"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 choose to make it."

Babel takes us quite literally into the ivory tower. Robin Swift is told to choose an English name when the father who won't claim him whisks him from Canton to London as a child. His whole family in China is dead, and now Professor Lovell determines the time has come for Robin to get the intense language tutelage needed to eventually enter Oxford's elite translation center at the tower of Babel. The story follows Robin and his cohort at Oxford as they not only wrestle with translations but also the role of colonialism in bringing them to England and using their labor to maintain its empire. Translators identify distortions of meaning in translation to fuel the magic of silver-working, a resource hoarded and lorded by the British Empire. Ironically, magic would not be possible without the languages and minds of people deemed inferior in the colonialist framework.

The book has dark academia vibes for days, and the academia is hard-hitting. It calls up my memories of grad school with its exquisite, painful descriptions-- the youthful energy of debating both minutiae and deep theory, the stress and mind-bending of heavy studying, the victorious satisfaction of work completed, and the tense scurrying of those at the bottom of an academic ladder that doesn't answer to you or even care much about you. It's competitive, it's challenging, but it can also bring out the warmth of camaraderie. Found family vibes are strong as Robin's cohort bonds over their shared circumstances. They occupy this narrow world together, one laser-focused on translation and Babel's academic, social milieu. I found it a beautiful description of how studying the humanities (and I would argue, social sciences) changes your entire worldview once you take a deep dive. Even more so, it calls up the dark foundations that underlie and sustain the entire system of academia-- who can participate, what research is published and valued, who can benefit from said research, and how you must contort yourself and your values to survive, let alone thrive, in its web.

Babel's an example of that magical type of historical fantasy where the world-building enhances the historical narrative rather than existing as its own entity. By weaving political and linguistic elements into the magic system, it feels like a natural, almost obvious, extension of the social framework of the 1830s. An informative narrator sometimes takes readers out of a scene to flesh out the bigger picture in a tone of academic storytelling that suits the mood perfectly, another layer on the illusion of historical fact. Footnotes and specific literary or academic references only add to the mystique, weaving together fiction and non-fiction in a way that is yet another callback to a scholar's approach.

The characters are as intricately designed as their various backgrounds and experiences would suggest. Our main cast includes Robin, who is not only Chinese and English but queer, as well, Remy, a Muslim man from India, Victoire, a Haitian woman, and Letty, a white, upper-class woman from merry old England. There is deep pain and fierce joy. There are misunderstandings and mistakes. There's loyalty and revenge, sometimes misplaced but always complicated.

And it's not an entirely satisfying ending by design-- a bit open-ended, and certainly not a happily ever after. Because how could going up against empire and inequality be a happy endeavor? It features violence and martyrdom, revolution and pain. It's a thoughtful end that feels in some ways inevitable and in others out of reach. I will be sitting with this book and all it represents for quite some time. Thanks to Harper Voyager for my copy to read and review!

Babel by R.F. Kuang is a slow read but I also couldn't put it down! Kuang weaves a story of magic, academia, and British colonialism magnificently. I love an academic setting and this one did not disappoint. I found the magic system to be incredibly interesting and am always a fan of a system that requires years of study and work. My only complaint is that it's a standalone book.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for the e-arc!

There's nothing I could possibly say about "Babel" that would capture how much I adore this book. As a massive fan of Kuang's Poppy War Trilogy, I was incredibly to see what she would do next, but it's obvious now that "Babel" is her true masterpiece. Kuang performs a magic trick, intersecting translation theory, 18th-century silver working, and British Imperial history into a riveting and utterly accessible fantasy novel. I went into "Babel" with a background in translation studies, but that's absolutely not necessary to appreciate the book as Kuang introduces the necessary knowledge without ever detracting from the plot or talking down to the reader. And the plot is well and truly excellent. Well-paced with beautifully fleshed out characters, "Babel" is a masterpiece of a novel!

Absolutely loved this book. It requires the reader to think and really consider their role in society. A group of linguistic students in an alternative 1800s history find that life at Babel is not everything they expected it to be. They have to decide if they will compromise their morals and countries of origin, or will they fight back against the oppressive system. Enjoyed the twists in the story and the development of the story. The author does not hesitate to make the reader think and work to understand the concepts be did it.

This book was intense! I don't think it will be for everyone and that's okay, not every book is meant for everyone. But boy for those people that it does work for it will be magnificent. The working of languages tied to the magic of this world coinciding with the colonization of other countries for that resource, brilliantly done. I can't recommend this book enough.

Babel is one of those books that is powerful enough any review I write will be insufficient. I firmly believe that all people in academic institutions should read and try to absorb the messages of this book. Really, all people should but particularly people working in academia. It was nuanced, well-written, and a great story. In short, reading this was *chef's kiss*.

So far this is my favorite book of the year. It did take a long time to get through the book but that was mainly because I was making so many notes and marking down so many passages on language and history. This is definitely a slower read and not one that you'd want to binge in a weekend because there is so much information and insights into language and how it's been used throughout the world for good and bad. I've read almost all of Kuang's catalog at this point, I only have the last book in the Poppy War series left but she has solidified a place as one of my favorite authors for sure.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and R.F. Kuang for an advanced copy of this book.
It may be an overused expression but this book really did change me. All the characters are exquisite in their own way; developed and flawed. Each has a motive and even if you don't agree with it you understand why they see the world that way. This book is all in grays and presents both sides honestly and while it is clear what the ultimate good and bad are even the hero uses means that are not morally good. I absolutely eat up characters like that! Maybe I should go over each character but I'm not going to waste your time and take time away from when you could be reading Babel.

So I have been to Oxford and was offered an opportunity to do a Masters there, to say I love that city and university would be an understatement. R. F. Kuang crafts the setting beautifully; honestly made me cry at a few points because I wasn't there and just that fact was sad. To love something you have to know the good and bad; Oxford doesn't have a perfect history and was greatly aided by British colonization. This is a major fact of the book and everything she writes is true and very important to learn. This book does a wonderful job of arguing why advancement off the back of colonization is not a good in the long or short term; it is NOT a necessary evil.

Oh yeah and the magic! OMG the magic system is incredible; the weaving of language with the philosophy of language and translation. It made learning Latin and how languages work in high school worth it. It just made me so happy and nerdy in the best way!

Just go read Babel!

One of the absolute best book I have ever read. The kind of book which has stays with you long after you have completed it. This book cements RF Kuang as one of my super favourite authors.

There are so many praises to sing about this book. RF Kuang’s prose remains as gripping as ever, even as she slowly builds tension and layers on nerdy academic teachings. I have always been interested in the dark academia genre but have yet to read many of the staples—but I feel completely satisfied with Babel. What else do I need when I have a book about the horrors of academia within the colonial empire, tackling the balance of life or death not just with the acts of individuals but those of an entire system?

Specifically, Babel shines for me in its investigation of language, a discipline by which I’ve always been fascinated. Especially after taking a linguistics course this semester (and recognizing so many things in the book that we covered in class!), I nerded out even more over the linguistic nuggets Kuang sprinkled throughout the pages. Kuang’s passion for linguistics and translation is so evident with each lecture and conversation, and it made me connect even more to the book. The magic system is genius: Languages will always come into contact with one another, but basing the magic system on how languages retain their diversity despite that contact sends such a powerful message. However, I would say that Babel is mainly historical fiction, using the magic system more as a vessel for the ideas Kuang wants to discuss rather than something that can stand independently. (In fact, the magic feels a bit out of place, only relevant for its connections to these themes.)

Mainly, though, Babel is about colonialism and revolution. Robin questions how he should live, whether he should focus on his own survival while at the heart of the colonial empire or resist. Both come at a personal cost: the weight of denial or the risk of his life. Kuang takes the reader along Robin’s realistic journey of realizing the necessity of resistance and violence to achieve decolonization. This book is most heartbreaking not in the parts related to death, but in the parts about hoping and hoping to one day belong and be valued in a place that does not see him as human—and the realization that it never will. Like with the Poppy War trilogy (and in my opinion, even more than TPW), I do think Kuang gets caught up with painting large thematic statements and subsequently leaves behind the characters. But I enjoy Kuang’s writing specifically for her themes, so I can’t exactly complain.

The biggest flaw of Babel for me is that the messages are not subtle. This is shaping up to be a trend in Kuang’s works, and while I don’t necessarily hate it, I don’t quite love it either. While I enjoyed some of the footnotes that gave us extra tidbits of historical information, others grated on me with their haughty “this is racist by the way, in case you didn’t know” remarks about things that were… obviously racist. I love all of the themes that Kuang so expertly explores, but I am smart enough to figure out for myself how x represents a symbol of oppression or x reveals an imperialist mindset—and I don’t need it repeated throughout the book either. Kuang is brilliant, certainly, and I think her commentary on and critique of whiteness and colonialism is, too. I just wish she would trust the reader a little more.

But… I guess I can’t really say that, because despite how too on-the-nose I thought Kuang’s messages to be, white people still manage to miss the memo! I sincerely hope that all the Lettys out there will read Babel and emerge a changed person, but I doubt it. So while it is not for me (someone who can read properly), the constant hammering on the head is clearly necessary for other people, and I can appreciate it for that function.

If, like me, you find yourself slightly peeved when authors lack trust in their readers, then Babel might grate on you at times. But it was not enough to make me dislike this book, because there truly are so many things to take away from Babel. This is real dark academia: true sinister atrocities brought to light and a bold questioning of what it means to make a change. After The Poppy War trilogy, I suspected that Kuang would forever remain a must-read, game-changing author. Babel cements that belief. She has the skill to make me forgive shortcomings that would normally ruin a book for me.

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

It felt like I've been reading this book since the tower of babel fell. The title alone gives a hint at the length and detail of this book.

But with that said, I loved every minute of it. There's a tedium here that resonates with my silly academic brain, and so I loved the amount of thought she placed into the details of these characters and the world that she built. That so much of the book thought about the relationship between language and empire was incredible. (And, footnotes in fiction, yes please!!!)

I highlighted so many sections of this book, but one of the main concepts that I loved is that translation is always an act of betrayal; and much of the magic system in this book grows from that grey area that grows in the work of translation.

The book super smartly brought us to consider the ways that England has been extractive of its colonies, both in this semi-imagined world and in reality. Extraction doesn't only have to be of tangible resources, but can also involve the coopting of language, culture, and other intangible heritage. I also loved its sort of scathing critique of academia -- it's a place where many of us find a home and comfort, but also a place that can have a problematic relationship to the world around us. When a professor says she might as well die for the cause because it's not like she'll get tenure now, I actually lol'ed at the feelings it provoked.

This book wasn't one that was particularly bingeable -- reading a chapter or two at a time was a lot for me, and if not for the final sprint of trying to finish before book club, I would have been at this for a lot longer. While much of our book club didn't finish (or start lol), it did make for a really great discussion.

I loved this book so much and wouldn't have cut from it, but also it's totally not a broadly accessible read, especially for those who aren't patient with slow-paced, academic jargon-laden writing.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5)
Genre: Fantasy / magical realism
Location: China, Oxford, London
Pub Date: out now

Read this if you're a...
⭕️ weirdo academic
⭕️ lover of language and translation
⭕️ critic of empire

Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager, @bookclubgirl and #netgalley for advanced copies of this book!

I don't think there's anything I can say that others have not already said but Babel is practically perfect in every way. I was given the opportunity to read it in May 2022 for reviewing in Library Journal (where my review was published in July 2022) and I immediately started recommending it to everyone I know.

Babel: An Arcane History is a dark bookish fantasy history by R.F. Kuang. Released 23rd Aug 2022 by HarperCollins on their Voyager imprint, it's 560 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This was *the* speculative fiction buzz book for 2022 and with good reason. It's brilliantly imagined, distinctive, and incredibly well written. Thematically, there's a heaping helping of anti-colonization rhetoric, so folks who hum Rule Britannia whenever they think about the sun never setting on the British Empire are in for an eyeful. There's also a strong undercurrent of dangerous racism, and some passages were painful to read, although realistically depicted.

The author is clearly more than passingly familiar with Oxford as well as with the time period (Regency England, 1828). I was enchanted with the writing and equally impressed with the verisimilitude of the settings and characterizations. Spelling and vernacular are period British English, but won't pose any problems for readers in context.

Five stars. Beautifully written and superlative world building and magic systems. Absolutely one for language nerds.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This book was amazing - I've recommended it to countless people and would be perfect for serious book clubs.

POV: one of your favorite authors of all-time who you would sell your left kidney to meet wrote a masterpiece of a novel.

she was more than kind enough to send you a signed advanced copy because you have somewhat embarrassingly? made a name for yourself as a die hard fan of her debut trilogy such as by writing an entire blog post detailing the history and cultural references of her series that is now a top search result on google.

you read the novel...was absolutely blown away...was too awe struck to formulate coherent thoughts to write a review...now it's several months later.
____
it's no secret that r.f. kuang is one of my favorite authors. i solidly made the poppy war trilogy my personality trait for most of quarantine. it inspired me to research more about my family history and was truthfully one of the major reasons why i have a stronger understand of east asian history, and specifically taiwanese history now.

i first heard of babel when i interviewed rebecca on my booktube channel. i learned that she was writing a novel about student revolutions, inspired by hong kong's student revolutions. immediately, i knew it would be a story unlike any other.

babel is without a doubt one of the greatest pieces of literary fiction ever written. its analysis of translated works and history are incredibly well-researched and artfully woven together. i became enthralled in the world of oxford and the magic system. i grew passionately attached to our main characters as their struggles and journeys mimic those across history who have been displaced or juggled competing worlds.

in a single novel, kuang sheds light on themes of colonialism, worker's rights, and the romanization of dark academia and broader academic institutions. we're forced to reflect on who our loyalties belong to when you don't know who deserves them the most.

for many, this book forces you to wrestle with uncomfortable feelings. it forces you to question your privilege and how your identity differs from those around you. it forces you to question the ethos of those around you, whether the institutions and figures you grew up to acknowledge as sources of truth and safety are truly there to help you...or keep you in place.

writing a review for a book this well written is daunting. it's difficult to capture how this book made me feel because no words could really do it justice. babel is certainly a must-read, and i can only wonder how kuang will out-do herself next time.

This was the most ambitious book I've read in awhile.
Many will put this in the dark academia category, and I can see why. But there is a whole other layer missed if
that's your sole focus. And you clearly aren't reading the whole title.
"We are all here to make magic with words." -Prof. P
"If you stand for nothing... what'll will you fall for?"
A.Ham/LMM
Read from: Jul 24, 2022 - Aug 31, 2022

This is another amazing novel by R. F. Kuang. Her books are incredibly well written and researched. This stand alone novel follows a young man and his experiences at Oxford as a minority.

I wanted to love Babel so much. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is one of my favorite books and Babel does feel in conversation with that book from the setting to the tone and footnotes. Kuang excels in descriptions of place and in her worldbuilding. The setting of Babel was was immersive. I liked how Kuang created a dialogue around British exceptionalism, colonialism, and racism from the bones of her story outward. What caught me up was the pacing. This book easily could have been longer or split into more books. Pre-Oxford, I found Robin's story enthralling. Post-Oxford, I couldn't tell where the plot was going and much of it dragged. Robin's sudden entry into the world of revolutionaries forced. Robin was an excellent character but his scenes with Ramy, Victoire, and Letty weak. There was so much foreshadowing around the outcome of their friendship that became tedious and took me out of the story. And much of their friendship we're told about, we don't actually see it develop on the page. As a result, I couldn't connect with anyone beyond Robin which was an emotional letdown whenever something serious happened to one of them in the book.

Lastly, my biggest critique is Kuang's foreward. I love learning about an author's process but I generally prefer to read the book first, let it speak for itself before hearing the authorial voice. I usually leave skip forewards and read them last because I don't want to be lead by the author. I broke my rule this time and was a bit lost as to why Kuang felt she needed to write something that felt like half-apology, half-defense of her work. Why did she feel the need to prove herself or justify her claim to Oxford? Was there really going to be that much backlash or criticism? The reasoning may be tied up with racism and sexism that is prevalent....everywhere.... or something else entirely, but regardless, it made me sad since I've never read a dark academia book where an author has done this. Not Pullman, Clarke, Bardugo, etc. It also detracted from her worldbuilding as I now thought continuously, "oh, that tower doesn't exist, oh that cafe doesn't exist" while I read instead of just accepting it as I would any other fantasy novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Yet again, R. F. Kuang has written a novel I will continue to think about long after finishing it. This dark academia-based story is written with rather academic language, and the protagonists' exploration of identity, language, and privilege kept me invested even in the early parts of the story when the momentum was still building. As always, the writing itself is gorgeous, and someone who is fascinated by etymology, I enjoyed learning about how various words wormed their way into the English language. I also loved seeing Ramy, Robin, and Victoire's pride in their backgrounds even as their community attempted to ostracize them for their differences. I appreciated the diversity in characters and found the magic system particularly fascinating, and once the plot really kicked in, I couldn't put the book down.

That being said, there were a few aspects that made the reading experience a bit difficult. Primarily, the footnotes did make it a bit of a frustrating read on an online platform. Additionally, I appreciated how Kuang made attempts to criticize the British empire, but these criticisms were not always incredibly nuanced (understandably, as they were likely written for a general audience). Interestingly, one more thought that the story brought to mind is that the protagonists themselves ignore several aspects of their own privileges as they ruminate on being ostracized (wealth, access to education, etc.). This makes me wonder whether dark academia can even be written in a way that is sufficiently intersectional.

Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to anyone looking to read something academic, emotional, and thought-provoking in a genre that otherwise lacks acknowledgment of its own privilege.

Trigger Warnings: https://booktriggerwarnings.com/Babel_by_R.F._Kuang

A disappointing book that felt entirely dependent on a specific political message rather than a strong story and characters. It felt like the author enjoyed the "dark academia" setting, but appears at odds with everything western academia is about. Exploration, the sharing of ideas, and the appreciation of other cultures. Instead it hinges on an anti-western, anti-colonialist polemic, which makes for a disappointing story in a great original setting. Unless you're looking for Howard Zinn-esque Marxist philosophy masquerading as fantasy, then skip this one.