Babel: Audiobook
The Babel audiobook runs an estimated 16.8 hours (about 11.2 hours at 1.5× playback speed).
The instrumentWhen will you finish it?
Based on 16.8 hours of listening (estimated).
| Your pace | You'll finish in |
|---|---|
| 30 min / day | 34 days |
| 1 hour / day | 17 days |
| 2 hours / day | 9 days |
| 1 hour / day at 1.5× | 12 days |
You'll finish in–by –
What our data says
- At 16.8 hours (estimated), it runs longer than 88% of the fantasy audiobooks we measured.
- That's 53% longer than the average fantasy audiobook (11 hrs across 1861 titles in our dataset).
Computed from fantasy audiobooks in The Books Insider dataset (build ); listening time estimated from page count. Methodology.
Who is this for?
Best for fantasy listeners who want magic systems and a historical setting: a long-haul epic at 16.8 hours (estimated).
About the book
From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he 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. Babel is 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 its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.
How to listen to Babel free
New members at audiobooks.com get three free audiobooks with the trial.
Separately, the store's catalog carries more than 10,000 audiobooks that are always free to stream.
Start listening freeQuestions listeners ask
How long is the Babel audiobook?
Babel runs about 16.8 hours, our estimate from its 569 pages at a typical narration pace. At 1.5× speed that drops to roughly 11.2 hours.
Is the Babel audiobook free?
Yes, for new listeners: the trial starts you with three free audiobooks.
Is Babel worth listening to at 1.5× speed?
At 1.5× you'd finish in about 11.2 hours, saving 5.6 hours. Most listeners adjust to 1.25–1.5× within a chapter or two.
When was Babel first published?
Babel by R. F. Kuang was first published in 2022.
