explorer / books · 2023
Babel
Published 2022 by Harper Voyager · 560 pages
Nebula · 2023
WinnerOn the ballot with
This book is recorded on the Nebula ballot only. Each row shows the full Best Novel ballot for that award and ceremony year. Winners appear first.
R.F. Kuang on these ballots
3 award entries · 3 books · 1 wins · 2019–2026
Synopsis
Robin Swift, orphaned in Canton and raised by a mysterious professor, enrolls at Oxford's Royal Institute of Translation — Babel — where the magic of silver-work depends on the nuances lost between languages. As he rises through the institution, Robin discovers that Babel's power fuels the British Empire's colonial machine, forcing him to choose between the life he's built and the people he left behind.
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