Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Babel: An Arcane History is the latest release from R.F. Kuang, beloved author of the The Poppy War trilogy. This is the first I have read from this author.
Babel is one of those books that everyone was buzzing about in 2022. It seemed everyone was reading it; your brother, your mother, your cousin, your neighbor, your coworkers, maybe even your enemies.
Y’all know, I can’t resist that type of hype. So, I bought it.
Then it arrived. What a day! I still remember opening that box. Behold the beauty!
Then I lifted it from the box and thought, oh shit. Yeah, she’s thick. So, then I was intimidated and hid it on my shelves for a later date. Last week was that date.
I decided to listen to the audio and am really happy I did. I feel like it helped me get through it more quickly and I enjoyed the narration, imagining the wonderful narrator, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, as our MC, Robin Swift.
The story starts in 1828, when a young boy, orphaned by cholera is taken in by a mysterious benefactor, Professor Lovell, after performing a bit of a test. The Professor, who will be moving the boy from his native Canton to London, makes the boy select a more Western-pleasing name. Thus, the boy christens himself Robin Swift.
We follow Robin on his voyage to his new home, as well as his subsequent educational journey from his benefactor’s home lessons, all the way through to the hallowed halls of Oxford University.
More specifically, Robin is enrolled in the prestigious Royal Institute of Translation, also known as Babel.
For Robin, this all feels like a dream. He is enamored with Babel, truly in awe, but as with many things in life, the more he learns about the institution and its function and goals, the more he becomes disillusioned by it all.
((…think Anakin Skywalker…))
We follow Robin, and his cohort, as they all come to certain realizations and as they decide which course they would like their lives to take.
I was very intrigued with this story from the start. The set-up was fantastic. You can’t help but be drawn to Robin’s character right away. From his first encounter with the Professor, you can just tell this is a boy of pure heart.
Once he starts University, he gets the opportunity to make his first real friends within his first year cohort. I was so happy for him.
The found family element was like something he had been lacking all along, but he didn’t even realize it. Meeting friends like Rami was a really pivotal moment for Robin.
It was interesting to watch the tone shift in this novel. It was a bit bright-eyed optimism, full of possibilities, to darker realizations of the world and its systemic dysfunctions rather quickly. But so is life. That did ring true.
I’m so impressed with this novel as an undertaking. You can tell that Kuang is a true lover of language. That fact pours off the page, that feeling and heart about language and its power. I was fascinated by this aspect.
Even though I was impressed with the content, I do consider this a challenging read. It’s heavy, with blatant racism and exploitation on page, and I did feel that there were sections that dragged a little.
There was a particular trip to Canton, that after that, from the return voyage onward, the pace really picked up for me. The stakes were raised higher than I could have imagined and I enjoyed seeing where the story went from there.
Oddly, even though I was initially intimidated by the size of this novel, I actually think it should have been longer.
Hear me out. I actually feel like I would have liked even more character and world development. Please note, this is a positive thing if I am asking for more.
For me, this may have worked better as a duology. Perhaps with the first book being up through the end of the first year at Babel and the second book picking up with the start of second year.
Is that crazy?
Overall, I would say that, small nit-pick things aside, this is an incredible novel that shows off Kuang’s stunning intellect, grace and superbly smooth writing style in only the best light. I cannot wait to pick up more of her work!!