He also has an amazing way of illustrating scenes through some very unique metaphors, which I really loved.Īs you can probably guess, Senlin is the main character of the book. The book is split into three distinct sections (they’re really good indications on where to have a break) each occurring in a different part of the tower, and we get to spend a good amount of time in each of these very different, but also similar worlds.īancroft does an excellent job of describing this fascinating steampunk world he has created. Each layer is fundamentally different from the layer below, each specialising in something different, and Bancroft creates his own miniature world in each different layer.

The Tower of Babel is an immensely interesting setting for this novel. Each layer slightly different from the one before, posing new and different challenges before you can pass to the next layer, people with their own agendas who want to rob you and make you do things you don’t want to do and then you have something that looks like an easy version of the situation Senlin finds himself in. Then take this idea of the crowded, ever-evolving, chaotic mess of this imaginary NYC, multiply it, and start stacking each city on top of each other. Then imagine all the buildings look similar and regularly move around. Well, imagine you’re in New York City in rush hour, there are people everywhere, and it’s easy to get separated. Now at this stage you’re probably thinking, how could Bancroft possibly turn Senlin losing his wife into a nice, interesting book, it shouldn’t be that hard to find each other again. Within the first hour of their arrival Senlin loses his wife in the chaotic ever evolving throng of people and stores in and around the tower. Inspired by the legends and books, Senlin and his newlywed wife, Marya, travel to the world’s greatest marvel, a tower stretching into the sky with unnumbered ringdoms stacked one on the other like the layers of a cake, the Tower of Babel. Thomas Senlin is a mild mannered headmaster from a small town out in the middle of nowhere. Thomas Senlin on the other hand was having a really bad day… several actually, but he’s really good at dealing with everything life throws at him. By chapter 3 I realised my day wasn’t actually that bad.

I started Senlin Ascends yesterday, I was having a bad day, one of those ones where nothing seems to go the way you want it to.

Senlin ascends book 3