Babel
Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution
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Narrated by:
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Chris Lew Kum Hoi
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Billie Fulford-Brown
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By:
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R. F. Kuang
About this listen
THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES AND #1 NYT BESTSELLER
‘One for Philip Pullman fans’
THE TIMES
‘This one is an automatic buy’
GLAMOUR
‘Ambitious, sweeping and epic’
EVENING STANDARD
‘Razor-sharp’
DAILY MAIL
‘An ingenious fantasy about empire’
GUARDIAN
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.
Oxford, 1836.
The city of dreaming spires.
It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.
And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.
Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.
Until it became a prison…
But can a student stand against an empire?
An incendiary new novel from award-winning author R.F. Kuang about the power of language, the violence of colonialism, and the sacrifices of resistance.
'A masterpiece that resonates with power and knowledge. 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 achievement’
Samantha Shannon, author of THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE
Delve into the heart of an alternative UK, where Babel reigns as a top entry among gaslamp fantasy books. It's a great, bestselling read, peppered with the essence of urban exploration and thrilling action, an adventure that will leave you breathless and wanting more. For fans of Rebecca Yarros (Iron Flame), Leigh Bardungo (Six of Crows), Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings) and Olivie Blake (The Atlas Six) and Samantha Shannon (The Priory of the Orange Tree).
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Critic reviews
"Kuang has crafted a masterpiece that resonates with power and knowledge. 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 achievement, from the footnotes to the final page." (Samantha Shannon, author of Priory of The Orange Tree)
"Ambitious, sweeping and epic." (Evening Standard)
"An ingenious fantasy about empire’." (Guardian)
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Set against the colorful tumult of events that gave rise to our fledgling nation, this novel of romance and adventure introduces Phillipe Charboneau. The illegitimate son of an English nobleman, Phillipe flees Europe and, as Philip Kent, joins the men who set our course for freedom. The Bastard is the first volume in the Kent Family Chronicles, a series of novels that details one family's journey in the early years of the American nation.
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An Amazing Tale
- By will on 11-06-13
By: John Jakes
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Angelmaker
- By: Nick Harkaway
- Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Joe Spork repairs clocks, a far cry from his late father, a flashy London gangster. But when Joe fixes one particularly unusual device, his life is suddenly upended. Joe's client, Edie Banister, is more than just a kindly old lady - she's a former superspy. And the device? It's a 1950s doomsday machine. And having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the government and a diabolical South Asian dictator, Edie's old arch-nemesis.
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A cure for the modern cynic
- By Maine Colonial 🌲 on 08-28-12
By: Nick Harkaway
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Winter Tide
- By: Ruthanna Emrys
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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After attacking Devil's Reef in 1928, the US government rounded up the people of Innsmouth and took them to the desert, far from their ocean, their Deep One ancestors, and their sleeping god, Cthulhu. Only Aphra and Caleb Marsh survived the camps, and they emerged without a past or a future. The government that stole Aphra's life now needs her help. FBI agent Ron Spector believes that communist spies have stolen dangerous magical secrets.
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Overrated on a Cosmic Scale
- By michael sorensen on 07-03-18
By: Ruthanna Emrys
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Three Daughters of Eve
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to the present day, Three Daughters of Eve is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship, tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife and mother, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor.
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Review 3 daughters of Eve
- By CA on 04-28-18
By: Elif Shafak
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We Set the Dark on Fire
- By: Tehlor Kay Mejia
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
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At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles in their polarized society. Depending on her specialization, a graduate will one day run a husband’s household or raise his children. Both paths promise a life of comfort and luxury, far from the frequent political uprisings of the lower class. Daniela Vargas is the school’s top student, but her pedigree is a lie. She must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society. And school couldn’t prepare her for the difficult choices she must make after graduation.
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Undeveloped story and characters and setting
- By Hsin Yao Chou on 11-08-20
By: Tehlor Kay Mejia
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The Strangler Vine
- By: M. J. Carter
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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India, 1837: William Avery is a young soldier with few prospects except rotting away in campaigns in India; Jeremiah Blake is a secret political agent gone native, a genius at languages and disguises, disenchanted with the whole ethos of British rule, but who cannot resist the challenge of an unresolved mystery.
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Don't Waste Time Reading Reviews-Just Buy the Book
- By Tracey Rains on 03-09-17
By: M. J. Carter
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The Agency 1: A Spy in the House
- By: Y. S. Lee
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In Victorian England, orphan Mary Quinn lives on the edge. Sentenced as a thief at the age of 12, she’s rescued from the gallows by a woman posing as a prison warden. In her new home, Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls, Mary acquires a singular education, fine manners, and a surprising opportunity. The school is a cover for the Agency — an elite, top secret corps of female investigators with a reputation for results — and at 17, Mary’s about to join their ranks.
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yes, it's YA-but credible for genre for any age
- By connie on 02-25-11
By: Y. S. Lee
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Steeplejack
- By: A. J. Hartley
- Narrated by: Noma Dumezweni
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
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Seventeen-year-old Anglet Sutonga lives repairing the chimneys, towers, and spires of the city of Bar-Selehm. Dramatically different communities live and work alongside each other. The white Feldish command the nation's higher echelons of society. The native Mahweni are divided between city life and the savannah. And then there's Ang, part of the Lani community who immigrated over generations ago as servants and now mostly live in poverty on Bar-Selehm's edges.
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Steeplejack Audio Climbs the Tops of Storytelling
- By Kerra Bolton on 12-08-16
By: A. J. Hartley
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The Ambassador's Daughter
- By: Pam Jenoff
- Narrated by: Joanna Daniel
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
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Brought to the peace conference by her father, a German diplomat, Margot Rosenthal initially resents being trapped in the congested French capital, where she is still looked upon as the enemy. But as she contemplates returning to Berlin and a life with Stefan, the wounded fiancé she hardly knows anymore, she decides that being in Paris is not so bad after all. Bored and torn between duty and the desire to be free, Margot strikes up unlikely alliances: with Krysia, an accomplished musician with radical acquaintances and a secret to protect; and with Georg, the handsome, damaged naval officer who gives Margot a job.
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Book 0 in the series
- By Stevon on 12-12-17
By: Pam Jenoff
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The Affair of the Porcelain Dog
- By: Jess Faraday
- Narrated by: Philip Battley
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
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London, 1889. For Ira Adler, former rent-boy and present plaything of crime lord Cain Goddard, stealing back the statue from Goddard's blackmailer should have been a doddle. But inside the statue is evidence that could put Goddard away for a long time under the sodomy laws, and everyone's after it, including Ira's bitter ex, Dr. Timothy Lazarus.
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Brilliant book, Phenomenal audio experience!
- By 'Nathan on 04-24-13
By: Jess Faraday
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The Collectors' Society
- The Collectors' Society, Book 1
- By: Heather Lyons
- Narrated by: Gemma Dawson
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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After years in Wonderland, Alice has returned to England as an adult, desperate to reclaim sanity and control over her life. An enigmatic gentleman with an intriguing job offer too tempting to resist changes her plans for a calm existence. Soon, she's whisked to New York and initiated into the Collectors' Society, a secret organization whose members confirm that famous stories are anything but straightforward and that what she knows about the world is only a fraction of the truth.
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A true adventure full of the classics!
- By evelyn torres on 06-17-17
By: Heather Lyons
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Spirit Legacy
- The Gateway Trilogy, Book 1
- By: E. E. Holmes
- Narrated by: Lyssa Browne
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Some cryptic words wake college student Jess Ballard from a terrifying dream into an even more terrifying reality. Jess’ life has never been what anyone would call easy; doing damage control in the wake of your nomadic, alcoholic mother doesn't exactly make for a storybook childhood. But now, her world has fallen apart just when it should be coming together: her mother gone—dead under mysterious circumstances; her life uprooted to stay with estranged relatives she’s never met; and there’s something odd about some of the people she’s been meeting at school: They’re dead.
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My mistake
- By KayTee on 06-26-22
By: E. E. Holmes
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The Becoming of Noah Shaw
- By: Michelle Hodkin
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times best-selling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after. Everyone thinks 17-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string. They're wrong. Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future. He shouldn't. And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart. They're right.
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Fans will be torn on this one
- By kimbacaffeinate on 12-08-17
By: Michelle Hodkin
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The Pale Blue Eye
- By: Louis Bayard
- Narrated by: Charles Leggett
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
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When the body of a suicide victim disappears at West Point Military Academy in 1831, only to be discovered hours later missing its heart, the Academy calls on retired detective Gus Landor to investigate. Landor is something of a legend among his peers, noted for an uncanny, Holmesian ability to read people. When Edgar Allan Poe, a new cadet, comes forth with his own cryptic conclusion—that the man Landor is looking for is a poet—Landor is intrigued and enlists Poe as his assistant.
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Could not get through it
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-15
By: Louis Bayard
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What listeners say about Babel
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lina
- 02-20-23
Wonderful story, strange performance
The story is gripping and won’t let you go until you finish the book!
But keep in mind that naration is not the best one as some words or phrazes are taked over during edition probably. But I got used to it quite quickly and just allowed the story to overwhelm me
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- Claire
- 07-13-23
An interesting, exciting book
WOW! What an amazing story. It has a unique magic system that is super cool. Read this if you like learning things while being entertained.
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- Ben Stanley
- 11-18-24
Cool concept and world.
I appreciate the difficulty of having a single voice pronounce words natively in so many different languages, but editing individual words in was nonetheless annoying.
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- Lutz Beckert
- 07-25-24
Daring, dazzling and dangerous
Beautiful use of the prerogative of an author - create a dazzling, magical word; let the characters dance, fear and love and suddenly, the reader find themselves conflicted sympathising with rebels, or conformists or as beneficiaries of colonialism.
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- Kindle Customer
- 04-05-23
Glorious, well researched, fascinating
Never thought that languages and our ability to verbalise plays such an integral role in our civilizatiom status and power. Our ability to be tolerant and think critically linked to our ancestry and prejudices. Excellant.
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- Profound Assassin
- 10-28-24
multi cultural fantasy
as a person of color with mixed roots this one felt written for me. it opened my eyes to what the existence of people like me says about our world. the magic system on its self can be considered a critique on (at least mine vision) globalism. and I still don't understand how this book (and it's characters) has so much depth without having to be a cliché trilogy (I like trilogies, but it's becoming a the standard way fantasy is written)
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- Anonymous User
- 02-26-23
Simply brilliant!
Honestly, I’m still trying to process this book. So, this short review is post-listening emotions. Forgive me, I’m still raw.
Kuang masterfully paints a portrait of language, power and revolution in a fictionalized version of Oxford University, that grips the reader from chapter one and leaves their hearts asunder by the close of the epilogue. In this, we set on a journey through Robin’s eyes and close it through those of Victoire’s and in between one is made to care, love, empathize, hate and understand the other dominant voices in this story. This is true storytelling. The kind yearned but rarely given. Kuang tells a story that any marginalized voice can listen to and relate with because she does what so few authors can do: she tells stories relatable to a large audience. An audience that the very classics quoted within, fail to reach. This book is marvelous. This book is intelligent, masterfully written. This book is devastating! I will be purchasing a copy because I need to relive all of this with pencil, ruler and highlighter in hand.
I would love to say that this book had wide appeal, but it may bore those who care not for etymology or infuriate others who fail to see perspectives other than their own. Therefore, I’d recommend this to the reader who is marginalized by things they can’t change. This book, is for us. You and I.
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Story
- Ann
- 01-20-24
Wonderful combined voices to emphasise the languages
The audible is great because you hear the sounds of the language and I really enjoyed all the footnotes being read in a different voice it was excellent
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- AngelicaS
- 07-19-23
Slow start but oh was it worth it
I don’t think i would have gotten through half of the book manually but as an audiobook it went swimmingly and all the setup and worldbuilding was worth it in the end. The story really sped up after the halfway point and i was on the edge of my seat for the whole end of it after that!
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Georgia
- 05-02-24
Everyone needs to read this book
Incredible story, excellent performance. Best read I’ve had in years! Everyone needs to read this story.
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