Babel - Or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
RF KUANG
review by Chloe Townson
Robin Swift – an unassuming name for an unassuming character, lifted out of poverty and plague and transplanted in a new world where he is given all that he needs and afforded every opportunity. Robin Swift, who soon does not remember the name he was born with, only the anglicised name that he chose to fit in – a requirement, he is told, to make it easier for Englishmen to pronounce.
Taught to read, write, and breathe in Latin, Greek, English, and Chinese, Robin’s ultimate destination is Oxford and the Babel Institute of Translation. Set in an alternate London where silver is used as a conductor for magic via language and translation, Robin’s education and purpose is to be able to create and wield these magical silver bars, usable only by those who can not only speak two or more languages but who understand those languages right down to their etymological roots.
Babel is a book for language nerds; it’s a book for those who are in love with words and language and the ebbs and flows of borrowed meaning and meaning lost. It does not fit squarely into any specific genre – some will call it fantasy, some will call it dark academia, others will call it historical fiction. Like language, it borrows from all the above, pieces that fit together to create an alluring whole.
At Oxford, Robin finds his people; others who have been uprooted from their Motherlands and used by the British Empire to further imperial gain. This is not a book about friendship and scholarly adventures, not really. It’s a book about colonialism, about otherness and the internal struggle between taking the path that is easy or taking the path that is right, because the two don’t always converge. As the main protagonist, Robin’s struggles are wholly believable. He is not the ‘reluctant’ hero who suddenly finds courage and valour. It takes time – as it should.
At first, Babel meanders. It’s a quiet novel that slowly gathers momentum until it lays an invisible wire in the reader’s path, tripping them into a chaotic bramble of murder, tragic betrayal, and emotional upheaval. Babel is not just a new fantasy that sits prettily amongst the others. No, Babel is an important novel – one that I will push into the hands of others not only because it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year, but because I think it’s a book that needs to be read.