Babel 17 by Ursula K. LeGuin

The wonderful combination of stylistic application of language and linguistic theory makes the writing of Babel 17 so brilliant and unforgettable. This story is about a borderline poet named Rydra Wong, who is asked by the Alliance to decipher an enemy code called Babel 17. But this code doesn’t look like a good signal, because it is the first step for the Invader(enemy of Alliance) to infiltrate colonies in the universe. The intelligence of Wong surprises me. Wong quickly realizes how the code is used to conquer other places. She then tries her best to decipher the code and prevent the next attack from the Invader.

The background sounds complicated, but astonishingly, the author depicts all scenes and the complicated story concisely in a small amount of words. As I have mentioned before, the writing skill rendered in this book is amazing.

More importantly, Babel 17 combines discussions and introspections of thoughts, plot, and cultural awareness into one entirety. Ursula’s talented storytelling skills perfectly express theories about social norms in her story. I am impressed by the ideology she tries to say through this story. The plot of how Wong decipher the code and prevent the war is also wonderful.