mare_oku shared a tip "It starts off a bit slow but the background feeds the rest of the book and it is so beautifully constructed. There was a lot of care put into this to create a believable world inspired by our own but with some magical elements and a few tweeks, to develop such deep characters that bring their own stories to the mix, to weave oft-ignored messages loudly into the pages. It is long, but its worth reading every word. If you like languages/linguistics, fantasy and/OR history (though this is fiction, it is written as if it were a real event). I, myself, only like lang/ling, for the same reason i hope this book helps people understand the importance of ALL languages/cultures/people and the complexity of translations. If you are hesitant, please read it!"

brian_strong_7504 shared a tip "I will babel about Babel. When I heard that the subject matter was students translating from one language to another in Oxford and then,making a choice to fight England's imperialism I almost did not start. The transaction focus seemed like it would be awfully dry. I'm glad I read it I liked picking up some of the genesis of words. I thought the protagonists were much more likeable and the writing Moore refined than in Kuang's previous Poppy War series"