This book was so good. I just finished it and the emotions that I am still feeling right now are a lot but I want to get down my thoughts before I forget.

The characters in this book were impeccably written. The main four, Robin, Letty, Victoire and Ramy were created with such depth that they genuinely felt real. Their flaws made them perfect for the world that they lived in, which in itself was flawed. And the group they formed, with its cracks and relationships, was so enthralling to read about as they navigated their way through Babel and Oxford. In fact, all of the characters in this book were written with such care and it enriched the world endlessly. Professor Lovell most of all, his relationship with Robin and the complications of that and their ramifications on everything else were just so intriguing. I cannot express how much I love some of them and, naturally, hated most of them.

The plot unfolded naturally as we saw Robin and his cohort work their way through Babel and try to fit themselves into the world that was going on around them at the tower. Combine that with the politics that were linked so closely to Babel and how they affected and were affected by the goings on in the tower. I want to say so much more about it but I do not think I can without giving away any spoilers so I will keep my mouth shut. However, know that the ending of this book was surely inevitable given everything that went down as well as emotionally devastating. I had to sit for a minute to simply process what I had read and what I felt with the last 150 or so pages. Because oh boy they were a ride.

The writing was also, like everything else, immaculate. The way that R.F.Kuang created the fantastical elements of this world and slotted them into the historical timeframe that she gave herself was so well done. Furthermore, all of the language and translations that feature were very impressive. That, combined with the footnotes, which was a feature that I loved and made it feel so academic. As if it belonged in the world that R.F.Kuang had thought up. I was simply blown away. On top of all of that, the actual writing style of this book was so precise and clever and I absolutely adored every word of it.

I will end this with simple one sentence. You need to read this book.

The best book I've read this year, and one of the best books I have ever read!

Babel is filled with rich, immersive world building and endlessly fascinating detail on etymology. I bookmarked so many passages for future reference because the etymological discussions were so interesting. The discussions around linguistics and translations were definitely my favourite part of this novel and I learnt so much about language by reading it.

This novel also has superb character dynamics with so many secrets, twists and tensions. There were a couple of moments which made me gasp aloud.

Babel is very worthy of the hype it's been getting and surpassed my (already very high) expectations.

There are books you devour. And then there are books you nibble at in small chunks, books you need to savour because they are revelatory in so many different ways. And Babel by R.F. Kuang is one of the latter. Subtitled , or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution, it is made clear from the beginning that this isn’t your average dark academia themed fantasy novel. As we have come to expect from Kuang after The Poppy War (see our review here), there is a tonal shift within the novel. This takes it from relatively quaint academic setting, exploring the experiences Robin faces as a mixed-race Chinese-British student at Oxford, to a high-stakes revolution, to questioning the British reliance on colonialism and on the labour of people who are essentially the fruit of that colonialism.

Kuang can write. We all knew that going in, but it feels like she’s levelled up again since The Burning God. Her prose is delightful and straightforward, epic and hitting exactly where it hurts. Babel features main characters with Chinese, Indian and Caribbean heritage among various other flavours of cultural diversity. This means that we not only get to see the experiences of an outsider in a traditional institution like Oxford, a place that even today is dominated by those who fit a certain mold and have followed a set path from childhood, but we follow characters who are strangers to nineteenth Century England as a whole. People who most at the time wouldn’t consider worthy of an education. People who are taught to be grateful for every scrap they’re given and every bit of bad treatment – because they should consider it more than they deserve.

Babel isn’t an easy read. As readers we are confronted with our own failings, with places where we as a society have been complacent and have been letting others suffer because we didn’t speak up and fight for and with them. It is a book that ends in tragedy, in a devastating ending, as even the title hints at. But through this, through the writing and it’s brilliant characters Babel is also a rewarding read. It is a compelling story, one that is told with nuance and makes the reader reflect, and possibly changes them for the better. Babel is the kind of book that you will need to read and reread to fully grasp, and every new read will reveal new details to you, new elements to focus on. This is a book like a university degree – the amount you get out of it is proportional to the energy you put in, and if you’re willing, is infinite.

This book is as sharp as it i heartbreaking. R.F. has truly written a true masterpiece. The way this book highlights british colonialism in academia while being embedded into a great dark academia setting truly made this book an absolute highlight of th year for me. I also loved the carefulness with which Ms. Kuang researched the historical context of this book. If you`re still hesitating to read this book or are looking for a great fantasy book, read this!

Kuang has written a novel that presents a precise and viciously defended vision of the British Empire, that finds itself collapsing around a young man who has everything to thank it for, or does he?

Robin, our main character, was taken from his home in Canton, China, as a violent wave of sickness snatched away his entire family. He was rescued by a man who insisted that he would take Robin to a place he would be proud to be called home. With the mysticism surrounding the silver tool that healed him from within an inch of death, Robin was left with no choice but to trust the British man.

Robin was forced to undress himself of his culture, whilst retaining the knowledge of his home language, never needing to speak it to anyone. He was saved from the insults hurled towards his country’s people, his place within British society deserved. Robin felt like he may just start to belong.

We are severed from our motherlands and raised within spitting distance of a class we can never truly become a part of.
However the origins and sustaining power of the British Empire could never be disguised behind trays of lemon biscuits or cloaked private dinner parties at the University of Oxford. It was a superpower that leeched what it needed from exotic, depraved lands, and left no thanks behind. The power of language and its magical capabilities an asset to be reclaimed and drained of its ownership.

Empire needed extraction. Violence shocked the system, because the system could not cannibalise itself and survive.
“But that’s the great contradiction of colonialism… It’s built to destroy that which it prizes most.”
Kuang has not disguised the atrocities of the Empire, but instead has demonstrated the tempting, magical aura of what the Empire is. To those rescued and given opportunity to make a life in Britain, they are almost convinced that the Empire is a gift. The silver lined streets and machines that powered the country utilising a magic in a way that no other country has done. Robin feels guilt towards his doubts. Robin thinks he should be happy to have been saved from his home. Robin should be proud they need his language to grow their power. He should feel powerful, the British in need of him. And yet he still feels like a second class citizen in a country so demanding of his talents. Kuang has presented a harsh truth; you will never belong to the Empire, but it will drain you of every drop of blood to get what it needs from you.

This is an astounding novel that I highly recommend, but let it be known it isn’t ‘enjoyable’. The content is hard hitting and rightly so. But it is essential we educate ourselves on the withstanding power of these institutions, and the damage it leaves in its wake.

Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution was one of my most anticipated books this year, and it lived up the hype. The story is excellent, the style perfect for it, the prose effortless, and execution perfect. It’s not an easy book, but it’s worth the effort.

Set in alternative England of 1830s, it tells the story of Robin Swift who is whisked away from his home in China as a child to live with a demanding scholar in England. His sole purpose is to learn languages well enough to be accepted to Babel, an institution of translation at the heart of Oxford.

Translation is how magic works in that world, the difference between what the words mean powering the spells. For a long time though, magic is in the background of the story, the focus on Robin and his companions. It’s a good narrative choice that allows the story to explore the hostility and racism they face in the academia. At first, academic curiosity and the honour of being in Babel carries them despite the troubles. Little by little, magic rises to the fore and Robin comes to understand that it isn’t for all and moreover, it’s been used for exploiting his people, forcing him to act.

Robin is an excellent character. He’s an observer for most of the time, with events happening to him. And when he does act, the consequences are usually bad for him. His story isn’t easy, and the reader is upset for him for much of the time. His friends are each interesting too, but remain slightly distant.

This was a hefty book, but it didn’t feel long. The narrative flows easily and the story progresses swiftly. The historical world is well researched and believable. The magic system is unique and not without its consequences. The footnotes didn’t work for me as well as I’d hoped though. They don’t form a dialogue with the main narrative like the best do, or add anything useful. Also, in the e-book version, the superscripts were so small that I often didn’t notice them, and then I had to try and search the text for what the footnote referred to.

Babel proves that Miss Kuang can write with brilliance, no matter the genre or topic. I’m definitely looking forward to what ever she chooses to publish next.

Absolutely obsessed with this book! The author has an incredible writing style that completely immersed me into the storyline. Looking forward to trying her other works.

Highly recommend for anyone wanting a original and detailed stand alone fantasy novel.

This is fantasy although it reads more like literary fiction.

Following the death of his family, our main character is taken from China as a young boy where he is educated in languages in order to attend Oxford and become a translator at Babel. Translators with their very intricate knowledge of languages are used to generate the magic that the world (but mainly the British Empire) relies on to run things.

This was not my cup of tea. It is very dry and very dense. It took me 3 weeks to read the first 2/3 of this book. It is very much vibes not plot, and those vibes are specifically very detailed lectures and discussions about the etymology of language. It might be very well researched but it is also very tell not show. There are hundreds of covering what different words mean in different languages- it feels more like reading a textbook than a novel. And then we have the endless footnotes giving even more facts.

The magic system is odd as while it drives the story in one sense, in another it's completely irrelevant. The result of this magic is just an exact replica of the industrial revolution, nothing changed as a result of having magic in this world.

Although things did pick up at about the 65_70% mark, it's still quite low on action and high on discussions.

I don't know if trying to stick so closely to an accurate historical representation hindered the story - the book even starts with an oddly defensive author's note where she defends creating fictional things in her fictional book, which I found somewhat odd!

Con todas mis reservas, tras la para mí decepcionante The Poppy War, pero con las mismas ganas al tratarse de algo completamente nuevo y con el bagaje adquirido por haber escrito la trilogía fantástica. Así llegué a Babel, la nueva novela de Rebecca Kuang. Una obra que lleva meses haciendo ruido a nivel de crítica y público y ahora entiendo el porqué.

Comienzo por lo importante: la novela me ha gustado muchísimo. Eso a pesar de que las semejanzas con The Poppy War siguen estando ahí (una primera mitad de novela lenta e introductoria, así como un cambio de tono brusco en la segunda que deriva en escenas de violencia nada despreciables, aunque más leves que las de aquella primera entrega). Kuang nos propone una historia cuya base se asienta en la crítica directa al imperialismo británico y, por extensión, el de todas las grandes potencias europeas que en su tiempo creyeron que el mundo era suyo y la población autóctona no tenía ni voz ni voto en decidir sobre su vida.

De esta manera acaba nuestro protagonista, Robin Swift, en el Oxford de principios del siglo XIX. Sus padres fallecieron y malvive en las calles de Cantón hasta que un hombre lo cautiva con la esperanza de una vida mejor que lo hace embarcarse en un barco con rumbo a la tierra prometida, la Inglaterra de la época. En el compromiso adquirido con este hombre se encuentra el dedicar su vida al estudio y enrolarse en la misteriosa Babel, una torre donde los mejores conocedores de lenguajes del mundo hacen magia gracias a sus traducciones y la tan deseada plata del momento.

Sí, hay magia y su uso será decisivo en los últimos compases de la historia. Pero lo cierto es que todo el aspecto social e imperialista de la época se superpone al aspecto mágico durante gran parte de la novela. Una historia que incluye contrabandistas, batallas navales, persecuciones en Oxford y Londres, organizaciones clandestinas y mucho más.

Babel es un volumen único con un cierre muy satisfactorio. Escrita de manera exquisita, esta es una novela con un mensaje histórico extrapolable a nuestros días que no puedo dejar de recomendar.

“Language was just difference. A thousand different ways of seeing, of moving through the world. No; a thousand worlds within one. And translation—a necessary endeavour, however futile, to move between then.”

At its heart, BABEL is about language, motherland, and the cruel greed of Empire. It’s also about the dark rot so often missing at the heart of the dark academia genre, and how language and translation can be considered an attempt at bridging the intangible but ever-present gap between languages.

In 1830s England, four people arrive to begin their studies at Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford. All have struggled to arrive here, all have suffered and lost and known grief, but three view the British Empire—and what it has done to their own countries and all the others it has forced under its imperial yoke—in a very different light.

As they draw ever closer to the terrible truths of what being in service to Britain—through Babel—actually means, all four will be pushed into choices that will forever impact not just themselves and their love for each other, but the future of the British Empire itself.

A lot of the dark academia genre that focuses on Oxford and Cambridge tends to ignore their histories and how intertwined they were with Empire, but BABEL refuses to ignore this. Through Robin, Ramy, Victoire, and Letty, Kuang shows this through an alternate history of silver-working; a magic invoked through the act of translation, giving horrifying new power, privilege, and momentum to the British Empire that both supplements and distorts the early nineteenth century that we already know.

Everything is meticulously plotted and builds up to a devastating crescendo. This book feels like a masterpiece, and it’s terribly ironic that words escape me to adequately describe how much I loved it.

I'll be thinking about BABEL for some time to come.

Babel is a huge doorstop of a book. I had no idea it would be so epic in scope and length when I started reading it on my Kindle (rather than having a physical book). The story really drew me in. It is set in an alternate Victorian era in Oxford. Much is the same as history except that all the technological, health, engineering and empire building that Victorians achieved has been possible through the use of silver bars that are etched with magical word pairings to achieve a desired result. For example, to make a carriage go faster a silver bar will be placed in its floor etched with something that means "go faster" rendered in matching pairs of meanings from two languages. The tale follows a boy called Robin who has been brought up in Canton by his chinese mother. As his mother is dying from a plague, he is healed with a silver bar and rescued by an English man called Lovell who he resembles. He is brought up in London and trained to become a scholar at Babel an exclusive language college in Oxford where the silver bars are exclusivley etched and embedded with the required words by students from all over the world who have been recruited as children by their "sponsors" for their dexerity with their own language and schooled up in Latin and Greek.

Not everyone is happy with this trade. It could benefit all peoples but is only available to those who can pay and a secret underground of disgruntled ex students is looking to sabotage Babel's trade. To me the book felt a bit Young Adult at times, sort of Harry Potter at Oxford and the pacing was a bit off. For example.the minutiae of life such as what Robin and his mates ate for tea is described at length in great detail and then gaps in the timeline just glossed over in a few lines. I thought it was over long and ran out of steam for me. It also felt quite preachy at times about the evils of Empire and Whiteness. Big events are interrupted by explanations about the etymology of words, which are interesting but serve to slow down the pace ( although perhaps these explanations will be footnotes in the physical book).

Overall though the book is a great achievement and I know a lot of people will adore Babel and love its world building and messages.

Epic in scope, I adored every minute of 'Babel'. R. F. Kuang's skill, in melding historical fact with fiction, is awe-inducing. I read the ebook but have since purchased a signed hardback to add to my treasured collection.

'Babel' is a vastly ambitious, and cleverly constructed, piece of work. It's a book I expect to revisit many times in future and pick up something new each time. A thoroughly engrossing read from an incredible talent. Highly recommend!

What else can I say about this book that hasn't already been said? This in an incredibly important comment on imperialism, racism and colonialism hidden within a trending sub-genre called 'dark academia'. You can easily see how smart Kuang is in this book, all her comments on translation, history and research are laid out in an accessible prose style with characters who you will love immediately. This was a novel I found hard to look at but hard to look away from, Kuang does not shy away from making her readers uncomfortable and that works fantastically in this novel and is something I assume she was aiming to do. That being said I did have to read several lighter more upbeat novels after this as my heart was heavy, is still heavy several weeks later. Kuang is a master at making you love her complex characters and giving them worst possible circumstances to try and survive through. This book went in places I really didn't expect, which is silly as I have read the Poppy War Trilogy and know where Kuang likes to go with her narratives. Overall, this is a book that everyone should read, it feels deeply important and brilliantly executed.

It has been a while since I read Babel. The first impression of the book intro characters were very in-depth and descriptive. I find that we get to know more about the main character but never really get to other side characters, it would have been nice to also understand their inner thoughts and some of their point of views as to why they do or say certain things.
The book was definitely filled with a lot of well researched information but I often felt at times it is too much to really take it all in. Especially when language is a subject that you’re into it could come off as being quite heavy.
I did have to push myself through many times, as there are a lot more explanation of words and linguistic information rather than a real page turning plot, in all honesty I was ok the verge of giving up a half way through the book.
I did eventually gave up, as I could not really bring myself to connect with any of the characters. The themes themselves are interesting enough having been a foreigner living away from home since I was a pre teen. Having said that, I do find the some of the ideas do tend to come off as a little one sided and a little bias I felt that in all events and situations that are going on in the book is not just a doing of a one single entity , it always take 2 hands to clap.
Since I did not finish the book it would not be fair for me to judge the book, perhaps when I find more time to get back to it again I will come back and give the review another go.

This book was the essence of dark academia, and I loved it. It was deep, thought-provoking, but at the same time, entertaining. Beautifully written with a well-thought-out premise, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Babel manages to be both fantastical and technical - a perfect blend of fiction and non-fiction. Probably one of my top reads of the year.

I'm grateful to the publishers for allowing me to read Babel as I was looking forward to it but ultimately realised this was not for me. I think I had a different sort of book in mind when I requested it. The silver magic was an interesting concept, but I couldn't wholly believe in it, especially as the book is set in a time when major advances were being made in reality to make things work better and faster etc.

I very much liked the main characters - Robin and Ramy, Victoire and Letty, and many of the supplementary characters were interesting too. However, I didn't feel I could properly get to know them as Babel is neither fully fantasy nor set in a real world. This is an important book, commenting on colonialism, exploitation, sexism, racism etc., but I found this aspect to be told in a rather heavy-handed manner. I found myself skipping over some of the conversations between the men, especially in Canton, whereas if I had simply been shown how it affected people, I would have been more emotionally engaged.

I have to admit that I have not finished the book - though I do hope to return to it to find out what happens to Robin and his friends. I feel bad giving a rather negative review when I can see that a lot of people love it. In the end though, it was just not for me.

An unusual idea, with some pertinent things to say about colonialism and prejudice, but for me, even given my linguistics background, the whole silver thing didn’t work as a premise. It didn’t add anything to the debate. Seems to me the author could have simply used the actual industrial revolution that did happen to make the same points. As a result it felt over contrived and unsatisfying.

This book left me with such a huge book hangover I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover. It firmly puts R.F. Kuang in the ‘great writers’ category, as if The Poppy War hadn’t shoved her very far towards that anyway. The point being, I’m not one who likes to tell people what they should or shouldn’t read, but I am here to say you need to read this book. It is truly excellent and if you’re on this site I honestly believe it will be right up your street or alley or whatever other type of pedestrian walking area you choose.

So, Babel – where to even start? How about with Robin Swift, our protagonist, orphaned in Canton and found by Professor Lovell, who whisks him off to London where he trains in various languages until he enrols in Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation. Commonly and lovingly known as Babel, the institute is a core part of the sprawling, ever-growing British Empire, providing the magic for them to enact their violence around the world.

The second part of this title is incredibly important – The Necessity of Violence is something Robin struggles with throughout the book, torn between what he thinks is morally right, and the path his brother is travelling down. Robin is a tool of the empire, as are most of the characters we come across, the main difference is in how they react to it. Some believe pushing through legally is the right direction, wanting to spill as little blood as possible. On the other end, there are those who feel deaths are not a big price to pay to be free. There’s magic in this world, in the form of silver bars, and the magic system Kuang creates here is utterly fascinating, involving the marrying together of language and silver.

It's incredibly hard not to feel for Robin throughout this. We meet him when his mother is dying, and we see him go through so much. Robin doesn’t really want to give up his Babel lifestyle, charmed by the glittering gold, but throughout he still recognises what he has given up because of it, and what remaining part of it will mean. He very much wants to do the right thing, but struggles with what ‘the right thing’ truly is. He absorbs the experiences around him, and acknowledges the difficulties others face.

Kuang really touches on a lot of issues in this book, and shows how they intersect, even if the characters can’t always see that. Racism, sexism, the class system, the treatment of the Irish and Welsh (and their languages) by the English, where they’re very much seen as ‘lesser’ and not worth exploring. It’s a complicated web of issues at the heart of the British Empire, and Kuang never shies away from showing the brutality of it all.

Robin’s cohort is made up of four Babel students, each on their own journey, and really it’s the story of the friends, who deeply love each other, that sits at the heart of this. It’s the unspoken and spoken between them, the tension, the things they hide to protect each other – it’s the air that sits between two words in two different languages that, on the surface, look like they mean the same thing, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find the differences.

Oh, and the other thing about this book – an absolute dream for language lovers, with etymology on nearly every page, whether it’s used in the silver bars or the students discussing and debating translations.

I could rave about this book all day and probably will for a long time, but this book is truly both beautiful and brutal. It’s violent, and the violence is handled in a way that is impressively effective. It’s for sure a standout book of 2022, and I truly hope it gets all the recognition it deserves.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for granted my wish! Here I leave my honest review.

I heard so many good things for this book before it release and I really want to read this. When NetGalley granted my wish for this book I literary screaming! I was so excited to read this one and really want to finish it before the publish day but I think this book isn't for me, as much as I want to love this book, I just can't.

At first the book is just fine for me, I love the main character Robin. But after deeper into the book, confusion hits me. I can't grasp what kind of story will fold. It's a bit hard for me to understand the magic system. The world in this book looks familiar but at the same time, it isn't. Is this the same London as I know in the past or is this another alternative London? The magic concept feels simple but at the same time it's so hard to imagine with all these language and translation. After a long time, I just ignore it and read the rest of the book just to find out what is the real conflict that will arise. And the plot is super slow!

One thing I like is R.F. Kuang leave foot notes for us reader to make it easier to understand and sometimes I confuse, is this fiction or non fiction book, because the reality and the fiction world mix into one and make me confuse again.

I have hope after what happen to Robin, I follow the book excitedly after that. But, near the ending I think the conflict kind of blurry and well this is kind of a refreshing book for me with this kind of ending. Leave too many questions, I didn't know what is the result of Robin doing here. It feels like cliffhanger but also not in the same time. I just confuse to process the ending. And another I thing I love, I could say is the friendship between Robin and his friend despite the twist I still love them.

Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!