Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

Babel is a profound exploration of the complexities of language, power, and colonialism, set against the backdrop of the British Empire's expansion.

When orphan Robin Swift is brought from Canton to London by Professor Lovell, he embarks on an intense education in languages and translation, aiming for a bright future at Oxford University's Royal Institute of Translation, known as Babel. This institution stands at the heart of the Empire's superiority, harnessing the mystical power of silver working to manifest the elusive meanings lost in translation.

As Robin becomes entrenched in the scholastic utopia of Babel, his ties to his heritage pull him into an inner conflict. When an aggressive war threatens China over silver and opium, Robin is torn between the comfort of academia and the call for justice. He must confront a crucial question: Can change come from within, or is violence an inevitable part of revolution?

Welcome to the Scattered Pearls Belt, a collection of ring habitats and orbitals ruled by exiled human scholars and powerful families, and held together by living mindships who carry people and freight between the stars. In this fluid society, human and mindship avatars mingle in corridors and in function rooms, and physical and virtual realities overlap, with the appearance of environments easily modified and adapted to interlocutors or current mood.

A transport ship discharged from military service after a traumatic injury, The Shadow's Child now ekes out a precarious living as a brewer of mind-altering drugs for the comfort of space-travellers. Meanwhile, abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau wants to find a corpse for a scientific study. When Long Chau walks into her office, The Shadow's Child expects an unpleasant but easy assignment. When the corpse turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow's Child with her.

As they dig deep into the victim's past, The Shadow's Child realises that the investigation points to Long Chau's own murky past--and, ultimately, to the dark and unbearable void that lies between the stars...

"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Undercover as a factory manager, Anderson scours Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, aiming to harvest the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko...

Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. She is one of the New People, not human but an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Seen as soulless beings by some and devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future where calorie companies dominate, the age of oil has ended, and bio-engineered plagues are rampant.

What happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits and forces mankind to the brink of post-human evolution? Paolo Bacigalupi delivers a highly-acclaimed science fiction tale that explores these profound questions.

Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this dangerous task will mean giving up his family and possibly his life.

Shevek must make the unprecedented journey to the utopian mother planet, Urras, to challenge the complex structures of life and living, and ignite the fires of change. The Dispossessed is a penetrating examination of society and humanity—and one man's brave undertaking to question the unquestionable and ignite the fires of change.