Senlin Ascends by Josiah BancroftMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
"She had to leave and go someplace where she did not know every chasm and every foothold and leap. She had to rediscover fear and, tucked somewhere inside that fear, life."
I'd like to think that I don't judge a book ENTIRELY by its cover, but when the cover is THIS interesting and when it has a quote by Mark Lawrence saying that it is "One of my favorite books of all time," then I'd like to think I wouldn't be the only one buying it on the spot!
What a happy surprise to find out that it is the first in a series of four books, and that books 2 and 3 are available on the market!
Tom Senlin, idealist and teacher, loses his wife on their honeymoon trip to the Tower of Babel, and must find her, though he must scour the bottom of Hell itself as he faces the grime and dirt of real life away from his idyllic classroom.
The basic plot is simple enough. But the Tower and its inhabitants are described so well, it's almost like being there yourself!
Usually, in other epic fantasy works, a list of characters is needed, helpfully put at the beginning or the end of the book. But Bancroft's characters come alive, there is absolutely no need for additional aid in remembering them because they're like flesh and blood to me. That alone is a sign of a good author!
And what a tale he tells, I don't think I've ever read anything like it! It's about the everyman who starts off as a naive idealist, who meets with misfortune but chooses to press on out of love. By the end of the book he has become someone else, and changes his name accordingly. I can't wait to get to the next books, to see how his story unfolds, to see how much more he will change.
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