Book Review of BABEL by R.F. Kuang

What if British colonialism was supercharged with magic?

Babel is the translation centre in 1830s Oxford, where young linguists are plucked from India, China and Africa. Then they are trained to find gaps in meaning between languages which can power silver bars, used to enforce British commercial and military power around the world.

Robin, Ramy, Victoire and Letty bond as freshers but their disquiet grows as they discover how their translation talents are being used to oppress their compatriots.

But how can mere students overthrow an empire? As their efforts to disrupt escalate, so do the personal risks, shattering friendships.

While we may categorise Babel as historical fantasy, it is deeply rooted in the author’s intense research into linguistics and the horrors of colonialism. At times the novel resembles an academic text with extensive footnotes. Yet if you choose to ignore them the story itself gallops along, as Cantonese-born narrator Robin attempts to find ever more extreme methods to disrupt the colonial machine.

Babel has been compared to Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials on the grounds of its Oxford setting, but it is far bloodier and more gruesome. With its ambiguous and dark ending it is hardly a suitable read for young teens. And the only magical element is the language-powered silver that enhances everything from industrial machinery to warships. I’d compare it to Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies in its depiction of the damage done by the opium trade.

At 544 pages of close-typed text it is a big read, even if you skip the footnotes. But it forced me to contemplate the amorality of the British Empire and the casual racism that underpinned it.  Which is no doubt exactly the author’s intention.

Author website https://www.rfkuang.com/

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