Babel by R.F. Kuang
Babel
by R.F. Huang
Historical | Fantasy | Fiction
545 Pages
Released August 2022
Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads
Content Warnings
When I first read the description of this book, I was worried I’d be bored and bogged down by the sheer historicalness of it (yes, I made up that word). I enjoy dark academia as much as the next girl, but when things get too in the weeds when it comes to history, I tend to check out. Thankfully, this book is a masterpiece in commentating on a historical (and yet, current) social issue whilst re-imagining it in a beautiful, devastating way.
This book follows Robin Swift (not his name by birth), who is orphaned at a young age in China and swept away by a patron, Professor Lovell, who immerses Robin in the education of language. After years of dedicated studying, Robin earns himself a spot at Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation, better known as Babel. Babel is magical, because at Babel, Robin is taught to harness his ability for languages into silver-making - the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars. But underneath this seemingly ideal upbringing lurks the sinister truth - that Robin is not alone in his situation, and that his life’s purpose was orchestrated as part of a larger plot for control.
This book was beautiful, and heartbreaking, and gut-wrenchingly eye-opening. I am not a person of color and this book shines a light on some of the darker aspects of history that I, embarrassingly enough, never really paid attention to. Kuang has once again managed to not only build a cast of amazing, realistic, fully-formed characters, but also drop us into a world that feels like it could have real.
If you aren’t already aware, this story is a stark commentary on colonialism, and the way this book illustrates this through the manipulation of language into a physical object, is nothing short of incredible. Kuang does not shy away from uncomfortable truths. This book feels like a modern day classic and one I can see myself re-reading over and over again.