Welp, that was a huge disappointment. When you talk about the distance between expectations and reality, *Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution* was about as far apart as you can get. But before I get into that, let me start with a disclaimer. As you can see, I did not like this book. In fact, I'm hard pressed to come up with even one thing I enjoyed in here. But I'm decidedly in the minority, and many readers clearly loved this. If that's ...

DNF at 60%, but I skipped around to the end. Dark academia is super popular right now, and *Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution* was supposed to be THE dark academia novel of the year. However, I absolutely despised *Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution*, and here's why... RANT INCOMING: What a boring, mean-spirited book. It had little charm and came from a place of hate. And can R....

Okay, so… **Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution** really wasn’t for me. Oh dear, I have a lot of issues, but remember: if you loved this book, that’s valid, but if you didn’t, it doesn’t mean you aren’t “intelligent enough.” To be honest, after reading that disclaimer, I’m more convinced than ever that people rate a book highly purely because it covers important topics to avoid “looking racist” rather than actually rating how the book hand...

"Babel, Or the Necessity of Trauma Porn"I could dissect the numerous issues I had with **Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution** in terms of its excessive length, its wonky structure, its utterly one-dimensional characters, and how goddamn condescending it is, and you'll find that breakdown below. But I feel compelled to start with the aspect of this book that truly broke me.There's a widely discussed concept regarding the portrayal of bigot...

‘Without translation, I would be limited to the borders of my own country,’ wrote the great Italian author Italo Calvino, and as translator Anna Rusconi says, ‘when words travel the world, translators do the driving.’ So, what happens when those hands are behind the wheel of a war machine? What responsibility does one bear when translation serves the aims of imperialism and becomes a weapon? R.F. Kuang’s *Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolutio...

Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution reminded me of the classics and literature I had to study back in school. Sure, there were plenty of noteworthy ideas and discussions to be had, but good lord, it was a slog to get through. First off, whoever wrote the marketing tagline, "for fans of The Poppy War," needs to be fired. This is nothing like The Poppy War. That was an epic military fantasy war story, while this is more of a literary fiction...

An ARC was provided by the publisher—Harper Voyager—in exchange for an honest review.Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution was absolutely impressive, ambitious, and intelligently crafted. As unbelievable as it sounds, R.F. Kuang has triumphed over The Poppy War Trilogy—which I loved so much—with this one book. “Language was always the companion of empire, and as such, together they begin, grow, and flourish. And later, together, they fall....

Let's start with the positives: **Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution** is highly polished and incredibly readable. It's no small achievement to turn a book that's at least 30% lectures on etymology into digestible commercial fiction. It runs like a well-oiled machine; it's a hefty book, but I plowed through hundreds of pages at a time. The research supporting it is clearly thorough, especially where it aligns with R.F. Kuang's own academi...

The Italian word for disappointment is delusione, from the Latin de-ludus, literally “to make fun of”. Its closest cognate in the English language is delusion, which the Oxford Dictionary defines as “an idiosyncratic belief or impression maintained despite being contradicted by reality”. R. F. Kuang has me stuck in a never-ending cycle of delusion and disappointment. I keep convincing myself that I’m going to love her next book, and she makes fun of me by delivering something that doesn’t remot...

This was the nerdiest book I’ve ever read (and I loved it) —★— There are so many praises to sing about this book. R.F. Kuang’s prose remains as gripping as ever, even as she slowly builds tension and layers on nerdy academic teachings. I have always been interested in the dark academia genre but have yet to read many of the staples—but I feel completely satisfied with *Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution*. What else do I need when I have...