BABEL-17 By Samuel R Delany

Published : 1967
Pages : 193
Overall Mark : 6/10

Rydra Wong, a famous poet and more importantly an expert in languages, is hired to investigate a language, known by the name Babel-17, which is being used by an alien race as a communication tool for a number of terrorist attacks. She puts together a crew and travels in search of more information, but as she starts to learn the language through the aid of a murder known only as The Butcher, she discovers that the language itself may be used as a weapon, as it can control people’s perceptions and thoughts by forcing parts of their brain to shut down.

I wasn’t particularly impressed with this novel, although the idea it is based around is a very interesting and original one. Some of the characters do prove to be interesting as, in her search for the key to Babel-17, Rydra Wong meets a number of people who all have drastically different perceptions of reality themselves, proving to be a nice counterpoint to the subject of the novel itself.