2.23k reviews for:

Senlin Ascends

Josiah Bancroft

4.06 AVERAGE

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I now have a YouTube channel that I run with my brother, called 'The Brothers Gwynne'. Check it out - The Brothers Gwynne

“I’m suspicious of people who are certain”

When starting Senlin Ascends, I had no idea what to expect, and had not checked out what the story was about at all. I read it purely off of hearing consistently great things about it, and the fact that it was on my Audible library. I don’t usually do this, as I have a great list to read, and want to cherry pick the best suited to me. But I’m glad a gave that formula an exception.

Senlin Ascends was great. A mixture of fun and serious content, that handled the tone brilliantly. Despite the contrasting parts of the atmosphere, Josiah Bancroft was very good at subtly going from one to another in a “real” manner, which surprisingly didn’t jar, as it has with many other authors.

“We shouldn't have to go around congratulating each other for behaving with basic human dignity.”

Thomas Senlin is a headmaster who has been fascinated with the Tower of Babel, and is finally going to see it in the flesh with his newly married wife. He is morally upstanding, conforms to social standards, and is what most would label as quite a dull person. This is why I found Bancroft’s character so brilliant. He turned Senlin’s essentially ordinary and largely bland personality into a driving force of the story, as the sole PoV, that made it so much better.

The plot was constantly evolving and always pulled me along to listen to each and every word, subtly dropping clever hints that I noticed but could not successfully resolve, and many that I imagine I missed out on as well. It would be interesting to read this again at some point in the future to appreciate everything that Bancroft incorporated to form such a vibrant and full story.

The Tower of Babel is one of the most unique settings I have read about, with places ranging from slums to the leisure places of the upper-class and ruling parties. I look forward to more of this world being explored further on in the series.

“It is easier to accept who you’ve become than to recollect who you were.”

Senlin Ascends is a book that I would recommend to practically all fantasy readers, despite it perhaps not adhering to their usual type of read.

4.75/5
adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-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

Well this was fantastic.  "Lies of Locke Lamora" levels of breezy world building and character work.  I had no idea what I was in for, and I immediately want to read the next fourteen books.

Hopped over to this book since I really enjoyed "The Hexologists". Just not really feeling the vibe for this one.
challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

The first part and most of the second part of the book was a bit difficult for me to read because it's hard to cheer on Senlin. He's a bit pompous and a little dumb. I do enjoy world of the tower - but I definitely have no interest in being a part of it, or even visiting it. This is one of the few books where I'm glad I don't live in.

Since I'm only on the second book, whenever I think about the first one, all that comes to mind is "eeeeeeeee these books are GREAT i have NO idea where the story is going but I bet it's going to be fun!"

I honestly don't have a series I can compare this to. Kind of like Scythe in terms of fun world building, but I can't think of another epic fantasy series that takes place in one centralized labyrinthine location like the Tower of Babel - half the fun is just envisioning what the heck Tom is looking at. The Parlor is my favorite Ring so far. Creeeeeeepy. I can't wait to keep reading these!
adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

milointhewoods's review

3.0

this is really well written, and the side characters have very compelling storylines. very little action happens, and this story serves mainly as a character introduction and set up for the series, and i can only assume there will be some plot advancement in the next book.

for me, senlin was a difficult main character to follow because he came off as really slimy. the way he talked about his missing wife (10+ years younger than him, and one of his students) really freaked me out and i’m surprised that it’s not something any of the reviews that i’ve read have commented on. he constantly reflects on how pale and youthful her skin is.

however, it’s definitely possible that i’m a bit more sensitive about this than most people would be and considering the fact that this is so highly lauded; it’s certainly something other people have been able to look past.

it was fairly unique and interesting conceptually, and it reminded me a lot of the missing of clairdelune (second book in the mirror visitor series) and i enjoyed the world building! a lot of work has clearly been put into crafting such a tangible fantasy universe.

i might continue the series, but the way that this author writes about women, and the way that the women are treated in this book (big Woman as Object energy) has really put me off. it’s clearly intentional to some extent because senlin does, at one point, reflect on how he is objectifying his wife and failing to remember her actual personality, but still it rubbed me the wrong way.
adventurous dark fast-paced

A fantastic, well-written adventure! On to book two!