When I first joined Twitter a few months ago, it seemed like this book was all anyone in the fantasy scene was talking about. I now see why.

If you've traveled abroad with friends or family to a place whose language you do not know, the opening of the book will feel very familiar. There's an anxiety to such tourism that can be beaten back with proper planning, but never entirely eliminated. Invariably, there's a moment on such a trip where you look up and can't see your travelling companions. In that moment, there's a flash of terror at being lost, at their being lost, at a separation rendered impassable by a wall of incomprehensible language and custom.

If you're prepared, and a seasoned traveler, then you already have plans in place -- contingencies for exactly that moment, and after an initial flash of anxiety, the joy of exploration returns and all is well.

The first 3rd of Senlin Ascends crystallizes a traveler's anxious fantasies so acutely that it's almost difficult to read. It teeters precariously there for almost exactly the amount of time I could stand, but Bancroft's skillful rendition of that experience drove me through it and into the adventure beyond.

The Tower of Babel is masterfully rendered, mysterious, intriguing, and at once both fantastic and banal. It is difficult to describe the setting without spoiling the material, but is steampunk, complete with airships and strange devices. The Tower is a strange, and fascinatingly corrupted place, built upon layers of inequity. Each layer of the Tower seems content to look down at those below as they uneasily pretend to ignore all the layers above them.

At the opening, Senlin is a stuffy, obstinate know-it-all, who seems entirely too fragile to endure any sort of adventure whatsoever. The title itself is a clever description of the story, because it is not the story of a tower being ascended, but of Senlin ascending it.

Bancroft's writing has a stylish, stuffy aesthetic that is perfectly suited to his character's story, forming an elegant synergy between prose and plot.

It should be noted that this is merely book 1, and so Senlin's story does not end in this volume. Senlin Ascends is about the character's evolution, and so it chronicles that very effectively, but it is clearly the beginning epic arc and it does not conclude his story.

I started this book merely to see what all the fuss was about, and now I'm combating the desire to cast aside my list of works to be read to delve immediately into Bancroft's sequel. This is a very compelling story, and a delight to read. I highly recommend it.