Senlin Ascends

The Books of Babel, Book 1

By: Josiah Bancroft

Narrated by: John Banks

Discover the extraordinary debut that has got everyone talking.

Mild-mannered headmaster, Thomas Senlin prefers his adventures to be safely contained within the pages of a book. So when he loses his new bride shortly after embarking on the honeymoon of their dreams, he is ill-prepared for the trouble that follows.

To find her, Senlin must enter the Tower of Babel - a world of geniuses and tyrants, of menace and wonder, of unusual animals and mysterious machines. And if he hopes to ever see his wife again, he will have to do more than just survive...this quiet man of letters must become a man of action.

©2013 Josiah Bancroft (P)2018 Little, Brown Book Group

Critic reviews

"One of my favourite books of all time." (Mark Lawrence)

"An extraordinary debut that is well worthy of the hype. A beautifully written, highly engaging page-turning masterpiece." (Fantasy Book Review)

"Thomas Senlin is the most unlikely yet likeable hero since a certain hobbit rushed out of Bag End leaving his second breakfast half-finished and entirely unwashed-up." (Fantasy Faction)

it finally caught me

The book starts and has that "The hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy" vibe. I almost gave it up because of that seemingly allegorical style that I'm not a big fan of. And I'm glad I didn't stop until the end. Now I can't wait to read the next book and hopefully the whole series..

Just Amazing

Josiah Bancroft has become one of if not my absolute favorite author because of this novel. The character development, world building, prose and wit are all top notch. The performance is great too really capturing different accents!

Enjoyable read and an original setting

The plot was fine and enjoyable, if build from a rather standard set of blocks. The setting was great, the characters likeable. The performance was very good.

overall fine

the story lacked substantial tension for my likes, though I can see the main appeal of it was the unique setting. Writing, or rather, wording, was fitting, decorative, but very careful most of the time. it was good experience listening to the book overall. I'd give 3.5

Boring...

Just found the whole story terribly boring. None of the characters are likeable, notably the main protagonist. In the end I just didn't care what happened as I had no interest whatsoever... Narration is fine, but the story just isn't interesting