Babel

Centring on a prestigious translation institute in Victorian Britain, Kuang’s ambitious and eclectic novel—it combines dark academia, fantasy, and linguistics—brings to light the power of language as a tool of imperialism. 

Arresting and incisive, academically informed yet appropriately fluent, Babel managed to make me want to both return to university and run far away.

As much as I enjoyed learning about the fascinating relationships between words in distant language families, I particularly loved how this book compelled me to question how my own decisions on the cusp of revolution might be affected by my identity and privilege. I found it… show more.

I devoured this book from beginning to end, and the rest of my life was no more than an irritating distraction until I could return to it again. It really does have everything I have ever wanted in a novel. It’s profound, thought-provoking, addictive, moving, heartbreaking, political, and a damn good story. 

It explores so many themes that are dear to my heart: the power of language for good and for evil, the exploitation of colonialism and empire, dark academia, politics, and the joys and heartbreak of friendship, all wrapped in an utterly compelling world of magical realism.

Honestly, I’m… show more.

Kuang connected many of the worlds I love: history, translation, literature, and social issues. She did so seamlessly through unforgettable and relatable characters and a heart-wrenching plot.

This novel made me think about colonization and racism at a deeper level. I was forced to reflect on how these issues affect our lives even now. The ending left me speechless; no book’s ending had ever made me so emotional in my life.

Babel combines 19th-century British history, an academic setting, and several fascinating premises—including endowing silver with magical properties—into a potent mix.

Kuang’s novel concerns a fictional Oxford college dedicated to translation (inevitably nicknamed Babel) and four brilliant young students in a Harry Potter-esque plot line that turns serious, then violent, as they reach a greater understanding of the project of which they are a part.

I was riveted and wanted to read more about the place, the time, and the characters.

Like all three of my favorites for 2023, Babel belongs loosely in the category of dark academia, given that it’s largely set in an alternative historical version of Oxford University. Yet it’s much more than that.

It’s a fascinating exploration of language, a study of the art of translation and what may be lost or gained by carrying it out, and – above all else – a passionate deconstruction of, and defense against, colonialism and racism.

If you’re interested in words and ideas and the limits of both in effecting real change in the world, you’ll enjoy this book. Although… show more.

Babel is epic. Spanning 500 pages, it’s the story of a young translator at Oxford University in the 1830s.

What makes it special is the thread of magic realism that weaves through it (silver bars infused with that which cannot be translated). It’s a little bit Harry Potter but so much more.

The great British Empire is extending its power over the world. There are sailing ships and opium wars with China, and deep moral questions discussed by a young group of scholars studying and walking amongst the ancient towers and lamplit streets of old Oxford.

Babel is an incredible work of imagination and scholarship.

Rebecca Kuang is an American with Chinese heritage and an academic linguist who has studied at Oxford and Cambridge. She brings all her background and education to bear in the remarkable book about an alternative version of the British Empire set in the 1830s.

It follows four young language scholars in their training in Oxford as they learn how to create magic out of silver and near equivalent words in two languages, the slight difference in meaning generating the power. Kuang describes these definitions in the text and in footnotes, and… show more.

If you’re a grownup who enjoyed Harry Potter but wished there was more to chew on, this is for you.

Setting her story at the time of the British Opium War in China, Rebecca Kuang puts fantasy to work, challenging the premises of European imperialism. That sounds heavy, but the action is fast-paced, and the central characters have depth.

Young people with unusual magical talents from China, India, and the West Indies arrive to study at a very peculiar Oxford, only to discover that they’re being turned into tools of empire. Think of it as a steampunk-fantasy with a touch… show more.

Kuang is a brilliant scholar, and the depth of research that went into Babel lives and breathes on every single page. But she never lets historical detail derail the story. Babel is a masterclass in worldbuilding, where magic-infused silver sits naturally and authentically against the backdrop of 1830s Oxford…and where magic’s ability to leverage the power of what might otherwise be lost in translation is as real and transformative as the deleterious consequences of imperialism.