When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. Silver working - the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars - has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire's quest for colonization.įor Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge.

There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he'll enroll in Oxford University's prestigious Royal Institute of Translation - also known as Babel.īabel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.ġ828. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Exclusive: Read a New Excerpt From ‘The Poppy War’ Author R. BABEL is a stark picture of the cruelty of empire, a distillation of dark academia, and a riveting blend of fantasy and historical fiction - a monumental.

Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr.

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