Status
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Description
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 Lawrence 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. The Books of Babel Senlin Ascends Arm of the Sphinx… (more)
User reviews
Honestly, my summary can’t possibly do this book justice. It’s a mix of Tim Powers’ steampunk and China Mieville’s fantasy. It’s engaging and delightful. It’s about as unique a fantasy as I’ve come across. And it’s so good I ordered the set from Amazon before I finished the first volume from th3 library!
Senlin Ascends is set in a mythical version of The Tower of Babel with apparently Victorian era characters that mostly seem to be quasi-British. We have airships
Thomas Senlin is a studious Headmaster lacking somewhat in passion and spark who has an encyclopedic knowledge of everything around him based on what he has read from books. His real-world experience of most things appears absent. Newly married, he brings his young vivacious wife on a honeymoon journey to The Tower of Babel and promptly loses her in the crowded markets around its base as she sets off to find a "scandalous" dress to wear.
Poor Mrs Senlin appears to have to work far too hard to get the kind of attention from her new husband that a bride would expect on her wedding night. She resorts to innuendo - "would the Tower [of Babel] be tall enough to fill the well beneath it" to try and encourage him. Senlin is not a man of action. If he wants to try and find his bride lost somewhere in the 60 levels of the Tower of Babel he will have to become one. Senlin and his wife appear to be poles apart and early in the story, I felt the urge to grab Senlin by the lapels, give him a shake, and yell at him to show some bravado.
Josiah Bancroft is a talented story teller. Long before the end of the story, I realised that is exactly how I'm supposed to feel about Thomas Senlin, at first. But he is destined to ascend not just the tower, but his own claustrophobic limitations. At this point, I will mention that I think the book cover design is a work of genius. Go and take a hard look at it.
Josiah does an incredible job during in the narrative of simultaneously doing many things - building a world of plotting villainous characters, showing the world of the tower seducing Senlin into abandoning the hopeless search for his wife, giving the impression of his wife moving ever further out of reach into a disastrous new life while Senlin is ever more desperate to find her. It's a little like one of those nightmares where you are trying to reach the door at the end of a corridor that seems to stretch further into the distance the more you strive to try to reach that door.
As it says in the book description, Senlin must become a man of action and that propels the story on a new and more dangerous course.
Senlin Ascends was one of those books where the stuff I have to do in my life got in the way of me reading it. It's going up there on the shelf next to my other all time favourite books.
If you hold a flintlock pistol to my head and force me to find fault with this book there is just one thing I can come up with.
Early on in the narrative and also during the climax, perhaps when Josiah is trying the most to impress the audience, he might have tried just a tad too hard. I felt there were occasionally a few too many metaphors per page. It's a subjective opinion that feels a bit like whispering to Michael Angelo that he may have overused that particularly vivid shade of blue he likes in his painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Yep, Senlin Ascends is beautifully and almost poetically written and deserves to be recognized as a classic story in the Steampunk genre.
So far I've successfully talked my mother, my wife and one of my friends into buying it. Don't miss out yourself now!
I've moved straight on to reading the next book in this series.
For someone who used to work in a historic Victorian house in full Victorian maid’s uniform (and sometimes Victorian style undergarments), I’m surprisingly not in tune with steampunk literature. My only
The first thing that struck me was how intricate and creative this alternate world is that Josiah Bancroft has created. The Tower of Babel is an imposing structure from Biblical Mythology, and Bancroft transports it to a Victorian-esque time period in a world that is similar to our own, but not quite the same. The references to Victorian societal norms and fashions within a world of steam blimps and flying ships was very fun, as were the strange puzzles and conflicts within the Tower itself as Senlin moves his way through, hoping to find his lost wife, Myra. From drug dens to maniacal plays to space piracy, Bancroft puts Senlin in a world that he, and the reader, doesn’t see coming. I enjoyed jumping from scenario to scenario, experiencing it through the eyes of someone just as uninitiated as I was. The writing itself to describe this world was lyrical and flowing, reminding me of more classical styles similar to an adventure novel by Verne or Stevenson. It was just another nod to the time that steampunk tends to function in, and it fit the story perfectly.
I also enjoyed seeing the journey of Senlin himself. He starts as a meek and pragmatic school teacher from a small town, who brings is effervescent and new bride Mayra to the Tower in hopes of a vibrant honeymoon. All he knows of the Tower is what he has read in guidebooks, which make it seem fascinating and wondrous. As he comes to realize that it is, in fact, far more dangerous than he was led to believe, he has to confront himself and his own pitfalls and weaknesses if he wants to get Mayra back. To be frank, when Senlin starts out he is naive and privileged, and his transformation to hero is a slow one. It’s one thing if you start out merely naive, but it seems that Bancroft deliberately wanted to make him earn his hero status, as Senlin starts out with maddening cowardice, whose idealism has put his wife in serious danger that he can’t quite confront. I would go so far as to say that Senlin starts out as a rather unlikable character, as he abandons people who are helping him or working with him if he can escape with his tail between his legs. But to start him out this way means that he is going to learn from his mistakes, and by learning he becomes a better, if more hardened, person more equipped to function within the corrupt tower. His rotating companions and allies all have their roles to play in his growth, and I liked meeting them and seeing how he interacted with them.
But there was a glaring issue I took with “Senlin Ascends”, and that is how women have functioned within the narrative thus far. The most important, of course, is Mayra, and while we do get a little bit more insight beyond his here and there, she is very much objectified as a victim to be saved. She disappears within the first pages, and becomes this specter of longing who is merely idealized and not explored as a person, but as an ideal. I’m hoping that she does show up more in the later books and can become more than a beautiful, missing woman in a red helmet (side note: I love the fashions described in this book, and if this is what steampunk fashion is for the most part, I’m down!). Then there was Edith, one of the first people Senlin meets in the Tower. While she has ended up in a pretty cool place by the time he meets up with her again, what we see on page is her being put through the ringer and tortured, and not really any of the triumphs that bring her to final, self actualized state. It’s great she gets there eventually, but it would have meant more to see it. There is Voleta, who is the sister of one of Senlin’s companions, who was forced into performing acrobatics for abusive and corrupt men of power, another damsel in distress. And finally there’s Iren, an insanely strong enforcer who Senlin teaches how to read. While she was intriguing in her storyline, wanting to learn to read and become more that just brute force, she was, again, a woman to be saved in some way. I am going to give all of this the benefit of the doubt for now, as this is book one in a series and there are more books for all of them to come into their own. But I had hoped that women would play more of a role in this book beyond motivation for men.
Those issues aside, I did find “Senlin Ascends” to be a compelling story with lots of really neat ideas.
Senlin Ascends is entirely character driven, and that's why I was torn: there's not a lot of action and the middle is slow. The pacing picks up towards the end but I'm not sure I will continue with the series.
Recommended to readers looking for something new and character driven and don't mind a story being slow.
I don't like to leave a book without finishing it. In fact, I hate it and it makes me feel guilty. Especially in this case, where the book itself isn't all bad and where the author does some really interesting things. I guess maybe it's just not for me. The writing is very well done, the
As far as the story itself I thought it was great. Strange and unique, with a kind of English-style bumbling, incompetent protagonist, set in a world that was never really very well defined. The writing was noticeably top-notch, many times while listening I just nodded and thought to myself, "that was amazing" or "perfect!" The plot kept moving along so it never really got slow, though there were times when things seemed so hopeless I wasn't sure there would ever be any kind of happy resolution.
This is one of those books that borders on fantasy, there's a bit of steampunk, but no outright magic. There's a bad guy who may not be human, but that's never confirmed. As a result I could see it being interesting even to mainstream readers.
Can't wait to see what happens in the 2nd book!
Well, that until you read something yourself, you won't know if the hype is real or just rubbish. In Senlin's case, the book is an engrossing read that can be at times both wonderful,
This sordid vacation trip that went haywire all began because Thomas Senlin didn't feel up to the challenge of shopping for lady's underwear for the awaited hotel romping in The Baths. There you go, the guy is too prudish to make sense and too engrossed in what he believes other people see of him as the great community bookworm. Instead, his eyes really start to open when the reaches the Parlor and realizes they dumped him into the socially awkward butler role. He always had a different view of himself and after realizing ushers with just one quick glance had instantly typecast him into an undesirable supporting role that is incapable of doing anything, he starts to realize the Tower is beginning to change him. He needs to develop street smarts quickly in order to survive this Tower filled with treacherous crooks and gangsters.
I don't wish to spoil the individual "perks" of the 4 first ringdoms. It's part of the fun of the book as we see Thomas desperately chasing after the desertic illusion of his wife that always seems to vanish in a cloud of white crumb.
However, as I read the book, it reminded me of an old dystopian SciFi book from the 1930's called "Brave New World". As tourists flock to the individual levels reveling at its treats while they gleefully part with their money for cheap entertainment, Senlin and the reader see each level for what they really are. I kept on recalling the comments from Brave New World about one place a harbor of lunacy, the other a guesthouse of insanity. From the merry go rounds of the basement to the make believe of the Parlor and Baths, we soon see the ringdoms for the slums or outright false illusions that they truly are. Thomas doesn't want to cause a revolt against the system of paid and unpaid employment of this hellhole, he just wants to rescue Marya before she starts to believe that he abandoned her.
A second thought that kept on coming into my mind as I read this book was a pleasant and yet terrifying experience of my childhood. I grew up at a time where a local (and very large) park had a small amusement park and featured all sorts of odd rides. From a huge metallic tobogan slide without rails so that you could easily fall over 50 feet to your death (or in the least end up with some nice blisters on your hands), odd games with asbestus coverings to jump through that were tearing apart, and finally, the infamous tunnel of time. I loved going inside of the tunnel of time over and over again. Basically they shove you inside of a maze with plywood walls, carpeted floors where you cannot see anything. You are surrounded in a terrifying claustophobic space of complete darkness. No trapdoors for the staff to rescue you if you freak out and get a panic attack either. Kids these days are too pampered in my opinion, they don't know what they are missing. Anyhow, you had to crawl left, right, left, up, down etc etc etc. It was a 3D maze where time falls to a standstill and you have to use your wits to get out. The closest thing today that I have experienced a similar (but less cool experience) was when I visited the secret basement beneath Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto Japan. The monks built a smaller maze where you walk through it. Oh, and there is also something somewhat similar in Xenses Park in Playa del Carmen Mexico called the Xensatorium (the final part of that maze features really creepy recorded music inside of a dark & damp cave).
Anyhow, this book just kept on reminding me about those pleasant memories that would have frightened more than one person out of their minds.
Now, is the book perfect? No it isn't. I kept on getting confused regarding the usage of electricity. The book highlights it's a rare commodity but you don't get to truly appreciate the scope of its existence and Thomas's arousal of the technology. 90% of the time you don't know if they use candles or lightbulbs. I read the old kindle edition so it was of little surprise that there are several scenes where the text claims that Adam still has two eyes. A minor blip that was likely fixed in the professionally edited trad published paperback.
While I really enjoyed this sordid vacation where everything possible went wrong that highlights the evil of mankind, it didn't fully make me hungry to read nonstop like other books have. Perhaps it isn't any fault of this book per se. I tend to like Young Adult novels more and while Senlin Ascends has 3 older teenage characters, they are vastly mature for their years and we don't see the story from their POV.
The book was a vastly fun rollercoaster read and I'll try to find the way to save 90 MXN to buy a digital copy of the second novel to read it sometime.
In search of his wife in the Tower of Babel, the protagonist Thomas Senlin finds himself in one absurd situation after another as he ascends slowly
Senlin's wife just seems to be a cardboard figure to give him something to search for. Every chapter is from his point of view, and as a character, he isn't that engaging. The people he meets are also rather absurd and flat. If Franz Kafka went to Wonderland, this book might be the result. And while I love Wonderland, I don't love Kafka. I put this book down at the halfway mark and didn't pick it up again.
Well, that until you read something yourself, you won't know if the hype is real or just rubbish. In Senlin's case, the book is an engrossing read that can be at times both wonderful,
This sordid vacation trip that went haywire all began because Thomas Senlin didn't feel up to the challenge of shopping for lady's underwear for the awaited hotel romping in The Baths. There you go, the guy is too prudish to make sense and too engrossed in what he believes other people see of him as the great community bookworm. Instead, his eyes really start to open when the reaches the Parlor and realizes they dumped him into the socially awkward butler role. He always had a different view of himself and after realizing ushers with just one quick glance had instantly typecast him into an undesirable supporting role that is incapable of doing anything, he starts to realize the Tower is beginning to change him. He needs to develop street smarts quickly in order to survive this Tower filled with treacherous crooks and gangsters.
I don't wish to spoil the individual "perks" of the 4 first ringdoms. It's part of the fun of the book as we see Thomas desperately chasing after the desertic illusion of his wife that always seems to vanish in a cloud of white crumb.
However, as I read the book, it reminded me of an old dystopian SciFi book from the 1930's called "Brave New World". As tourists flock to the individual levels reveling at its treats while they gleefully part with their money for cheap entertainment, Senlin and the reader see each level for what they really are. I kept on recalling the comments from Brave New World about one place a harbor of lunacy, the other a guesthouse of insanity. From the merry go rounds of the basement to the make believe of the Parlor and Baths, we soon see the ringdoms for the slums or outright false illusions that they truly are. Thomas doesn't want to cause a revolt against the system of paid and unpaid employment of this hellhole, he just wants to rescue Marya before she starts to believe that he abandoned her.
A second thought that kept on coming into my mind as I read this book was a pleasant and yet terrifying experience of my childhood. I grew up at a time where a local (and very large) park had a small amusement park and featured all sorts of odd rides. From a huge metallic tobogan slide without rails so that you could easily fall over 50 feet to your death (or in the least end up with some nice blisters on your hands), odd games with asbestus coverings to jump through that were tearing apart, and finally, the infamous tunnel of time. I loved going inside of the tunnel of time over and over again. Basically they shove you inside of a maze with plywood walls, carpeted floors where you cannot see anything. You are surrounded in a terrifying claustophobic space of complete darkness. No trapdoors for the staff to rescue you if you freak out and get a panic attack either. Kids these days are too pampered in my opinion, they don't know what they are missing. Anyhow, you had to crawl left, right, left, up, down etc etc etc. It was a 3D maze where time falls to a standstill and you have to use your wits to get out. The closest thing today that I have experienced a similar (but less cool experience) was when I visited the secret basement beneath Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto Japan. The monks built a smaller maze where you walk through it. Oh, and there is also something somewhat similar in Xenses Park in Playa del Carmen Mexico called the Xensatorium (the final part of that maze features really creepy recorded music inside of a dark & damp cave).
Anyhow, this book just kept on reminding me about those pleasant memories that would have frightened more than one person out of their minds.
Now, is the book perfect? No it isn't. I kept on getting confused regarding the usage of electricity. The book highlights it's a rare commodity but you don't get to truly appreciate the scope of its existence and Thomas's arousal of the technology. 90% of the time you don't know if they use candles or lightbulbs. I read the old kindle edition so it was of little surprise that there are several scenes where the text claims that Adam still has two eyes. A minor blip that was likely fixed in the professionally edited trad published paperback.
While I really enjoyed this sordid vacation where everything possible went wrong that highlights the evil of mankind, it didn't fully make me hungry to read nonstop like other books have. Perhaps it isn't any fault of this book per se. I tend to like Young Adult novels more and while Senlin Ascends has 3 older teenage characters, they are vastly mature for their years and we don't see the story from their POV.
The book was a vastly fun rollercoaster read and I'll try to find the way to save 90 MXN to buy a digital copy of the second novel to read it sometime.
Good Luck Tom!
I have book 2 so I will read that and see if I am more intrigued then.
Well, that until you read something yourself, you won't know if the hype is real or just rubbish. In Senlin's case, the book is an engrossing read that can be at times both wonderful,
This sordid vacation trip that went haywire all began because Thomas Senlin didn't feel up to the challenge of shopping for lady's underwear for the awaited hotel romping in The Baths. There you go, the guy is too prudish to make sense and too engrossed in what he believes other people see of him as the great community bookworm. Instead, his eyes really start to open when the reaches the Parlor and realizes they dumped him into the socially awkward butler role. He always had a different view of himself and after realizing ushers with just one quick glance had instantly typecast him into an undesirable supporting role that is incapable of doing anything, he starts to realize the Tower is beginning to change him. He needs to develop street smarts quickly in order to survive this Tower filled with treacherous crooks and gangsters.
I don't wish to spoil the individual "perks" of the 4 first ringdoms. It's part of the fun of the book as we see Thomas desperately chasing after the desertic illusion of his wife that always seems to vanish in a cloud of white crumb.
However, as I read the book, it reminded me of an old dystopian SciFi book from the 1930's called "Brave New World". As tourists flock to the individual levels reveling at its treats while they gleefully part with their money for cheap entertainment, Senlin and the reader see each level for what they really are. I kept on recalling the comments from Brave New World about one place a harbor of lunacy, the other a guesthouse of insanity. From the merry go rounds of the basement to the make believe of the Parlor and Baths, we soon see the ringdoms for the slums or outright false illusions that they truly are. Thomas doesn't want to cause a revolt against the system of paid and unpaid employment of this hellhole, he just wants to rescue Marya before she starts to believe that he abandoned her.
A second thought that kept on coming into my mind as I read this book was a pleasant and yet terrifying experience of my childhood. I grew up at a time where a local (and very large) park had a small amusement park and featured all sorts of odd rides. From a huge metallic tobogan slide without rails so that you could easily fall over 50 feet to your death (or in the least end up with some nice blisters on your hands), odd games with asbestus coverings to jump through that were tearing apart, and finally, the infamous tunnel of time. I loved going inside of the tunnel of time over and over again. Basically they shove you inside of a maze with plywood walls, carpeted floors where you cannot see anything. You are surrounded in a terrifying claustophobic space of complete darkness. No trapdoors for the staff to rescue you if you freak out and get a panic attack either. Kids these days are too pampered in my opinion, they don't know what they are missing. Anyhow, you had to crawl left, right, left, up, down etc etc etc. It was a 3D maze where time falls to a standstill and you have to use your wits to get out. The closest thing today that I have experienced a similar (but less cool experience) was when I visited the secret basement beneath Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto Japan. The monks built a smaller maze where you walk through it. Oh, and there is also something somewhat similar in Xenses Park in Playa del Carmen Mexico called the Xensatorium (the final part of that maze features really creepy recorded music inside of a dark & damp cave).
Anyhow, this book just kept on reminding me about those pleasant memories that would have frightened more than one person out of their minds.
Now, is the book perfect? No it isn't. I kept on getting confused regarding the usage of electricity. The book highlights it's a rare commodity but you don't get to truly appreciate the scope of its existence and Thomas's arousal of the technology. 90% of the time you don't know if they use candles or lightbulbs. I read the old kindle edition so it was of little surprise that there are several scenes where the text claims that Adam still has two eyes. A minor blip that was likely fixed in the professionally edited trad published paperback.
While I really enjoyed this sordid vacation where everything possible went wrong that highlights the evil of mankind, it didn't fully make me hungry to read nonstop like other books have. Perhaps it isn't any fault of this book per se. I tend to like Young Adult novels more and while Senlin Ascends has 3 older teenage characters, they are vastly mature for their years and we don't see the story from their POV.
The book was a vastly fun rollercoaster read and I'll try to find the way to save 90 MXN to buy a digital copy of the second novel to read it sometime.
The prose was good, the character development satisfactory. I guess my only complaint is that there are a few too many useless cliffhangers. But even Senlin's character was redeemed for me by the end.
The titular protagonist Thomas Senlin went there for his honeymoon, promptly proceeding to
The tower is a self-contained world (or even a succession of them) with its sometime strange rules and very dark corners, in which he finds himself vulnerable, nearly powerless. Yet he rises to the occasion with unexpected resourcefulness, resilience and tenacity, shedding some naivety yet not losing from sight his ideals.