Jan 15

Jan 15 Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)

Author: Josiah Bancroft
Publisher: Orbit (originally self-published)
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

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 airships and steam engines, 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 long guns of a flying fortress. 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.

TL;DR Review

Senlin Ascends, about a schoolteacher on a quest to find his missing wife in the infamous Tower of Babel, is such a fun adventure. I’d been meaning to read it forever, and I’m glad I finally did!

For you if: You’re a sucker for a bookish main character with a lot of room for growth.

Full Review

Senlin Ascends, the first book in Josiah Bancroft’s recently completed Books of Babel quartet, has been waiting for me to pluck it off my shelf for at least two years. I’m glad I finally did! It’s a fun adventure with humor and imagination, but also substance.

The story is about a man named Thomas Senlin. He’s a schoolteacher in his small seaside village, recently married to a bright-spirited woman named Marya. They go to the famous Tower of Babel — a booming metropolis and reputed cultural center of the world that Senlin has long ached to see. But shortly after they get there, Marya disappears, and Senlin realizes the Tower isn’t all that he imagined it to be. His resolve to find her turns into a true quest as he makes his way up the tower’s “ringdoms.” (Yes, there’s an echo of Dante’s Inferno there.)

Certain parts of this book moved a little slowly, but there was, of course, lots of worldbuilding to be done. Anyway, it totally picked up at the end, and I love the hints at a nice little central mystery related to the tower itself, under the bigger mystery of Marya’s whereabouts. I also have such a soft spot in my heart for Senlin. He starts off naive and self-assured, but also clearly lovable. It was a delight to watch him start to change but also stay true to himself! And while there wasn’t much Marya in this book, the picture being painted of her makes me think I’m going to love her even MORE.

Fun fact: The first two books in this series were originally self-published, and they absolutely knocked people’s socks off. Orbit picked them up a few years later, reprinting the first two and finishing the last two. And it’s easy to see why. Book two, I’m coming for you soon!