In the far future, after human civilisation has spread through the galaxy, communications begin to arrive in an apparently alien language. They appear to threaten invasion, but in order to counter the threat, the messages must first be understood.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

Continuing my goal of reading a book with a title beginning with each letter of the alphabet, Babel-17 is my second read of 2026. It’s a classic sci-fi novel that I’ve never heard of by an author equally unknown to me.

For such a short read, I loved the depth this novel contained. It’s multifaceted in the story it tells, and manages to tell both brilliantly. On the one hand, it’s a fairly classic sci-fi story: a race against time to decipher a mysterious transmission that’s connected to a series of attacks from an unknown aggressor. The message likely contains details of the next attack, so it’s imperative the new language can be unravelled and the atrocities stopped before they happen.

At a deeper level, the main theme of the story is language. And the way Delany presents this is fascinating. He doesn’t only reflect on language in terms of uncovering threats, but it dives into the sense of self and lack thereof when a language doesn’t have the right words.

My rating: