This trilogy gets better and better!

If you loved Benedict Jacka or Ben aaronovitch these books are definitely for you. I didn't put them down for a second, and now my whole family are reading them.
It's a little like C J Sansoms honourable lawyer Shardlake, only a headmaster and not a lawyer in this case, in the most imaginative world i have ever read, and yet it was so believable.

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Great intrigue after a very slow start

The book has plenty wonderful plot twists and characters. Enjoyed it fully except for a start that took 6 hours to reveal threads of main plot. Looking forward to second book in the series

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slow to start, but engaging to finish

beautifully read, but I found the first part slow going. it picked up later on and I felt much more engaged. This is also my first ever audio book experience, so that may have played a part in my difficulties early on.

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Steampunk masterpiece

Wow. Just wow!

I’m incredibly jealous of Bancroft’s imagination a writing right now!

Best thing I’ve listened to in years!

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Senlin Snags Me By The End!

It's not often I feel conflicted about what rating to give a book but this is definitely an example. Senlin Ascends really is a pure fantasy, almost a Fantasia in the sense that there is no attempt to do any kind of vaguely logical world-building. Instead a mild mannered small school headteacher is plunged into a mystical tower which is idealised as the height of human achievement when in reality it's anything but. Senlin is driven to explore the levels of this enormous structure, each contains its own almost self-contained society with absolutely no suggestion of anything about how they interact paying more than lip service to logic. It's almost like an extended fable.

This of course gives the writer enormous ease and freedom and Bancroft doesn't hold back filling each of the levels or "Ringdoms" with a colourful army of larger than life characters and crazy inventions such as the "Beer-me-up" I think it was. It made me laugh at the thought of it anyway - an end to climate change? The narration by John Banks suits the tone of the book very well. He delivered the author's at times incredibly clever and literate prose in just the right manner.

To me though the whole thing only really took off in the last three to four hours when a lot of threads came together and the story and its hero really seemed to emerge as a strong character. For this reason and the fact that this will drive you insane if you need any level of logic to apply to your fantasy I'm sticking at four stars for the whole thing.

However, by the end of those last few hours I feel as if I've been snagged on Senlin's coat tails and will likely take the second of what I've heard is to be a four book series when it comes out in March.

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12 people found this helpful

Great story FANTASTIC narrator!

Absolutely loved it and the narration is fantastic so many voices for tye different characters and his interpretation of what accent to use is sublime.

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Outstanding audiobook

Absolutely loved this book! It is well deserving of the praise it receives, and the narration brought it to exceptional levels. Wonderful pacing and voices and so often I forgot I was listening to a book - everything played out in my mind like a film. I cannot wait to read the sequel!

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An Epic adventure story in a steampunk world.

The book gets high marks for characters, plot, story, world building and pacing. It’s all set in a world full of steampunk technology where mysterious pseudo scientists manufacturer steam powered airships and chimera / cyborg like automatons integrated with humans and animals. The story and characters are similar to those in The Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve, except rather than the action moving from mobile city to city, it all happens around a tower that is as tall as Mount Everest and divided into 64 county / city sized floors / levels. If you liked The Mortal Engines series or the Abhorsen series by Garth Nyx (Sabriel, Lirael) then you will definitely like the three books of the Tower of Babel series. The narrator was pleasant to listen to but I did set the speed to 1.25x for a more enjoyable listen.

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Brilliantly imagination

I'm looking forward to the rest of these, a great protagonist, full of self-doubt and naivety in a fascinating and challenging world.

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Unique. Brilliant.

I've never read a story quite like it.

Victorianesque in setting and feel, with steampunk elements and an industrious, mysterious tower as its main focus. This single POV story witnesses true character progression and setting discovery. Twists, turns, alliances and betrayals.

Enter the tower and walk along side Senlin as his ardous climb through level and status surprises and amazes you.

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2 people found this helpful