The first book in the word-of-mouth phenomenon debut fantasy series about one man’s dangerous journey through a labyrinthine world. “One of my favorite books of all time” – Mark LawrenceThe 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 … 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.
The Books of BabelSenlin AscendsArm of the Sphinx
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Senlin Ascends was something of a surprise to me – initially it seemed like a standard sort of Victorian-age steampunk book, and it was, and then it wasn’t. It was different and the main character is fighting the whole time against multiple antagonists – the main one being the Tower of Babel itself. Good reading!
One of my favorites in terms of expertise with prose.
Newly-weds Thomas and Marya Senlin have decided to spend their honeymoon at the Tower of Babel. But when Marya vanishes shortly after their arrival, Thomas must make his way through various levels of the tower in search of his missing wife. Some levels are strange, some are peaceful but each has its own unique dangers.
Shortly after I first finished Senlin Ascends, I commented that it was the sort of book that both impressed and depressed me in equal measure. That might sound like a back-handed compliment but that wasn’t how I intended it. I was looking at it through the dual eyes of both reader and writer. The writer in me was depressed because it made me wonder if I could ever be that good. The reader in me was impressed because it is that good.
The interior of the tower is one of the most fascinating aspects of the book. Each level is virtually a city-state, with its own laws and customs, government, people and pitfalls. Each of these is described with loving care and detail, enough that even the most unusual of them can be clearly visualized. Only a fraction of these ‘ringdoms‘ are explored during this instalment which leaves plenty of ground for further books.
The other fascinating part of the novel is the character of its protagonist, Thomas Senlin. Beginning as a man who could be described almost as a bystander to his own life, he gets a rude awakening when Marya disappears. As he climbs the tower in search of her, he has to force himself to adapt from the shy intellectual headmaster and become at times an actor, a conman & thief, a businessman and an insurrectionist. And yet, despite the changes he goes through, the core character is written so strongly that none of these new careers seems that great a step for him.
Senlin Ascends is a wonderful read; vibrant, imaginative and stunningly well written. The prose is beautiful in and of itself, but when combined with the creativeness of the settings it becomes truly a work of art. I don’t think I can give it a higher recommendation than that.
A tower so large that it houses a different culture on every level, with wars and politics and an obscure history — this is some amazing world-building. Senlin himself is a delightful character: stuffy and particular and naive, but loyal and good-hearted. A very enjoyable series.
Josiah Bancroft’s narrative of the travails suffered by stiff-backed headmaster Thomas Senlin as he ascends the fabled Tower of Babel in search of his lost wife is truly a box of delights. Bancroft displays a Dickens-like gift for characterisation in the unique and memorable cast populating a world as absurd as it is frightening. The setting mixes occasional almost dreamlike weirdness reminiscent of both Lewis Carol and Douglas Adams with a hard-edged sense of omnipresent danger. As he climbs ever higher Senlin begins to understand the Tower as a place designed to strip the humanity from its occupants, and yet his own trials forge him into a stronger and more compassionate soul who one day might actually become a hero.
If you haven’t yet heard of Senlin and the Tower of Babel, don’t worry. There’s still time to read this excellent book.
This book has some of the best prose I’ve ever seen. I was slack-jawed from page one and immediately gripped by the great world-building!
I picked this up from a recommendation by an author I follow. This was a great decision.
The gem of this great effort by Josiah Bancroft is that you have no idea what to expect. I will not spoil the narrative of the yarn with spoilers, all I can say is prepare for an imaginative roller-coaster. Or should I say steam-roller?
Senlin Ascends starts slow, continues on with a simple task, drops a quoll in a pit of vipers, picks up the pace with alarming alacrity and then leaves you wondering…wait? What?
Considering I had no idea what to expect, I’m still trying to figure out the look and feel of the Tower of Babel. I obviously went with the traditional idea at first, then went steam punk, then… well, not sure really. I mean there is a contraption that pays you with beer for pedaling.
Add this to the characters you come across, I find it hard to compare like some have with anything out there. Great read!
PS. You will crave the next book so have it waiting…
A modern Alice in Wonderland, with an initially hapless protagonist who you just can’t help but root for. Destined to be remembered as a classic of the genre.
This book has been on my list to read for a while, and I’m glad I finally got to it. The combination of a steampunky world, a massive tower of horrible people, and an unsuspecting tourist really works. I will say the book starts out a bit slow, and the main character starts out so oblivious to everything I winced at all of his decisions. He sounded like the worst example of overconfident colonialism. That did change, but it took longer than I thought it should have.
In any case, that is my main nitpick. The story overall is quite enjoyable, and I’m ready to start book 2!
This book will not be for everyone. Its style is reminiscent of Dickens and, yes, Joyce, among others. If you’re someone who loves the written word, who adores lyrical prose and in-depth descriptions of character and place, you will treasure Senlin Ascends. As it happens, I am just such a person. The premise is simple enough: Schoolmaster Senlin must find his wife, from whom he’s been separated in a crowd, at the world’s largest and tallest building — a structure so vast, the outer walls are literally a quarter mile thick. Each “floor” is its own “ringdom,” with its own customs, government, etc. I was reminded of the film Snowpiercer, as well as Bruce Lee’s last film, Game of Death, in that Senlin must successfully navigate his way up the various levels in order to find or rescue his wife. Nearly half a year goes by in this first installment of the trilogy, so tremendous patience is required of the reader. It’s not like we’re waiting for Frodo to finally reach Mount Doom; Senlin is merely trying to reunite with his wife. Still, Bancroft manages to make us care about his protagonist’s plight. The novel ends with a bang, too, that is as frenetic and wild as anyone could wish — a little confusing, perhaps, but nothing a little rereading won’t solve. 4.5/5
Aside from Harry Potter, this is my first real fantasy series I’ve undertaken and it’s amazing! A newlywed couple travels to the Tower, a place where each ring of the Tower is its own fantastical world. A Tower that has many rings, but how many exactly, no one knows. Upon arrival at the bustling Market that surrounds the Tower, our hero, Senlin, gets separated from his bride and from there his search begins. Now on to book #2 in the series!
Senlin Ascends is the beginning of a tale of the most unlikely of men to ever go on an adventure: Thomas Senlin.
Senlin’s neat and ordered world view quickly unravels when he travels to the tower of Babel and loses his wife in the confusion. He sets out to find her, and ends up ever deeper in the Tower’s clutches …
A polished gem of a book with memorable characters, extraordinary imagination, and epic scope.