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cianarae's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Drug use, and Kidnapping
bettysbookishworld's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.0
Let's start with what I liked about it. The book worldbuilding is based on Tower of Babel where each floor is a completely different world with different rules, and societies. The only thing that was certain was that the world is cruel and Senlin shouldn't trust anyone. I loved the idea and the author gets the credit.
Although, that's probably it. The whole execution was truly bad with the worst main character. Senlin was a British academic who had a lot of knowledge, particularly about Tower of Babel. He was very arrogant, full of himself and when it came to action, totally useless. He didn't have any drive to him, the whole plot just happened to him and there wasn't any driving force. His only motivation was finding his wife. And I do have a problem here, too. I didn't believe he loved her and he married her just because he had to marry someone. When Senlin talked about Marya, it always felt like he was talking about his favourite possession and not about a person he is supposed to be in love with. I didn't believe any emotion expressed by him as their whole marriage felt so superficial. Also, his descriptions of her were just sexist and dumb. In conclusion, I didn't buy it.
Apart from the main character and his marriage, the plot progression was just plain boring. Nothing happened. And when finally something exciting started happening, Senlin was very passive about it and eventually, I got bored again. I really think it was such of waste of opportunity because the world could be so intriguing.
I'm honestly disappointed as I had such big expectations that I would like it. I won't continue the series and I wouldn't recommend this one either.
Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Slavery, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
nik_a's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Drug use, Violence, and Trafficking
Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, and Kidnapping
Minor: Alcohol
cinhein's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I can't really recommend this book as it was a slog to get through. If you do enjoy a main character who is too dumb or scared to do anything about the situation that they're in for four-hundred pages, this book is right up your alley. Otherwise, I'd steer clear.
If the things mentioned in the Content Warning section don't put you off, you'll probably be fine with this. It gets going in the middle and picks up the pace somewhat. However, every time it does so, it quickly brings everything to a screeching stop once again with detailed descriptions of human trafficking and slavery.
Graphic: Slavery, Trafficking, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Police brutality, and Grief
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
nicola4e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Gun violence, Trafficking, and Kidnapping
Minor: Classism
chalkletters's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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….
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Death, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma
deedireads's review against another edition
- 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
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!
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Drug use, Slavery, and Alcohol
Minor: Gun violence
lores's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Also - I will say that the flashbacks reveal that Senlin's wife was a previous student of his. While I have problems with positive modern depictions of such relationships, and this book presents it as a pretty neutral fact, I didn't feel like it disrupted my personal experience of the book and it felt appropriate in the context of the setting and characters so far, and may be explored as a dynamic in the future. However, if that's a hard line for you, this may not be the book for you.
Moderate: Sexism, Violence, Trafficking, and Kidnapping
unboxedjack's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Minor: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, and Kidnapping