Hello book besties! Today I will share with you my review on Babel. It took me a long time to finish this book, but I finally did. Let’s get started!

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Author: R.F Kuang
Genre: historical fiction
Audience: Adult
Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Synopsis

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world’s center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

–Goodreads

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Review

Writing: The writing of this book is honestly one of the best I’ve ever read. It’s very deep and complex it reminds me of old literature. It wasn’t the type of fiction we’re used to, it’s much more deeper and richer than that. The language and words she used are rich and expressive , I really loved it. It does require a little slow reading though to get all the information straight and to understand everything.

characters & plot: I will not lie , as a lover of the historical fiction genre , this book definitely hit the spot. The plot is so intricate and includes many of the problems that we’re facing today like racism against people of color , Muslims , Asians ,etc.. . And the characters being each from different region of the world really reflects that. This book took the idea of friendship and family to another level. The characters had an amazing friendship together and their love for each other was so strong which made them feel like family. I also loved the themes and the messages in the book like racism , capitalism , how colonialism works and how language is closely tied with a nation’s identity. The book themes run very deep in meaning.

Romance: There wasn’t really much romance in this book except maybe two crushes , and that was it.

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This was my honest opinion about Babel, if you like historical fiction I recommend you to read this one if you haven’t .

Happy Reading!

Mariam.