My Rating: 4.0
Orphaned by cholera in Canton, Robin 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 he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization. s 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?
I am so torn over how to rate this. On one hand, the author is BRILLIANT! Unique and creative story lines with wonderful writing. On the otherhand, I felt that this was redundant, preaching and strident in some of the point. It was also VERY dry in that a large portion of this book was told through lectures. I absolutely loved The Poppy Wars and will be reading more in that series but felt that was maybe too ambitious in what Kuang was trying to convey.
Very similar feelings. I really enjoyed the first part of the book. She is genius with the magic system and world building, so clever. She was too heavy handed with the talk about colonialism and racism. It was almost as if she wrote this book with a YA reader in mind even though it wasn’t marketed toward a YA reader. I still think she is one of the brightest young authors writing today.
ReplyDeleteJeana😘