'𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒚 '

'𝑵𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆'𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅. 𝑾𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓, 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚.'

'𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏. 𝜤𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆.'

______________________________________

Gathering my thoughts on this novel is challenging, and I am trying to do it while it is fresh in my mind.

I adored this novel. It follows Robin from his plague stricken home in Canton to the heady academic idyll of Oxford. Plucked from his home to enter the hallowed halls of the Royal Institute of Translation, Robin begins to realise that he is being exploited, his motherland being literally bled dry to uphold the economic might of the British empire. How can Robin straddle the two worlds and live with himself? 

The themes of this book are heavy. The violence of colonialism, racism, the nature and effectiveness of resistance. And threaded through this is the unique magic system relating to Silver-work and the power of language and translation.

I've read books about colonialism and racism and resistance and struggle. But this was such a unique lens through which to explore it, both from an economic perspective and to appreciate the power of words, the power of naming things, the energy, creation and exploitative potential of slippages between meaning and understanding. 

It felt over explained at times but I have a history background so that's probably just me. The characters were beautiful, their journeys heartbreaking and hopeless. The prose was simply glorious and I had some tears at the end of this.

A wonderful story, and ripe for further exploration of some of the historical issues that it deals with, if you're not familiar with some of the many ignoble, bloody and shameful things the British did in their era of empire building.