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A review by spiffyb13
Babel by R.F. Kuang
5.0
Babel takes place in the early 1800s in an alternate history where silver is magical and they call it silver-working. The book better explains this as you read along but scholars are able to use the true meaning of words to activate the magic in silver. The British Empire has become very powerful with the use of silver.
Our main character of this book is a boy named Robin Swift who lives in China, his family dies from cholera and Professor Lovell from Oxford takes guardianship over him. Professor Lovell raises him in London and has tutors teach him Greek and Latin so that he is fluent in both.
When he is old enough he goes to Oxford to study at the prestigious
Institute of Translation also known as Babel. There he makes his first friends and learns about silver-working. Robin struggles with his time at Babel because he feels like he is betraying his motherland. Especially when Britain is trying to start a war with China, so they can take all of their silver.
This was a great read! It deals with a lot of topics such as racism, privilege, and colonialism. It did take me a longer time to read this book, just because there were a lot of heavy topics, but was well worth it. Once you get to 60% of the book it’s hard to put it down. There were some things towards the end I wish were changed in the book, but you can’t always get the ending you want. But definitely recommend this if you are in the mood for a historical fiction book.
Our main character of this book is a boy named Robin Swift who lives in China, his family dies from cholera and Professor Lovell from Oxford takes guardianship over him. Professor Lovell raises him in London and has tutors teach him Greek and Latin so that he is fluent in both.
When he is old enough he goes to Oxford to study at the prestigious
Institute of Translation also known as Babel. There he makes his first friends and learns about silver-working. Robin struggles with his time at Babel because he feels like he is betraying his motherland. Especially when Britain is trying to start a war with China, so they can take all of their silver.
This was a great read! It deals with a lot of topics such as racism, privilege, and colonialism. It did take me a longer time to read this book, just because there were a lot of heavy topics, but was well worth it. Once you get to 60% of the book it’s hard to put it down. There were some things towards the end I wish were changed in the book, but you can’t always get the ending you want. But definitely recommend this if you are in the mood for a historical fiction book.