Babel, or the Necessity ofViolence: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

1828. Robing Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, Robin 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. The tower and its students are the world’s 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 the arcane craft serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.