Books

6 great science fiction and fantasy books that focus on language and linguistics

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 4 Comments
The angular carved shapes of Greek script line a shadowy ancient stone tablet set against a black background
Photo by Andy Kennedy on Unsplash

I’ve always loved science fiction and fantasy stories that focus on language, translation, and linguistics. And I’m not talking about the Tolkien-esque creation of whole fictional languages to furnish invented worlds, which I’m also in awe of, but about books where the very act of communication or translation itself becomes core to the plot.

Why do these stories appeal? I think it’s that mysterious sense that something needs to be “decoded”, the bridging of culture gaps, and the unlocking of exciting new possibilities for human (or non-human) connection. The theme of language itself also just inherently feels a little magical. The fact our brains are capable, with enough effort and exposure, to transform unintelligible babble into something meaningful, is remarkable. I admire the almost superpower-like ability of polyglots to shift seamlessly between different languages, and I enjoy encountering characters like this in stories.

Then there’s the fact that fantasy and sci-fi books about translation also often explore issues of exploitation, trade and colonialism in compelling and nuanced ways, throwing us into situations where one dominant language is squeezing out another, or where empires tussle to gain the upper hand during negotiations done via translators and ambassadors.

A lot of the books I’ve loved in this space have also inspired my own writing. My epic romantasy that’s currently on submission features two enemy soldiers from very different cultural backgrounds who find a connection in a fable they both loved as children, where a translation crossed borders that little else did. And the speculative thriller I’m currently editing centres on a linguist whose decipherment of a long-extinct language uncovers ancient secrets that endanger her life. The latter was partially inspired by two of the stories in the below list, and after writing it, I discovered other great SFF books in this vein through recommendations from friends or searches for comparative titles.

So I thought I’d give a shout out to some of these linguistics-fuelled speculative novels and list my 6 favourites:

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When all is not as it seems: the tantalising wrongness that precedes epic twists

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 19 Comments
Old spiral staircase from above tiles with repeating floral patterns
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

I haven’t updated my blog in a long time – 5 years to be exact. When COVID hit I let it slide, then got busy with life and other projects, including writing two novels 🙂 But I always intended to return to it “one day”, and it seems that day has finally arrived. I’m planning to start posting again once or twice a month, so I’m not sure how many of you are still out there receiving this message, but I hope you’ll continue this journey through the fantasy-verse with me!

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I was recently thinking about one of my favourite novels, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, and it reminded me that there’s a quality some science fiction, dystopian and speculative fiction stories have—a rare one—that I absolutely love. It’s hard to describe, and perhaps even harder to achieve, but I’d characterise it as a tantalising sense of wrongness intertwined with mystery, often (though not always) occurring at the beginning of a story, which usually precedes a giant, reality-altering twist.

It’s that growing conviction that things don’t make sense in the world, that something very odd is happening, perhaps even something sinister, but you don’t know what it is yet. You just have this sense that the situation is off, wrong somehow, and that you, and perhaps even the characters, have a fundamental misunderstanding of the reality in which they find themselves. At the same time, you can feel in your bones that you are going to find out what it is, and that when you do, it’s going to be a hair-prickling revelation or a fantastically unexpected twist. This feeling seems to often be evoked when the initial story world, or simply the story we think we are about to be told, is increasingly questioned, then ultimately flipped on its head.

Some sci-fi examples that come to mind are the films Moon, Source Code, and The Island, and the TV shows Westworld and Paradise, but I’ve also encountered a similar feeling in fantasy and dystopian novels like Piranesi and Wool. Additionally, I can think of stories that don’t necessarily ‘throw us in the deep end’ at the start, but that still instil a strong sense of the uncanny and unknown at certain points in the narrative: Project Hail Mary, Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, Meet Cute, Arrival (and the short story it is based on, ‘A Story of Your Life’), The Prestige, and The Sixth Sense.

What always impresses me about these sorts of story openings is that usually, as a writer, confusion is the last thing you want to create. Conventional wisdom suggests you should clearly communicate the scenario at the outset, withholding some mysteries and raising some questions, but still grounding the audience as quickly and succinctly as possible in your world and characters. If they get lost in a sea of confusion or snag on inconsistencies and plot holes, they might abandon ship. 

Yet these particular types of stories seem to offer just enough grounding for us to understand what’s happening on the surface, while at the same time introducing just enough dissonance to make us aware things aren’t adding up… a perfectly calculated dose of confusion that promises you’re on the cusp of a fascinating resolution.

I adore the goosebump-inducing curiosity this mixture evokes… a kind of “Wait what? Something’s not right here…” that has me hungry to figure out “the truth” of the situation. But what is it about these stories that creates this tantalising feeling?

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