From the Bookshelf of The Perks Of Being A Book Addict…

Pamphlets. They’d thought they could win this with pamphlets. He almost laughed at the absurdity. Power did not lie in the tip of a pen. Power did not work against its own interests. Power could only be brought to heel by acts of defiance it could not ignore.

Babelis a fantasy novel set in 1800s Oxford. In this setting, silver=power and the translators at the Babel translation program are using incantations + silver to colonize the world. Even worse, in at least one case, recruitment

Pamphlets. They’d thought they could win this with pamphlets. He almost laughed at the absurdity. Power did not lie in the tip of a pen. Power did not work against its own interests. Power could only be brought to heel by acts of defiance it could not ignore.

Babelis a fantasy novel set in 1800s Oxford. In this setting, silver=power and the translators at the Babel translation program are using incantations + silver to colonize the world. Even worse, in at least one case, recruitment at the school is helped along by a professor siring children from other countries who then come to Oxford and study.

They both thought this was a matter of individual fortunes instead of systematic oppression, and neither could see outside the perspective of people who looked and spoke just like them.

This is a book that will likely thrill fans of Chloe Gong. There is history, Oxford nerdery, etymology, political systems and a hefty dose of unionism. If you love other languages, this book will thrill you.

‘The university ripped us from our homes and made us believe that our futures could only consist of serving the Crown,’ said Robin. ‘The university tells us we are special, chosen, selected, when really we are severed from our motherlands and raised within spitting distance of a class we can never truly become a part of. The university turned us against our own and made us believe our only options were complicity or the streets.

My favorite character is probably Griffin, and not the narrator Robin, though of course I love them both. Victoire also beats out Robin for me, although her story isn’t fully told until very far into the book, with a bit of a twist that everyone but me figured out. And Ramy, the bright star of the novel, was magnificently sketched. I did not expect to like this beast of a novel so much, but I was instantly enthralled. Read it now!