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

Author: R.F. Kuang

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Format: Digital (purchased)

Publish Date: August 2022

Read: August 2022

Story Synopsis: Robin Swift finds himself at age ten, on his deathbed in Canton. As the last (barely) surviving member of his household, he knows he’s hallucinating when a white man hands him a silver bar that heals him. When Robin realizes Professor Richard Lovell means to take him away from Canton, where he has no family and no prospects, to Oxford, he agrees. Under the guardianship of Professor Lovell, Robin is tutored and educated until it’s time for him to begin studying at the prestigious Oxford University.

Once Robin begins at Oxford, he meets Ramy, Letty, and Victoire. Ramy is from India, while Victoire is a black woman from France. Letty is white and from Yorkshire. These four become the Royal Institute of Translations cohort in 1836. Together, they learn about languages, etymologies, and the meaning of translation - all to better aid the Crown in silver-working. The goal of the Royal Institute of Translation is to use silver bars throughout the British empire to improve the lives of the Brits. To use the silver bars, there must be a match-pair of words: two words in different languages that have the same root.

The translators spend their entire education in pursuit of a job in silver-work and many young people, like Robin, Ramy, and Victoire, are plucked from their homes for a full-ride at Oxford so they may use their talents in their native tongue to aid silver-working. When Robin uncovers a plot for the British to go to war with China, he, and his cohorts, must decide if their allegiances lie with the Crown or with a homeland they never truly knew.

Likes: This story is perfect. Somehow, in some beautiful, magical way, Kuang wove military strategy, history, linguistics and etymology, racism, colonialism, economics, friendship, and love into this story. It was paced beautifully and I couldn’t put it down.

Rating: 10/10

Link To Purchase*: Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang