Senlin Ascends
The Books of Babel series, Book 1
Josiah Bancroft
Orbit
Fiction, Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The Tower of Babel is, all agree, the greatest marvel in the world, but little else about it is agreed upon, not even who built it, or why, or how tall it stands above the perpetual clouds obscuring its impossible apex. Nobody even knows for sure how many "ringdoms" - inhabited levels, each acting as its own domain - exist. By foot, by caravan road, by airship or train, countless tourists travel to the Tower for the vacations of a lifetime... but, like any tourist destination, the guide books and traveler tales hardly scratch the surface of the truth.
Thomas Senlin, the mild-mannered school headmaster of a small coastal village, saved a lifetime for the trip to Babel, and could hardly have dreamed he'd travel there with a young wife, Marya, on his arm. Two weeks in the legendary spas of the third ringdom - what better way to start a life of marital bliss! He brings with him a well-thumbed copy of The Everyman's Guide to the Tower of Babel, which surely has all the advice he'll need for a successful and memorable honeymoon... but, shortly after stepping off the train, he loses Marya in the bustling, ever-shifting marketplace around the foot of the great tower. After two days of fruitless searching of the bazaar, he finally decides that he'll try his luck in the tower itself; after all, they were going to go to the third ringdom anyway, so maybe she went ahead when she couldn't find him, and even now is waiting for her new husband at one of the dozens of hotels. Almost from the start, however, Thomas learns just how inadequate his little guide book is at preparing him for what awaits inside the massive walls, realms of wonder, deceit, and deadly danger.
REVIEW: I've heard a lot of good things about this series, and finally decided to give it a try. As promised, Senlin Ascends offers a unique, even surreal alternate history where the Tower of Babel never fell, instead rising ever higher and becoming a world unto itself, operating under its own rules for its own unknown purpose. From the moment he leaves the train with Marya, it's clear just how unprepared the small town headmaster is for the real experience of the Tower of Babel and the greater experience of life and the world, for which the tower is a clear metaphor. This is a place that preys upon hope, monetizes vice, shatters faith, and punishes those who dare to resist the seemingly arbitrary rules and invariably corrupt rulers, where it's impossible to tell truth from lies and a friend from a foe. The only way out is up, with cruel punishments for those who try to sneak their way up through the ringdoms in the hopes that, somewhere a few rings higher, maybe they might find the utopian wonders that everyone insists are to be found within the Tower.
In his journey, Thomas stumbles and often falls, slowly and painfully transforming from a naive tourist convinced of the inherent justice of the Rules and that truth and kindness always win out to a driven, desperate man whose once-rigid morality has acquired distinct smears of gray. His little guide book, once a source of pride and knowing superiority, becomes a mockery as his experiences contradict its glib advice. Marya sometimes feels like a plot device, a promise of future happiness and a lure to lead him through ever higher tiers and ever further astray from the straight and narrow life he'd expected to live, but later the reader learns some of what she's going through, which rounds her out a bit as a character. As Thomas makes his way through the Tower, he starts seeing glimmers of a deeper mystery and corruption, tantalizing fragments that hint at the greater machinations behind the scenes. Now and again he seems a little too easily tricked, even later on when he's become more jaded and gotten his own hands dirty, and there are clearly deeper metaphors and symbolism at work under the surface that I'm sure I only barely clued into, but overall this story kept me interested, and the Tower of Babel is a fascinating place to visit (as a reader, if not as an actual tourist). By the end, Thomas has become someone else almost entirely (and almost literally), having made very few allies but many enemies as his pursuit of his missing wife continues... a pursuit I expect I might follow through at least another book in this unique series.
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