Book: Babel
Monday, 20 October 2025 23:20![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elusivekBabel
RF Kuang
Amazon Product Link
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. The tower and its students are 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 the arcane craft 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?
(Possible spoilers so read at your own risk)
I've read a few comments/reviews and I agree with those that sing praise and those that rant as well. I enjoyed the premise of the book: fantasy-ish enough with some Harry Potter kind of flavour to it, but magic in another way. Therefore, I found the beginning and first 2 books pretty fascinating. When it geared more into the politics and conflicts, it started to confound me. Maybe because I'm not particularly politics-savvy nor historically aware?
I did notice the seemingly unfairness towards the portrayal of Letty. Parts of the book I was like "is this gay-supporting?" Nothing against it, just unexpected, and it seems like it's also a frequently searched thing on google.
Some recurring themes and wording... like how the first 3 days in Oxford before school started was "the happiest days of his life" and then the summer of third year was "the happiest days of his life"... so which is it? Some conflicting things too like, foreigners weren't allowed in Canton (I dunno, outside the foreigners areas?) but then when Rami joins him into the city it was like "brown people were pretty common too" (but aren't brown/colour people also considered foreigners?) This part maybe is just me being naive though, so yeah.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the romanticism with how the book started and ended, making it seems like this English life was a kind of an "alternate universe" or "second chance" or just a dream. The whole fight with Lovell and demanding him to say his mother's name seem to be some kind of reference of the power of using a name and was pretty epic for me.
I also enjoyed the parts where language connections, especially the deconstruction of Chinese characters. Liked Robin's introspection of the word dawn (Sun over a straight line).
I note that in the end we never really know Robin's Chinese name, but that the book probably started with his mother saying his name before her death, and ended with him seeing his mother saying his name before his death.
RF Kuang
Amazon Product Link
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. The tower and its students are 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 the arcane craft 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?
= + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = +
(Possible spoilers so read at your own risk)
I've read a few comments/reviews and I agree with those that sing praise and those that rant as well. I enjoyed the premise of the book: fantasy-ish enough with some Harry Potter kind of flavour to it, but magic in another way. Therefore, I found the beginning and first 2 books pretty fascinating. When it geared more into the politics and conflicts, it started to confound me. Maybe because I'm not particularly politics-savvy nor historically aware?
I did notice the seemingly unfairness towards the portrayal of Letty. Parts of the book I was like "is this gay-supporting?" Nothing against it, just unexpected, and it seems like it's also a frequently searched thing on google.
Some recurring themes and wording... like how the first 3 days in Oxford before school started was "the happiest days of his life" and then the summer of third year was "the happiest days of his life"... so which is it? Some conflicting things too like, foreigners weren't allowed in Canton (I dunno, outside the foreigners areas?) but then when Rami joins him into the city it was like "brown people were pretty common too" (but aren't brown/colour people also considered foreigners?) This part maybe is just me being naive though, so yeah.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the romanticism with how the book started and ended, making it seems like this English life was a kind of an "alternate universe" or "second chance" or just a dream. The whole fight with Lovell and demanding him to say his mother's name seem to be some kind of reference of the power of using a name and was pretty epic for me.
I also enjoyed the parts where language connections, especially the deconstruction of Chinese characters. Liked Robin's introspection of the word dawn (Sun over a straight line).
I note that in the end we never really know Robin's Chinese name, but that the book probably started with his mother saying his name before her death, and ended with him seeing his mother saying his name before his death.
