Book Review: Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft

(Title: Senlin Ascends / Author: Josiah Bancroft / Publisher: Orbit / Publication Date: January 16, 2018)


It seems like everyone is catching on a little late to The Tower of Babel series, including me.  The first book was published over five years ago but hasn't really garnered a ton of notice until recently.  Much of that has to do with the usual trials and tribulations that many self-published authors face when putting their books out there in the market.  These authors have to work twice as hard just to get their books to stand out in the vast sea of published material.  Josiah Bancroft is one such author who has apparently gotten the word out, so much so that he has even landed a publishing deal with Orbit.  

As a result, Senlin Ascends is now the talk of the fantasy world with many readers putting it at the top of their favorites list.  So to say that I was more than eager to crack this one open and get started would be an understatement.  And any book that Mark Lawrence practically begs people to read is enough for me to want to find out more.

Senlin Ascends takes place in a well-constructed world where airships and steam engines are normal modes of transport.  In the center of this amazing setting stands the famed Tower of Babel, a tower so incredibly tall that the top cannot be seen from its base.  It is also recorded in The Everyman's Guide to the Tower of Babel that the tower actually took over 1,000 years to construct.  Enter Thomas Senlin, a newly-married school headmaster who believes that climbing to the top of the tower would be the ideal honeymoon activity for he and his wife Marya.  The catch is the tower possesses a myriad of secrets, dangers, and seedy layers, or ringdoms, that make the journey more than just a little treacherous for a mild-mannered bookish type such as Thomas.  

Things then go very wrong when almost immediately Thomas loses Marya in the cacophony and chaos of the immense crowd of humanity fighting to push through the tower.  It is now incumbent on Thomas to search for his wife amidst the throngs, even if it means being thrust into extreme peril, for the tower isn't for the faint of heart.  Thomas thought he knew what he was signing up for, but the truth of the matter is far scarier and complex than even he imagined as he struggles to discover what has become of Marya.  Thomas must overcome his built-in timidness if he has any hope of succeeding in his quest.  

It is only when he begins to explore the inner-workings of the tower that he fully realizes just the sort of predicament he has gotten himself and his wife into.  Each ringdom is unpredictable and unique in its own right and Thomas on more than one occasion is put in a position to fight for his very survival.  The ultimate question soon becomes, can he find Marya before it is too late?  And if he does manage to find her and survive, will he ever be the same after what he has seen?

There are a number of things that I particularly enjoyed about Josiah Bancroft's debut novel Senlin Ascends.  First, the world-building is simply brilliant.  Bancroft does an amazing job of creating this world inside a world with the tower.  As the different layers of the tower are uncovered, the reader is treated to some fascinating characters who only serve to deepen the mystery of what the tower was intended for and why it was built.  Make no mistake, this is a novel of layers just like the tower.  

The deeper you go, the more nuggets are revealed to you and I was blown away by just how engrossed I became with the story.  What impressed me the most though was the quality of the writing.  Usually a new author takes a few books to finally hit his stride, but Bancroft writes like a seasoned author who already has multiple Hugos under his belt.  So did Senlin Ascends live up to expectations?  I would have to say yes, without question it did and then some.  What we have here is an instant fantasy classic that belongs on everyone's shelf to be picked up and read over and over.  

The good news is that there is more of this to devour as book 2 - The Arm of the Sphinx has just been released in paperback and book 3 is close on the horizon.  I recommend The Tower of Babel very highly.  If you are looking for something a little different but superb, this one will definitely scratch that itch.

(My Rating: 9.5/10)