Babel

What first struck me was how this book used a smidge of magic to allow certain aspects of themes to be easier to comprehend. The writing does something with themes where it makes them recognizable and able to be investigated in more profound ways by shearing off the sides, so to speak. Yet while I noticed this up front, I was surprised how deep the book went as it reached its zenith and turned toward a conclusion. There were comments about colonialism and empire that I recognized, but the way they were delved into thanks to the aforementioned tactic struck me more deeply than I could have expected. The characters, despite being somewhat symbolic in their deployment, also grew on me immensely. It made me think, and it made my eyes tear up a few times. And that's without mentioning all the fun translation, history, and cultural movement details the writing wove in so elegantly! As a professional translator, it captured my intellect, my heart, and my imagination.

In the world of Babel, magic works by inscribing similar words onto bars of silver which manifests the difference between the words as spells. What works really great are words in translation, because few translated words have exactly the same meaning.

Babel is the story of Robin Swift, a Chinese orphan with a talent for languages who is brought to England by an professor of translation. China forbids the teaching of Chinese to foreigners, so the British Empire steals young Chinese boys to provide words in translation. It's incredibly exploitative, and Robin starts to learn just what his purpose is meant to be.

As the subtitle implies, Robin gets caught up in opposition to Oxford's use of translators powering of empire. But he also really likes the creature comforts that come with being one favored by the British Empire and would really like to keep those. Can an empire be reformed from within, but someone who is a member of a colonized people no less? Or does changing empire require violent uprising?

The story starts off very engaging, but at the point the Robin has to choose whether to go in violent opposition, the text becomes quite bogged down with repetitive arguments and discussions between characters over the ethics involved. And as the climactic confrontation approaches, every character becomes merely a vehicle for plot and discourse, devoid of much in the way of personality.

I gave this 4 stars because of some really interesting ideas and a really great start. But I wish the second half of the book lived up to the promise of the first half.

A story about what makes an empire run is thrilling, although not surprising. Babel is a fantasy novel you can totally apply to the real world. Money, (modern) colonialism and slavery, wars ... all the tools of economic power. I also loved to learn about etymology and language in general. As one who reads a lot and loves to read it doesn't come as a huge surprise that magic lies in words.

The reason for my mediocre rating is the book itself. I like the way she writes but she uses a ton of footnotes. Some of them necessary, most of them not. those would have fitted in one way or another in the text itself. For me, the footnotes hindered the flow of reading so it was really hard - especially in the beginning of the book - to get "into the zone".

Especially the ebook version is awful since you are jumping back and forth. For that I preferred the paperback since it made it easier to stick to it.

It's a pity that the book only got interesting during the last third.

For a good chunk of it, it's a coming-of-age and "magic school" tale with a pinch of the chosen one narrative. The later gets subverted in a very interesting way. And soon there are more unexpected and emotional twists which lead to a confrontation with the imperialist and racist authorities. The magic system Kuang came up with is very original and intriguing. Often, with magic, language or the right words play a role but basing it on the power of translation seems quite unique. I loved all the in-depth discussion of language and translation. It inspired a friend and me to come up with our own word pairs and speculate about what those pairs would do. It's also one of the few fantasy stories that deals with how magic would be used in a capitalist society in a realistic manner. My only major point of critique is that the narrative is perhaps a bit too clear cut in the sense that the villains are very villainous and all the students of colour develop a modern understanding of racism and colonialism very quickly even though that would have been unlikely given the time and setting. The ending is very emotional and moving. I'd love another book set in the same world, preferably a sequel.

Kuang's story surprises. This coming-of-age (and coming-of-revolution) story introduces us to a world where the the 19th-century Industrial Revolution is made possible not by steam and worker oppression but by the magical powers of translation and colonial exploitation. The experiences of the protagonist, a Cantonese boy that adopts the English name Robin Swift, lead us to an imagined Oxford that is as intriguing as Hogwarts but that has sins that Kuang not only does not whitewash, but makes the centerpiece of her novel. The historical notes and especially the etymological explanations are fascinating, if occasionally pedantic. Once you get your head around this world and how it works, you'll want to hang on to the end to see how a postcolonial critique during the height of the British Empire can possibly turn out.