A review by killa_bunnies
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

adventurous informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Delany’s Babel-17 is a great book if you like big ideas stemming from original theories and presented in an entertaining way. In this case, Delany – a big fan of an influential Sapir-Whorf linguistic theory – is exploring the idea of how language is shaping our perception of the world and how it could determine our worldviews. Among the raging intergalactic war between Alliance of mankind and the mysterious Invades, Rydra Wong, famous poet, is entrusted with a task to crack the code, Babel-17. Very soon we find out it is actually a language that could serve as a weapon. Similar ideas could be later found in Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, or very prominently in Stephenson’s Snow Crash (I highly recommend both!). The book is full of snippets of linguistic theory, with passages introducing trivia from various languages, both organic and artificial, like early computer languages ALGOL, or Fortran contemporary to the release of the book. 

Babel-17 is full of original ideas, basically every few pages bring something new and quirky

(the Rydra’s spaceship crew is a lovable assortment of misfits and races, including beastly pilot, polyamorous navigators, trio of ghosts, or a platoon of kids keeping the ship running)

. This all plays well in terms of great world-building: many things are said just by the way, as the most mundane, common things, no questions asked, nothing explained in detail, but it all just works. And I sure would love to know more about the ghosts and people coming back to life, the invasion and intergalactic war, other species in space or the omnipresent wild body modifications, including animal transformations (it’s overall very cyberpunky, with one part of the book strongly reminding The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells). And my favorite quirky little thing: using Basque language to speak with ghosts. The influence of Delany is huge and could be found in the most unexpected ways. I mentioned few, but I would not be surprised that this had impact also on Rick Priestly and Warhammer:

for example the TW-55 plot

seems like a direct inspiration for the Eversor Assassins in Warhammer 40 000 (the original ruleset is full of allusions, as Priestly often mentioned, he was influenced by many authors, including Frank Herbert and his Dune. I would not be surprised if Delany was on the list as well.)

All in all a great book full of charming ideas that are sometimes so bizarre and quirky, yet functional and working supporting the overall world-building.