The endings of books are the hardest things. But for the end, I enjoyed Senlin's ascent.

It's an adventure and it deals with human values and natures, and a bit of steam technology. I like the myth of the tower of babel as it is presented here. The ringdoms we got introduced to were fascinating and cool to learn about.

The culmination at the end felt too cluttered to me. On the one hand I understand that it should feel kind of epic compared to everything that came before. But it can't feel like a proper resolution in any case, since there is a second book, and it feels very different from the rest of the book in what kind of conflict and resolution it has.

And I guess, I preferred the naive Senlin of the beginning of the book to the more scheming one at the end.