VYNELA (หนังสือภาษาอังกฤษ) BABEL: AN ARCANE HISTORY — R. F. KUANG (ผู้แต่ง THE POPPY WAR TRILOGY)

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War

“Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant razor-sharp books Ive had the pleasure of reading that isnt just an alternative fantastical history but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the Industrial Revolution turns it over and shakes it out.” -- Shannon Chakraborty bestselling author of The City of Brass

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 worlds 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?