[JPK]

I bought a tpb of Senlin Ascends six months ago, but my physical book reading time has become abysmal ever since my wife gave birth last year.

Well, I looked at the Kobo marketplace and found it up there for $2.99 today, so I grabbed a digital copy and plan to start it when I take my lunch. It's also the same price on Amazon.


I've seen quite a bit of buzz for him up here already so I decided to launch a ded-thread. I'll keep my thoughts as I dig in in spoilers so I'll ask anyone else who decides to hop in here to do the same.


-Cheers guys!

[Werthead]

JPK, on 06 May 2017 - 06:36 PM, said:

I bought a tpb of Senlin Ascends six months ago, but my physical book reading time has become abysmal ever since my wife gave birth last year.

Well, I looked at the Kobo marketplace and found it up there for $2.99 today, so I grabbed a digital copy and plan to start it when I take my lunch. It's also the same price on Amazon.


I've seen quite a bit of buzz for him up here already so I decided to launch a ded-thread. I'll keep my thoughts as I dig in in spoilers so I'll ask anyone else who decides to hop in here to do the same.


-Cheers guys!

We do have a dedicated thread in the review section as well, but always good to spread the love.

Book 3 is out in a few months and I'm hoping for a higher-profile launch and lots more reviews.

[Andorion]

These are some really fantastic books. Senlin Ascends is a great exercise in scaling things up gradually, and I felt that Arm of the Sphinx did a lot in terms of worldbuilding to ground the Tower and the various problems faced by the protagonists. Can't wait for the third book.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

It seems slow moving so far — I'm about 1/4 of the way through and Senlin has only reached the 3rd ringdom. How's he going to make it to the top by the end!?

Just kidding Despite the languid(ish) pace, the prose is beautiful with the perfect amount of detail and characterization to make me really invested.


EDIT: I'm also really curious why the tower is such a brutal place.

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 21 May 2017 - 01:08 AM

[amphibian]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 20 May 2017 - 09:53 PM, said:

It seems slow moving so far — I'm about 1/4 of the way through and Senlin has only reached the 3rd ringdom. How's he going to make it to the top by the end!?

Just kidding Despite the languid(ish) pace, the prose is beautiful with the perfect amount of detail and characterization to make me really invested.


EDIT: I'm also really curious why the tower is such a brutal place.

These are very... insightful questions to have.

[JPK]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 20 May 2017 - 09:53 PM, said:

It seems slow moving so far — I'm about 1/4 of the way through and Senlin has only reached the 3rd ringdom. How's he going to make it to the top by the end!?

Just kidding Despite the languid(ish) pace, the prose is beautiful with the perfect amount of detail and characterization to make me really invested.


EDIT: I'm also really curious why the tower is such a brutal place.

I think you and I are right about the same place right now. I'm working my way through Part II, Chapter II and I expect to get through chapter 3 or 4 tonight before I pass out.

[Werthead]

There's about 40 ringdoms (I think) and there's only four relatively short books, so he's not going to see every single one of them.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Werthead, on 21 May 2017 - 11:32 AM, said:

There's about 40 ringdoms (I think) and there's only four relatively short books, so he's not going to see every single one of them.

I thought nobody knew how many there were!

I'm 55 pages into Arm Of The Sphinx, which I ordered immediately after finishing book 1. Senlin has just finished his visit with Madam Bhata.

Spoiler

I'm guessing his portrait of Marya — which he holds close each night — is infused with Chrom from the boobytrap he laid for Goll and Rodion. I'm just surprised he — methodical and rational thinker he thinks he is — hasn't yet realized that. Maybe we can chalk that up to him being under its influence.

[Werthead]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 24 May 2017 - 09:43 PM, said:

Werthead, on 21 May 2017 - 11:32 AM, said:

There's about 40 ringdoms (I think) and there's only four relatively short books, so he's not going to see every single one of them.

I thought nobody knew how many there were!

I'm 55 pages into Arm Of The Sphinx, which I ordered immediately after finishing book 1. Senlin has just finished his visit with Madam Bhata.

Spoiler

I'm guessing his portrait of Marya — which he holds close each night — is infused with Chrom from the boobytrap he laid for Goll and Rodion. I'm just surprised he — methodical and rational thinker he thinks he is — hasn't yet realized that. Maybe we can chalk that up to him being under its influence.

Bancroft has answered some fan questions about those sort of things. He also has some cool maps of the Tower and the Ringdoms on website:

http://www.thebookso...el.com/artwork/

[Werthead]

Good news: The BOOKS OF BABEL have been picked up by a big publisher, so there'll be a new marketing drive, more publicity etc.

Bad news: Book 3 will be delayed until 2018 and they may switch the cover art (although Josiah wants to keep the same artist).

Good news: This won't affect the release of Book 4, which was always going to be 2019, so the gap between Books 3 and 4 should be quite short.

[Abyss]

Ok, ok, you all convinced me...
Just started SENLIN ASCENDS.
Only a few pages in so too early to say more than the writing is very engaging, even if not much has happened yet.


...at my current ebook reading pace i should be done with book 1 just as book 3 streets.

[JPK]

Abyss, on 05 June 2017 - 02:06 PM, said:

...at my current ebook reading pace i should be done with book 1 just as book 3 streets.

I feel your pain. I'm only around 70% at this point and I've been chipping away at it for weeks. The glacial pace isn't because it's bad or I'm having a hard time getting into it either, it's utterly engaging.

[acesn8s]

I stopped a few weeks ago to read something else, but picked it back up again last week. Almost at the 1/2 way point and am really enjoying it now.

[JPK]

I just finished book 1. Damn but that ramped up excellently there at the end.

Spoiler

I have a terrible feeling that Senlin is going to finally find Marya, but that she is happier with Pell and is going to refuse to reunite.

[acesn8s]

JPK, on 10 June 2017 - 07:51 PM, said:

I just finished book 1. Damn but that ramped up excellently there at the end.

Spoiler

I have a terrible feeling that Senlin is going to finally find Marya, but that she is happier with Pell and is going to refuse to reunite.

I had that same feeling. I'll be interest to see how much Tom enjoys being Captain Mudd.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 05 June 2017 - 02:06 PM, said:

Ok, ok, you all convinced me...
Just started SENLIN ASCENDS.
Only a few pages in so too early to say more than the writing is very engaging, even if not much has happened yet.
...

Abyss, on 10 July 2017 - 02:12 PM, said:

...In ebook SENLIN ASCENDS is still suffering my lack of eyetime, but great when i can manage it.

Abyss, on 24 July 2017 - 02:00 PM, said:

SENLIN ASCENDS is killing me. Too 'cute', too meandering, too repetitious, everything takes too damn long to happen. I see what so many of you liked about this book, the setting is amazing, the actual writing is solid, but the protag is boring me and his progress towards anything is tedious and at times predictable. May be just the wrong book at the wrong time for me, but i'm finding it slog'esque at points.
...

Just finished SENLIN.

Decent start, dragged in the middle, picked up nicely towards the end.

SPOILERS

SPOILERS







SPOILERS for SENLIN ASCENDS




My reactions were all over the place with this book. The actual start was fine, solid writing carrying the story forward even when the whiny, willfully blind protagonist irritated me with his naivete and sheer ability not to see what was going on around him. Then it dragged. First he wandered outside, then at the Basement level he wandered, again after the Parlour while we waited to see what happened to Senlin and Edith, then again at the Baths, and yet again while he worked at the port. Every level's subplot just ran longer than i was patient enough for. I caught myself skimming, didn't always backtrack to see what i wasn't paying attention to. It generally didn't matter.

I pressed on... Senlin's revelation about how the lower levels work, the fires in the Parlour, the steam at the Baths... drew me back just in time for the solid if predictable finale. I never had any doubt Senlin was going to end up stealing a ship with Edith, Adam, Voleta and Big Chain Swinging Warrior Lady Iren as his crew, but the sequence was tightly written, fun and tense... far moreso than most of the book, really. And with enough hooks to leave me curious enough to read book 2... i want to know what's up with Edith's arm and the connection to the Red Hand... i want to see how Senlin does as a ship captain, i want to read whether Iren just punches his face a few more times.

The Tower itself is one of the most interesting settings i've read in genre lit since Mieville's Armada, and that carries a lot of appeal for me for fantasy lit, so there's another point in the 'keep reading' column.

I hope we get Marya's story eventually. I like how we're learning it from the bits that arise during Senlin's search, and she's written as a character whose path up the Tower might be very interesting to read.

So i'm still in for bk2, middle-of-the-road impression of bk1 notwithstanding.

[Macros]

have skimmed through to avoid spoilers.

is this sci fi, is it space opera (given my luke warm feelings regarding Reynolds) would you reco it to the macros?

[Abyss]

Macros, on 01 August 2017 - 08:13 PM, said:

have skimmed through to avoid spoilers.

is this sci fi, is it space opera (given my luke warm feelings regarding Reynolds) would you reco it to the macros?

Steampunk sf is probably closest. Not even remotely space opera and far far far from Reynolds.

I would cautiously reco. I didn't love the pacing, but overall the first book was enjoyable and i've started the second which, so far, seems to improve on that.

[Macros]

anything you could compare it to?

[polishgenius]

Cinder Spires. I thought it was a fair bit stronger, as do a couple others here. Presumably Abyss disagrees. But there are similarities.