Senlin Ascends - Wyrms.de

Paperback, 425 pages

English language

Published Nov. 1, 2018 by Orbit.

ISBN:: 978-0-316-51791-1

(1 review)

"The Tower of Babel is the greatest marvel of the Silk Age. 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 incredible animals and mysterious machines. While honeymooning in the Tower of Babel, Thomas Senlin loses his wife. A mild-mannered headmaster of a village school, Thomas Senlin is drawn to the Tower by scientific curiosity and the grandiose promises of a guidebook. It seems the perfect destination for a honeymoon. But soon after arriving in the Tower bazar, Senlin loses Marya in the crowd. Before he can find Marya, Senlin must first discover himself. Senlin's search for Marya carries him through madhouses, ballrooms, and burlesque theaters. He must survive betrayal, assassination, and the long guns of a flying fortress. But if …

"The Tower of Babel is the greatest marvel of the Silk Age. 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 incredible animals and mysterious machines. While honeymooning in the Tower of Babel, Thomas Senlin loses his wife. A mild-mannered headmaster of a village school, Thomas Senlin is drawn to the Tower by scientific curiosity and the grandiose promises of a guidebook. It seems the perfect destination for a honeymoon. But soon after arriving in the Tower bazar, Senlin loses Marya in the crowd. Before he can find Marya, Senlin must first discover himself. Senlin's search for Marya carries him through madhouses, ballrooms, and burlesque theaters. He must survive betrayal, assassination, and the long guns of a flying fortress. But if he hopes to find his wife, he must do more than survive. This quiet man of letters will have to become a man of action"--

5 editions

joachim@lire.boitam.eu reviewed Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft (The Books of Babel, #1)

Interesting ideas, defeated by the writing style

3 stars

I can't put the finger on what I didn't like in this book, but it felt too long, the characters didn't feel fleshed out, and the main character doesn't get interesting until about 4/5 through.

Apart from that I liked the setting, this big, enormous tower with a kingdom (or "ringdom") on each storey. Too much is kept from our knowing, which is slightly frustrating but makes me want to keep reading the series. The unreliable guidebook gets tired fast, and I don't miss it. I just hope to see more of the tower, and I hope that the end that's been hinted at during the market scene will happen. I need my Chekhov's unfinished tower summit.