Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

"This new doorstopper of a historical fantasy novel reimagines the rise of the British empire as intrinsically intertwined with the colonization and consolidation of magic. Robin, stolen from his home in Canton and brought to Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation in the mid-19th century, finds himself at the center of a plot to bring down the imperial machine. Although the stories are very different, Babel gave me serious Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell vibes, from the fascinating footnotes to the lush prose to the creeping sensation that there is far more going on than what appears on the surface."