Nebula and Locus Award-Winning Fantasy Novel by RF Kuang Babel: or the need for violence He is widely worshiped. Polygon considered one of the best SFF novels of 2022. For example, my colleague Sadie Gennis loved it enough to buy the hardcover version for herself and as a gift for two of her friends, even though she already had a copy from Kindle. Although I'm very late to the party, I'm finally joining in thanks to a fantastic deal on the ebook version at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo that drops the price from $15.99 to just $1.99.
I don't want to spoil the entire plot, although I know enough about the book to want to dive into it, thanks to Polygon's Nicole Clark, who wrote a juicy snippet about Babel for that 2022 SFF novel ranking:
While studying at Babel, Robin and her cohort have access to abundant resources they could never have dreamed of. At the same time, they see Oxford's ugly agenda and how even their mother tongues become tools of British imperialism. Their teachers and classmates see the value of the money they can produce, with their knowledge of such “exotic” languages, but see those who live in foreign countries as less than human and ultimately expendable. Robin and his friends must choose between two paths before them: comfort and wealth within the crown, or simply burn it all down.
It's also hard not to be intrigued by the drama this title has endured since its debut. While he appeared to be a leading candidate to win the prestigious Hugo Award in 2023, Babel was disqualified during the voting process. It was speculated to be the result of Chinese state censorship, or self-censorship by the Hugo Awards committee to appease the Chinese government, as much of Kuang's work involves Chinese history and culture. Kuang was not given a reason for the novel's disqualification, and Babel was far from the only novel to earn a controversial ruling of ineligibility for the prize that year. Now you can judge the book for yourself for a couple of dollars.
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