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Babel
- Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
- Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Billie Fulford-Brown
- Length: 21 hrs and 46 mins
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Publisher's summary
From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.
Traduttore, 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 he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.
Babel is 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 its knowledge 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?
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
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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When compiling our list of the best fantasy listening out there, we immediately came up against the age-old question: Is this fantasy or science fiction? The distinction is not as clear as you may think. Dragons, elves, and wizards are definitely fantasy, but what about wizards that also fly space ships? (Looking at you, Star Wars.) For the sake of fantasy purity, the top 100 fantasy listens include the best audio works in all manner of fantasy subgenres.
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Winter Tide
- By: Ruthanna Emrys
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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
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Overall
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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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Warlock Holmes
- A Study in Brimstone
- By: G. S. Denning
- Narrated by: Robert Garson
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Sherlock Holmes is an unparalleled genius who uses the gift of deduction and reason to solve the most vexing of crimes. Warlock Holmes, however, is an idiot. A good man, perhaps; a font of arcane power, certainly. But he’s brilliantly dim. Frankly, he couldn’t deduce his way out of a paper bag. The only things he has really got going for him are the might of a thousand demons and his stalwart flatmate. Thankfully, Dr. Watson is always there to aid him through the treacherous shoals of Victorian propriety...
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Short on Clues--Heavy on Delightful Twists
- By Gillian on 01-10-17
By: G. S. Denning
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We Set the Dark on Fire
- By: Tehlor Kay Mejia
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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
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Overall
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Performance
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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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Overall
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Story
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
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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 Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity, are the foremost secret society of magical academicians in the world. Those who earn a place among the Alexandrians will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams, and each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiation. Enter the latest round of six: Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, unwilling halves of an unfathomable whole, who exert uncanny control over every element of physicality.
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The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors.
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Dreamlike Experience to Savor
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After the old gods warred and drove themselves to extinction, the cataclysm of their fall shattered the land of Vigrio. Now, power-hungry jarls carve out petty kingdoms, and monsters stalk the shadow-haunted woods and mountains. A world where the bones of the dead gods still hold great power, promising fame, and fortune for those brave - or desperate - enough to seek them out. As whispers of war echo over the plains and across the fjords, fate follows the footsteps of three people. All three will shape the fate of the world, as it once more teeters on the edge of chaos.
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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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- Maria Piva
- 10-16-22
Fantastic
Really enjoyed this story, and loved hearing the different etymologies. There was never any slow moments, things are paced really well. Like others have said, the performance is great, but the editing is sloppily done in places. it's clear where some clips were spliced in. I got used to it though, and overall didn't distract too much for me.
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13 people found this helpful
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- Michael
- 11-09-22
Bigotry is bad….over and over and over
The authors opinions (at time story takes place) of bigotry/victimization, superseded the plot development.
The constant beating of the (time periods) racism-drum was a failure to launch for me.
When it started, I empathized. Took stock/root in the protagonist’s challenges and started our journey. But I just got tired of hearing the about the periods injustices, by way of the English or the University. Yes, I get it. Arrogant, racist behavior. But I wanted story too.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- M M
- 01-10-23
Ambitious Success
In Babel, the author undertook an astonishing complex task — to write a fascinating novel with credible, flawed but accessible characters, in an alternative history setting in which the industrial revolution is fueled by silver and by the energy created by the transitions (continuities and discontinuities) of meaning among cognates of words in different languages. The book is an able critique of capitalism, slavery in its many forms, and tribalism. Kuang demonstrates a deep familiarity with nineteenth century Oxford, with linguistics, and with the mechanics of the industrial revolution and its reformer critics, and with individual human motivations and goals. The book is a stunning success on all these levels.
It was moving to hear Chinese words pronounced authentically (I think) with tonal stresses. For me, this underlined the complexities and contradictions within the protagonist.
From this book, I take away lessons about motivations and rationalizations, imperialism, the costs and benefits of capitalism and the challenges to cross-cultural communication. The story is wonderful, and its observations are applicable in the real world as well.
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- Anonymous User
- 01-25-24
excellent! I hope all will read it!
I thought that this book was excellent and it's the second book that I've read by this author. I read her book yellow face and it made me immediately want to come and read other works. it's a stunning and at times extremely emotional and sometimes challenging to wrestle with some of the topics, but I loved it and I can't wait to read more from her
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- Catherine
- 10-03-22
Pure Excellence
This one is for the academics. As someone who has been in higher academia for a long time, this spoke to me in a way nothing has in quite some time. The story is amazing, the magic system is interesting and relevant but not overwhelming, and the characters grip you. It's a story about revolution, colonization, love, language, and so much more. R.F. Kuang accomplished something great here. I've been thinking about this book since I finished it.
Side note - I ultimately bought the Kindle book as well so I could read along as I listened. There are footnotes, which are done very well in the audiobook with a different narrator, but it was fun to read them as well.
Love, love, LOVED this.
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- Pamela
- 10-10-22
A Staggering Articulation of Truth
Babel is a remarkably realistic rendering of some deeptruths around race and class. The world built is well suited to the tone and craft of the storytelling. These are characters who will engage your mind and heart, a feat less common than it should be. Babel is compelling on every level and I recommend it.
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- Keita
- 09-17-22
Can’t rate highly enough
So smart, intellectual, interesting, erudite, surprising, well-researched, thought-provoking, unique, expansive - one of a kind book and an author I will now follow to the ends of the “earth.”
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- Fire_In_Babylon
- 09-08-22
An absolute page turner.
Alternate history told in 1830s United Kingdom. On the surface, a fun romp through Oxford University and it’s Babel tower. Where students with a knack for language, are taught this world’s version of magic. Progress and industry and built around silver and etymology. Words from two languages, inscribed onto silver, produce results rooted in those words true meaning. The twist is not simply understanding the definition of the words, but understanding the true langue and history of the word. Living, breathing, and dreaming the language. Silver lines steam engines, works machines, powers boats, keeps buildings standing tall, holds up bridges, and more. The British Empire is built on silver.
The problem is, the words of the classical languages don’t hold the same power as they used to. Match-pairs (as they are called) of English to French, German, Spanish, even old English, don’t power the silver they way they did centuries ago. Enter the books central theme, colonialism. Our narrator, Robin (a name given to him by his English “savior”), is a boy from Canton, China (Present day Guangzhou). Robin, fluent in Mandarin, grew up with an English tutor, and developed a knack and a love for languages. He is saved from the Chinese cholera pandemic that took his mother, and offered to go to England with an Oxford Professor, with a spot within the University promised to him if he maintains his studies. While at Oxford, Robin forms a close relationship with students who share a similar background, and rooted in colonialism. Ramy (from Calcutta) and Victoire (from Haiti). A fourth, Letty, is English, the daughter of an English admiral, out of place simply for being a woman.
What begins as a an entertaining look into the everyday lives of Babel students and a wealth of world-building within the university, turns into the realization that England’s reign comes at a high cost. Paid for by its colonies, and its less technological rivals. Robin, Ramy, and Victoire were not granted acceptance to the most prestigious school in the world out of the kindness of the Crown’s heat, but because they are tools. To be guided, molded, used, and if one were to brake, cast away without a second thought. Here is where the full title starts to make sense.
The book isn’t perfect. I have decades of fantasy reading in my background and it still took me a few page rereads to grasp the magic system. It’s not the it’s complicated just, slightly unclear. There’s never a defined line of, “here’s how it works”, but it slowly opens up as you go along.
My biggest issue is the suspension of disbelief regarding the magic system itself in relation to the world stage. This is an alternate history story after all. Yet the 1830s we are set in is not all that different than our own. There was the rise and fall of Rome, America’s revolution, and the Napoleonic wars. Though, it was briefly described that Rome first discovered the magical properties of Silver, how did they fall? How and why did England gain all the power it did? You would think Rome, undefeatable, given their ability with Silver. Furthermore there is a backstory involving China and the real-life Opium Wars. In this case, the UK is pushing poppy imports in exchange for China’s vast silver supply. Yet, if China has this supply, how are the so weak? The knowledge of silver’s power has been around for centuries. From Rome, to Spain and Portugal, France, and England. If the secret is guarded, how and why was it passed around as is did? The narrator gives a brief explanation that the UK defeated France because of their deeper scholarly pursuits; the discovery of better and more unique match-pairs swung the power to England. I just wish I understood how the geopolitical stage was set the way it was in regard to silver.
This a great big book, and one I could not put down, but the world outside Oxford isn’t delved into as much as I would have liked. Not to explore it in any nuance, but to better understand the global power struggles that are often referenced throughout, and set up for the fast-pasted grade finale.
If you can set aside the questions you will have about the world around Oxford and England, you will fall in love with this book.
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- Victor
- 12-05-22
Meh…
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. Thought provoking with an interesting magical system. But I feel it could have been shorter. There were a couple of “I didn’t see that coming” moments but for the most part I felt it was pretty predictable. The narration was good which helped. Good book but not a repeat listen.
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- Michelle B. Cori
- 12-09-22
Easily one he best book I’ve read in the last couple of years!
It’s been a long time since I’ve had this bad of a book hangover. This book feels like a modern Victor Hugo fantasy book.
Yes, there are fantasy elements but they are so believably woven into this alternative history that I didn’t feel like I was reading fantasy. The writing is beautiful and so are the characters. They introduced me to so many interesting real linguistic concepts and the difficulties of translating. All that with the pain and suffering that colonialism and other atrocities of the Victorian era inflicted upon the world. Many times I had to put the book down because of how overwhelming I felt while wanting to pick it back up again because I needed to know what happens next. Thank you for this book. It’s been too long since I’ve experienced a world like this in a book.
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