Katie Reviews~ Babel by R.F. Kuang

This book is all about the love of language and how a young boy (Robin Swift) who outlives his family due to a cholera outbreak is brought to England to train as an Oxford translator. Taking place in 1828 Robin Swift is guided by his guardian Professor Lovell in Ancient Greek, Chinese and Latin to be accepted into the Oxford University's Royal institute of Translation otherwise known as Babel. Translators and Babel are the centre of the British Empire's power, the translators work to create magic silver matching pairs; one word in different languages that have the same meaning which effect everything, from how fast and efficient machines work, to the strength and structure of buildings and bridges. Babel is built on the talent of young adults who are brought to England from all the corners of British Empire to translate and find matching pairs which increases the wealth of the English purse but reduces the wealth and conditions of the translator's colonised homeland.  This causes conflict within the translators and makes them question if their loyalties are to their new opportunities in England or to their loved homeland.

This novel brings to light history, politics, the power of language, colonialism and the sacrifices for resistance and change. Without losing the depth of character or the momentum.  Before starting Babel, I felt daunted by the language element due to being dyslexic however once I started reading the language and translation element it felt natural and easy.  This book has wonderful characters and themes and I was happily surprised by the crime and mystery element to narrative.

If you haven’t yet purchased a copy of the book you can do so here.