Reviews with content warning for Death - Senlin Ascends

What a great, action packed read. Love the world building and all of the mysteries within the tower and the plot. Just a fascinating premise and a well thought out plot. Definitely more plot based than character based, which isn't normally my jam, but the plot makes up for it. In the beginning I also thought the characters were pretty flat, but they were more fleshed out as the story developed, which I appreciated.

I'm hoping for even more character development as the series continues. And I'm so excited to dive into the next one. I couldn't put this down. I listened to the audiobook, and I kept upping the speed, not because I was bored but because I had to know what was going to happen next. If I'd had a physical book I don't think I could have kept my eyes from darting to the bottoms of the page.

It was a bit brutal in places, but they were quick and even a wimp like me could take it. On to the next!

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chalkletters's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

When I reviewed Red Seas Under Red Skies, I said that fantasy heist meets pirate adventure was tailor-made to my interests. Senlin Ascends proves that even when a book has one’s favourite elements, there’s no guarantee it will become a favourite. Senlin Ascends has an art heist!, piracy!, a group of misfits struggling against society! and yet I’m not at all sure I’ll ever read the next book in the series.

Senlin Ascends gets off to a bad start. The first two thirds of the book consist of Senlin’s episodic encounters with a world and a cast of characters that unrelentingly want to screw him over. The Tower of Babel was such a disappointing, chaotic place that I found myself wondering why I was supposed to want to read about it. To give full credit to Josiah Bancroft, that’s not entirely his fault: I made an early assumption about Senlin’s relationship with Marya which coloured his rescue mission as more cynically hopeless than intended.

Even an art heist wasn’t enough to get me on board, because although Senlin had to work with others to pull it off, there was no sense of connection to any of the characters. Tarrou gave the impression of being too superficial to ever be relied upon, and Senlin had left everyone else he’d encountered worse off than when he found them, which didn’t encourage much sympathy.

Fortunately, there was a turning point when almost everything I disliked about the book changed at once: Senlin took responsibility for the consequences of his actions, he started connecting with other characters who had stories of their own and I was finally able to hope that his quest might not be as doomed as I’d first assumed. The leaps of personality taken by Senlin came a little too quickly, but I was so relieved not to be miserable reading about this unpleasant place that I didn’t really mind.

The ending of Senlin Ascends is promising, which is a weird thing to say about the ending of a book. It left me torn about whether or not to continue the series; does the potential of a group of misfits attempting piracy on an airship outweigh the fact that I really didn’t enjoy most of the book? Fortunately, my TBR is long enough that I can put the decision off for several months….

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deedireads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

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!

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leona's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Eh.. I had mixed feelings about Senlin Ascends.

I really enjoyed the first 2 parts, but part 3 and the start of part 4 nearly lost me. I found myself so bored and distant from the book, so much so that if I DNFed books I probably would have done so with this one. I decided to just let it sit for a bit (then read Warbreaker) then came back and finished it in 2 days. Although it took me a month to get to this point.

There are several reasons why I struggled with this book, so here is a comprehensive list:
1) I started it in the middle of my exam mocks, so it didn't exactly get my full attention.
2) It follows a plot structure that I must confess I am not a huge fan of, the sort of quest plot to find something missing, where you know where you are supposed to end up and everything else that happens just seems like unimportant side quests to me.
3) I didn't feel particularly attached to any of the side characters, as they are only really present for small sections of the book until *things* happen to them. I liked Senlin, not my favourite character ever, but following only him and a few other people for the rest of the book just bored me after a while.
4) This is a hesitant criticism: In some places I just didn't really connect with Bancroft's writing style. I am generally more of a fan of blunt, to the point styles, with not too much description or detail. Bancroft describes stuff a lot, and I do think his writing style is quite beautiful, despite some of the darker subjects, however I just felt like in some areas it was too much. I liked his simile's up to a point. This isn't a fault of Bancroft or a case of bad writing, I just got bored with it in some areas.
5) The pacing to me was the weakest aspect of the book. I loved the first part of the book and felt quite positive about it despite it being a plot structure I don't typically like. The Parlour was creepy but fascinating and I thought it was a very original concept. I liked some of the description and I think Bancroft does allow you to picture what is going on very well but I felt that these descriptions got in the way a bit sometimes. During The Baths Senlin sort of lost his sense of urgency - I'm not sure if this is meant to be a side effect of this level, as we see with Tarrou, or just a pacing issue but I was nearly lost.

A last comment on some of the darker aspects of the book. There are some pretty gory moments, but I don't think that Bancroft overly describes or focusses on these aspects. I would probably give it a 15+ rating.

The book doesn't really have a magic system, in my opinion, but has a generally sort of mysterious, fever dream, 'I think I know what's going on but something just doesn't seem quite right' and it is very odd. I would almost say it leans kind of sci-fi, in that it is quite steampunk. I must say I did really quite enjoy this setting and it was very fascinating.

For the middle of the book, I thought I would give it 2 stars but I decided to go with 2.5. I certainly enjoyed parts to the story, and I would continue on with it or potentially give it another go at some point. I also don't think Bancroft is a bad writer and he tells the story well, just not in a way that I personally loved. However I would still recommend it to those who find the premise interesting. (Although my sister hastened to tell me after reading the blurb that it was a 'Tower of God' rip off - don't ask me what that means, I have no idea and can neither confirm or deny...).

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arinowasabi's review against another edition

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adventurous funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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atalea's review

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adventurous hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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