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A review by aleccjohnston
Arm of the Sphinx by Josiah Bancroft
5.0
Here is my review, followed by copious notes and ideas I couldn’t help but jot down while reading.
However, if that’s too much, the TLDR is:
This book rules. Please buy and read it everyone everywhere forever. Thank me later. Or don’t. I’m just beyond happy to have read it myself.
I made sure to throw away my allegorical shovel before beginning to write this, because I want to guarantee that there won’t be any chance of the lede being buried.
This book is incredible. I have to get that out of the way early, lest my upcoming effusive praise leave a reader waiting for a “….. But” halfway through.
Few authors have made me stay up until 3am finishing their book, and Josiah Bancroft made the list. With ease, I might add. Past the three quarters mark, there was never any doubt I was keeping that book in my hands until I finished it.
To be quite honest, I didn’t think Bancroft would be able to top Senlin Ascends. The first entry into this series did a stellar job of effective and nuanced worldbuilding that still left room for an actual story to develop around it, rather than taking up the entire page, leaving no room for anything else. That in itself seemed an impossible feat, because Senlin Ascends thrives upon the novelty its setting creates. Bancroft more than managed it, riding the line of perfect believable disbelief while constructing a quite strong narrative with the practiced hand of a master brick layer.
However, when that sheer novelty and brilliance of “the new” is gone, what is left must stand on its own. I figured that after Senlin Ascends, Bancroft would dial back the worldbuilding and dampen the brilliance and gleam of his world in favor of furthering the plot and developing the mystery.
Boy, was I wrong.
He managed to turn every dial (all of which I already thought were maxed) up even further. The plot is developing in simultaneously overwhelmingly satisfying and highly unexpected ways. Our cast of characters is just wonderful. The majesty and mystery of the Tower of Babel continues growing with every secret we learn about it(a paradox I can’t even begin to understand the inner workings of).
If Bancroft keeps this pace, this series will become even more of a modern classic than I’m already touting it as.
End of review.
Aforementioned copious notes and thoughts:
-Bancroft’s mastery over language is absolute. There has never been an instance when I’ve felt that a sentence he’s written could be written any better. Which is tough, knowing how much of a snob I can be.
He is the golden standard for what any writer should want their voice to sound like. Certainly his voice is what I want to write like.
The reason his voice is so scary good is that I don’t know if I’ll be able to NOT copy him. It’s that good.
-Much like the Discworld series, a favorite of mine, I consistently take double the amount of time to read the books in this series that I plan for. I wondered why that is, and I think I’ve figured it out. I am constantly going back to re-read pages. Not for a lack of understanding, but because of the enjoyment I get from mulling every line over in my mind. I rarely have a reason to truly savor words, and I take full advantage of each opportunity I get to do so. I just read an interaction between Byron and Edith. A quick exchange of words, no longer than a paragraph. Then I read it again. Then again. And a couple more times afterward. After rubbing my eyes and wondering who was cutting onions in my room, I moved on. That’s just ONE example of an entire book’s worth of this stuff!
-Everyone mentions of Patrick Rothfuss and the Kingkiller Chronicles when speaking about beautiful prose. And, while I absolutely agree with all of that praise, I think it’s criminal that Josiah Bancroft isn’t in the conversation. His voice and way with words is in such esteemed company that you’d be hard pressed to find more than a couple of contenders that even begin to measure up beside it.
-I’ve heard it said that to write a good character and truly feel what they feel, you have to put yourself in their shoes. I never realized how difficult that would be until my reading this book (and the wonderfully characterized cast of characters within) forced me to think long and hard about exactly why characterization is such a tough spot for so many authors. It’s just so difficult to put yourself in the mindset of someone whose whole outlook and personality is so far removed from your own it might as well be completely alien.
Yet Bancroft does this brilliantly. Characters are never just one note. They never feel like cardboard cutouts they have their quirks and personality traits pasted on the front. When this thought crossed my mind, I was reading a character named Voleta. Now, I don’t know Bancroft, but I would be very surprised if he were the type of person who could identify with Voleta’s childish and often rash nature with any degree of ease. Yet everything she says and does. All of her thought processes and justifications for her actions. It all feels so natural and so real.
However, if that’s too much, the TLDR is:
This book rules. Please buy and read it everyone everywhere forever. Thank me later. Or don’t. I’m just beyond happy to have read it myself.
I made sure to throw away my allegorical shovel before beginning to write this, because I want to guarantee that there won’t be any chance of the lede being buried.
This book is incredible. I have to get that out of the way early, lest my upcoming effusive praise leave a reader waiting for a “….. But” halfway through.
Few authors have made me stay up until 3am finishing their book, and Josiah Bancroft made the list. With ease, I might add. Past the three quarters mark, there was never any doubt I was keeping that book in my hands until I finished it.
To be quite honest, I didn’t think Bancroft would be able to top Senlin Ascends. The first entry into this series did a stellar job of effective and nuanced worldbuilding that still left room for an actual story to develop around it, rather than taking up the entire page, leaving no room for anything else. That in itself seemed an impossible feat, because Senlin Ascends thrives upon the novelty its setting creates. Bancroft more than managed it, riding the line of perfect believable disbelief while constructing a quite strong narrative with the practiced hand of a master brick layer.
However, when that sheer novelty and brilliance of “the new” is gone, what is left must stand on its own. I figured that after Senlin Ascends, Bancroft would dial back the worldbuilding and dampen the brilliance and gleam of his world in favor of furthering the plot and developing the mystery.
Boy, was I wrong.
He managed to turn every dial (all of which I already thought were maxed) up even further. The plot is developing in simultaneously overwhelmingly satisfying and highly unexpected ways. Our cast of characters is just wonderful. The majesty and mystery of the Tower of Babel continues growing with every secret we learn about it(a paradox I can’t even begin to understand the inner workings of).
If Bancroft keeps this pace, this series will become even more of a modern classic than I’m already touting it as.
End of review.
Aforementioned copious notes and thoughts:
-Bancroft’s mastery over language is absolute. There has never been an instance when I’ve felt that a sentence he’s written could be written any better. Which is tough, knowing how much of a snob I can be.
He is the golden standard for what any writer should want their voice to sound like. Certainly his voice is what I want to write like.
The reason his voice is so scary good is that I don’t know if I’ll be able to NOT copy him. It’s that good.
-Much like the Discworld series, a favorite of mine, I consistently take double the amount of time to read the books in this series that I plan for. I wondered why that is, and I think I’ve figured it out. I am constantly going back to re-read pages. Not for a lack of understanding, but because of the enjoyment I get from mulling every line over in my mind. I rarely have a reason to truly savor words, and I take full advantage of each opportunity I get to do so. I just read an interaction between Byron and Edith. A quick exchange of words, no longer than a paragraph. Then I read it again. Then again. And a couple more times afterward. After rubbing my eyes and wondering who was cutting onions in my room, I moved on. That’s just ONE example of an entire book’s worth of this stuff!
-Everyone mentions of Patrick Rothfuss and the Kingkiller Chronicles when speaking about beautiful prose. And, while I absolutely agree with all of that praise, I think it’s criminal that Josiah Bancroft isn’t in the conversation. His voice and way with words is in such esteemed company that you’d be hard pressed to find more than a couple of contenders that even begin to measure up beside it.
-I’ve heard it said that to write a good character and truly feel what they feel, you have to put yourself in their shoes. I never realized how difficult that would be until my reading this book (and the wonderfully characterized cast of characters within) forced me to think long and hard about exactly why characterization is such a tough spot for so many authors. It’s just so difficult to put yourself in the mindset of someone whose whole outlook and personality is so far removed from your own it might as well be completely alien.
Yet Bancroft does this brilliantly. Characters are never just one note. They never feel like cardboard cutouts they have their quirks and personality traits pasted on the front. When this thought crossed my mind, I was reading a character named Voleta. Now, I don’t know Bancroft, but I would be very surprised if he were the type of person who could identify with Voleta’s childish and often rash nature with any degree of ease. Yet everything she says and does. All of her thought processes and justifications for her actions. It all feels so natural and so real.