this amazing book to your shelf, you can find ordering information here:

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own. This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.