A review by tavern_bard
Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft

5.0

I don't want to go into it too much because it's not one of those 'deep thinking,' books, in which case I mean, I really enjoyed not having to take notes every two or three lines. It let me enjoy the book as just a fun read through. Now that I'm trying to think of a reason for it, maybe it's because there's just one main character you're following, as opposed to those really cliched fantasy books where you end up following stories for six different characters and all their hundred sequels and spin offs..

No. This book was an amazing experience. It's worded so beautifully, and it was hearing the summary that got my attention. About someone who goes into a tower, and there's so many different unexplored floors, that each one can literally be anything. And of course, a secret part of me loves the chivalry (I'm doing this all for my wife), I'm sensitive, okay!?

Senlin is so normal in a way that makes it relatable. You can understand when sometimes he feels sympathy while having to make hard choices. The only time I started drifting off is towards the end, when it looked like he was getting stuck on one floor for a long time, and I was getting bored with how jaded he was becoming. I understand how the environment has an effect on hardening him, but I was really excited to see some of the other floors.

Spoiler

We only ended up seeing like, four floors max, including the base one.

Another thing is, I was enjoying how realistic it was when it came to Senlin interacting with people around him, but more towards the end, it starts to take this wilder fantastic approach, adding more main characters to the 'party,' like those other fantasy books I mentioned. I'm so ready for the sequels, I just hope it doesn't go too far from being relatable, which I complain about with all the other books, that it's hard to relate to characters sometimes.