num_pages: 544
description: From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions colonial resistance and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British EmpireTraduttore traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.1828. Robin Swift orphaned by cholera in Canton is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There he trains for years in Latin Ancient Greek and Chinese all in preparation for the day hell enroll in Oxford Universitys prestigious Royal Institute of Translationalso known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and more importantly magic. Silver-workingthe art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver barshas made the British unparalleled in power as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.For Robin Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium Robin must decide . . .Can powerful institutions be changed from within or does revolution always require violence?
language: English
title: Babel: An Arcane History
publisher: Harper Voyager