Senlin Ascends
by Josiah Bancroft · first published 2013
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Steampunk fantasy set in a tower-city, praised for its imaginative world, engaging characters, and a protagonist who grows from unlikable to heroic; a good fit for readers who enjoy inventive secondary-world fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"The Tower of Babel is the greatest marvel of the Silk Age. Immense as a mountain, the ancient Tower holds unnumbered ringdoms, warring and peaceful, stacked one on the other like the layers of a cake. It is a world of geniuses and tyrants, of airships and steam engines, of incredible animals and mysterious machines. While honeymooning in the Tower of Babel, Thomas Senlin loses his wife. A mild-mannered headmaster of a village school, Thomas Senlin is drawn to the Tower by scientific curiosity and the grandiose promises of a guidebook. It seems the perfect destination for a honeymoon. But soon
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* Senlin Ascends, by Josiah Bancroft. It was fantastic, a steampunk world with a little bit of everything, and a protagonist that starts off as a git, but by the end transforms into a likeable hero, without losing track…
on “Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?” ↗Tangentially related: If you enjoy this sort of idea in fiction-form, I can't recommend Josiah Bancroft's The Tower of Babel series (beginning with Senlin Ascends) enough.
on “Tell HN: AWS appears to be down again” ↗I really enjoyed Josiah Bancroft's Babel series: start with Senlin Ascends. I feel like he enjoys writing sentences -- a strange way to put it, but, I think he does. But this is an extraordinary book on its own. For the ultimate in non-basic vocab, try Gene Wolfe's Book of…
on “To become a better writer, read as much as you can” ↗…Remaking of the World by Thompson, Clive, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40406806-coders Fiction: - Vengeful (Villains, #2) by Schwab, V.E., https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26856502-vengeful - Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1) by Bancroft, Josiah, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17554595-senlin-ascends - Arm of the Sphinx (The Books of Babel, #2) by Bancroft, Josiah, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35959733-arm-of-the-sphi...…
on “Ask HN: Best books you've read in 2019?” ↗From that list: “Senlin Ascends” is a journey up a steampunk Tower of Babel whose main character starts off as a bit of a prat, but over the course of the book (and series) really matures and becomes a great character. I highly recommend…
on “Show HN: Top Fantasy Reads – Fantasy books Reddit is reading” ↗…2022. It follows a schoolteacher who loses his wife on a tourist trip to the legendary Tower of Babel. Wildly imaginative, engaging characters, and a crazy trip! Series is complete and the first book is SENLIN ASCENDS. - Fonda Lee's THE GREEN BONE SAGA is a secondary world fantasy following Godfather-style mafia families on an Asian-inspired island. Jade gives them super powers, which they use to enforce control over…
on “Sanderson shares intimate details about contracting with publishing industry” ↗