Review: Senlin Ascends

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I read a good number of subreddits about books, specifically fantasy and sci-fi. Among the books reddit loves? Blindsight by Peter Watts, a book I did not enjoy for a lot of reasons. Another one that was brought up again and again? Senlin Ascends, which involves a very large tower and a man seeking out his lost wife.

I am equally puzzled as to why people love this book, as it has a lot of interesting ideas but is so fatally flawed it almost completely failed to hold my interest throughout. Senlin moves from floor to floor with new characters and challenges, and it’s structured less like a cohesive narrative as much as a bunch of episodes with a tenuous relationship tying them together.

This is a rare case where I don’t have a lot to say beyond “this did not work for me” and it is one I cannot recommend. I also might need to rethink my relying on reddit for these recommendations, as what I’m looking for in books doesn’t seem to relate.

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