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Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft is brilliant

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I finished reading Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft a few days ago and felt the need to share how superb the book is. It is hard to explain the genre but I guess I would go with steampunk Scifi fantasy adventure. Or not. It was fun. The story is probably best summed up by the author’s blurb:

The Tower of Babel is the greatest marvel in the world. Immense as a mountain, the ancient Tower holds unnumbered ringdoms, warring and peaceful, stacked one on the other like the layers of a cake. It is a world of geniuses and tyrants, of luxury and menace, of unusual animals and mysterious machines.

Soon after arriving for his honeymoon at the Tower, the mild-mannered headmaster of a small village school, Thomas Senlin, gets separated from his wife, Marya, in the overwhelming swarm of tourists, residents, and miscreants.

Senlin is determined to find Marya, but to do so he’ll have to navigate madhouses, ballrooms, and burlesque theaters. He must survive betrayal, assassins, and the illusions of the Tower. But if he hopes to find his wife, he will have to do more than just endure.
This quiet man of letters must become a man of action.

Brief synopsis

Essentially, the story follows a mild-mannered, slightly stuffy headmaster called Thomas Senlin as he goes on a quest to find his wife in the Tower of Babel. The Tower itself is huge, with each ring completely different from the other. Think of small city-states piled on top of each other.

As he navigates his way up the tower he meets a cast of great characters and has a series of mini-adventures. Each level is dramatically different from the last, kind of like Dante’s Inferno but less torture. Some of the rings are quite nice. Kind of.

Review

If you want the short version – I loved this book and immediately bought the next one in the series Arm of the Sphinx. Senlin Ascends reminded of a grand old-school adventure with an unlikely hero going on an epic journey. In this case, the journey is up.

The story is carried by Thomas Senlin, who is both believable and has a very satisfying arc. I was worried that this would just be essentially a series of stories with side characters introduced and forgotten but happily, this isn’t the case. The other characters are well fleshed out and executed, all of them with great and believable backstories. The tower itself forms another story arc as you learn slowly how the huge edifice works.

I loved the writing but then I love words and there are some beautiful turns of phrase. The descriptions, combined with the imagination of the author, make for a great read. Add in the fact that there are some fun action sequences and Senlin Ascends pretty much ticked all the boxes I want from a book.

It is part of a four book series

Keep in mind that Senlin Ascends is book one of a quartet of books (or quadrilogy, if you prefer). Book two, Arm of the Sphinx, and Book three, The Hod King are already out. Book four, The Fall of Babel, is due out next year.

I highly recommend Senlin Ascends, it is a lot of fun and I really like how it ended, assumed it takes the swashbuckling route I hope it does. You can get or have a look at Senlin Ascends with the links below.

If you are in the US, click on this.

If you’re in the UK, this is the link you’re looking for.

You can read more about the series here: http://www.thebooksofbabel.com/

There is even an exciting trailer:

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