I’m about 1/3 into Babel, by RF Kuang. Enjoyable so far, a variant of the “magic school” genre, but elevated by exploration of imperialism, and moreso by the nature of translation between languages. Magic, as powered by language, plays a part.  

starexplorer wrote:

Aja Jin wrote:

I’m about 1/3 into Babel, by RF Kuang. Enjoyable so far, a variant of the “magic school” genre, but elevated by exploration of imperialism, and moreso by the nature of translation between languages. Magic, as powered by language, plays a part.  

Aja Jin, does this seem accurate from Powell’s?:

“This was the loveliest and most fulfilling read. The story is smart and exciting and thoughtful and human. The author, R. F. Kuang, makes magic and science out of etymology, and the words in this book, the characters, what they have to say — it all rings true.”

”I absolutely sank into Babel, the story of Robin Swift and his translator friends at Oxford’s school of translation in an alternate version of Victorian England. The book is deeply concerned with language, in all its fluidity and malleability, and the ways that language (and people) get coopted, used, and discarded while those in charge seek power. It feels miraculous that this book exists. It kept me up reading well past midnight on more than one occasion.”

Yes, with a very heavy dose of British Imperial hubris.
 

Surtac wrote:

Hmmn.  Not sure about this one.

I tried one of her earlier works a while back (the start of the Poppy trilogy iirc) and it didn't get past the three chapter rule.

So it goes.


 

I read Poppy War, but not the sequels. Too dark, didn’t like the characters much.  I got a library copy of Babel for that very reason. The bad guys in Babel are the British elites being elite and entitled, and the system they built/live in. The good guys are just caught up in the machinery.  It’s all too easy to see today and us in a similar setting.
 

Last edited by Aja Jin (11/06/2022 7:09 am)

I've been extremely bogged down in my reading and am slowly making my way through Dune (it's a good book, but my reading time has deteriorated), but I just wanted to drop in to say that as a fan of the original All Creatures Great and Small television series about a 1940s British veterinarian, I've always been curious about the memoirs it was based on. Google Play Books has put three of the author's books into a bundle and are temporarily on sale for $5 instead of $50. Snapped it up in a heartbeat.

Last edited by Roci (12/27/2022 4:58 pm)

Now,  I like Dave Hutchinson, and when I saw Surtac’s post that he’s got another one out I went looking for it at the library (I’m trying to use the library these days instead of buying all my books) and the only one they had was called “Shelter” and I have to say that while I thought it was extraordinary I really hated the experience of reading it. Post-apocalyptic brutality always is disturbing. 
I have been on the other hand really enjoying reading everything of Mick Herron’s I can find. Spy stuff set in modern England for the most part. Some references to LeCarre, but very definitely his own idiom.  I am sure I am late to the party but I never heard of him till last month. 
I am big into escape these days. FInding the news to be dispiriting. War, spy balloons, earthquakes, not to mention George Santos and his ilk. Book banning in Florida, police brutality everywhere. Who needs to read dystopian fiction when it seems we may actually be living it