R. F Kuang

Set in a fantasy world where, in the 19th century, magical artifacts are behind the projection of (especially) Britain’s colonial power, this thinly disguised polemic is also an entertaining and sometimes thoughtful novel.

It starts with the adoption of a Chinese orphan by one of the professors at Babel (the nickname of Oxford University’s Royal Institute of Translation). That orphan, renamed Robin Swift, is forced by his adopted father to devotedly study languages with a view to him gaining entry to Babel as a student. At Babel, they research and produce the special pairs of words from different languages that, when engraved on silver bars, produce magical effects. The magical process behind these matching pairs of words is explained in the book and whether you accept it so as to enjoy the rest of the novel will depend on your ability to suspend disbelief. (It was a tough ask for me.)

Swift gets into Babel and meets up with three other students – Ramy, Letty, and Victoire – who will accompany him on his scholastic journey.

To avoid giving any spoilers, let’s just say that Robin has a challenging relationship with the professor who adopted him and, apart from that, the bulk of the plot focuses on these students gradually learning and understanding the real-world effects of the work they do and its importance to the British Empire. In their lives, they encounter at first hand, racism, naked imperialism, and see how far those in power will go to hold onto and even extend their dominion. Violence is never far away.

The author’s message is delivered in a slightly heavy-handed manner. Occasionally, the narrative is over-the-top and the image it inspired in me was a lecturer shouting at an audience ‘You must believe this!’ I am not attempting to excuse colonialism and imperialism, but the world is rarely black and white, and there is little nuance to be found here.

Despite this, on the whole I enjoyed the book. There are several well-drawn, well-rounded and believable characters. Away from the politics, the writing is generally a pleasure to read with only rare times when there’s a feeling that some parts are overwritten. The Oxford backdrop is wonderfully portrayed with nugget after nugget of tempting detail – whether real or not, I have no idea. The plot is solid. The build up to the final, terrible scene is pitched at just the right tempo and contains some of the sharpest writing. Finally, the lingusitic elements – as the matching pairs are explained – are an impressive labor of love. The magic rationale may not survive vigorous examination, but there’s clearly a ton of knowledge and hard work that has been crammed into this book to give it – with a pinch of suspended disbelief – a well deserved aura of mystical wonder.

One of the best fantasy books I’ve read in a while.