Babel cover art

Babel

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

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Babel

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Billie Fulford-Brown
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About this listen

THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES AND #1 NYT BESTSELLER

‘One for Philip Pullman fans’
THE TIMES

‘This one is an automatic buy’
GLAMOUR

‘Ambitious, sweeping and epic’
EVENING STANDARD

‘Razor-sharp’
DAILY MAIL

‘An ingenious fantasy about empire’
GUARDIAN

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

Oxford, 1836.

The city of dreaming spires.

It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.

And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.

Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.

Until it became a prison…

But can a student stand against an empire?

An incendiary new novel from award-winning author R.F. Kuang about the power of language, the violence of colonialism, and the sacrifices of resistance.

'A masterpiece that resonates with power and knowledge. BABEL is a stark picture of the cruelty of empire, a distillation of dark academia, and a riveting blend of fantasy and historical fiction – a monumental achievement’

Samantha Shannon, author of THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE

Delve into the heart of an alternative UK, where Babel reigns as a top entry among gaslamp fantasy books. It's a great, bestselling read, peppered with the essence of urban exploration and thrilling action, an adventure that will leave you breathless and wanting more. For fans of Rebecca Yarros (Iron Flame), Leigh Bardungo (Six of Crows), Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings) and Olivie Blake (The Atlas Six) and Samantha Shannon (The Priory of the Orange Tree).

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 R.F. Kuang (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Dark Fantasy Fantasy Historical Fiction Thought-Provoking Funny City Paranormal Royalty Colonial Period

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Critic reviews

"Kuang has crafted a masterpiece that resonates with power and knowledge. Babel is a stark picture of the cruelty of empire, a distillation of dark academia, and a riveting blend of fantasy and historical fiction – a monumental achievement, from the footnotes to the final page." (Samantha Shannon, author of Priory of The Orange Tree)

"Ambitious, sweeping and epic." (Evening Standard)

"An ingenious fantasy about empire’." (Guardian)
All stars
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A fantastic book to enjoy and learn from. The story was gripping and entertaining whilst scattered with nuggets of linguistic history that were a joy to discover.

Superb

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This might be my favourite book of 2022!

It’s absolutely incredible. Simply the most moving, harrowing, thought provoking book I’ve read in a long time.

It made me think about colonialism - then it made me challenge all my prejudices and think again. I feel like a better person for having read this but I suppose I also feel robbed of my innocence.

Fantastic narration - excellent switch between narrators and I love the academic insights.

Incredible!

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a very engaging story, sympathetic main character and an exciting plot. lots of very important messages about colonialism and racism too. a book that encourages us to understand one another better

excellent

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Enjoyable story with well formed characters . I also learnt a lot about languages and Britain's rarely discussed darker colonial past - sent me researching the opium wars and indebted labour. Very good narration. Lost 1 star for a relatively weak ending and some poor sound editing earlier on in the book

Great fiction but educational too

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I found the pace of the book quite slow at times but non surprising given how much information the author has crammed into those pages.
The pace does pick up and by that point you will have become completely invested into the characters. I wouldn't have called the book enjoyable but despite it being a work of fiction, it intricately and cleverly lays out the arrogance of the British Empire in it's belief of superiority against all races and the impossibility of bridging that gap via translation. It also very cleverly explains the necessity for violence at times.
I have to admit, a lot of it went straight over my head. Some of it was so intellectual, I couldn't follow (despite being fluent in several languages).

Not an easy book but incredibly intellectual

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The British Empire with a magical twist, from an outsider's perspective. An epic life story of a fledgling child, from the slums of Canton, China, to the heights and spires of Oxford, and the slow awakening to the roots of Empire and power. A masterful blending of fantasy and history, populated with well-written characters. I can see why this is so well regarded.

Empire with a twist of Dark academia

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I fell in love with these characters, they became real people who I laughed and cried with. Skipping between fantasy and the real world, this story took me on a journey that was equal parts striking and terrifyingly close to home. Genuinely surprising twists and turns left me rapt. With a fantastic performance that made it a pleasure to listen to.

Inventive and thought provoking

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I respect this book, the story it told and the research that went into it. It's a good story, it's well-written, and the narrators did a really good job. It's probably a better experience than reading the book (which I won't often admit), since it relies so much on other languages and meanings of words.
But, I did not like it as a fantasy book. Personally, I wouldn't even categorize it as fantasy, but that's just my own opinion.
In terms of fantasy elements, it's much more like The Crane Husband, for example, than most other books you might think of when you think of fantasy (Mistborn, LoTR, WoT, GoT, Uprooted, Strange the Dreamer, Name of the Wind, anything by Pratchett or Gaiman, etc )

I went into this expecting a fantasy with a unique magic system based on language and exploring the wonders such a magic system. Babel was most definitely not that. Then again, it's probably my own fault for not knowing beforehand what it was about.

Expect historical fiction with magic that is not explored, but used as a means to propel the plot. It's about colonialism, racism, friendship, grief, betrayal, survival, justice, revolution, etc. Heavy topics, heavy book. Well-told, but not my cup of tea.

Historical fiction/fantasy

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Incredible book. Perfect performance. This is a very special book that I will think about for a long time.

Perfect

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Beautifully written and rendered. Gut wrenching, intellegent, witty, insightful and engaging. Brilliant. A must read.

Timely and Timeless

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