/lit/ - Literature

>>17318535
Senlin Ascends, The Books of Babel #1 - Josiah Bancroft (2013)
I wanted to like this, but it wasn't meant to be. I appreciate the tower concept, as I've enjoyed it in various media, more than a few of which were fantasy, but not in this case. When I initially read a bit of this originally self-published novel to see if it was worthwhile I was hesitant. It seemed like it wouldn't go well for me. However my hopes were buoyed by the ratings and praise it received in general and from those in the /sffg/ Goodreads group and thread. Shortly before I began reading I was warned that I wouldn't enjoy it, and I didn't really, but not for that the reason mentioned, which was that it was too "wacky" like Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy.
I'm moderately allergic to most allegory and such was the case with this even though I was sympathetic to it.
Each ringdom he goes through seems to symbolize some specific sin akin to Dante's Inferno, among other similarities. In trying to find out why this was so enjoyable for others, I read several reviewers from different sites. There were comparisons to Pilgrim's Progress as well.
It may be be an odd comparison but for to me it was like a fever dream caricature of movies like Bedknobs & Broomsticks and Mary Poppins in some ways. Although they never did, I wouldn't have been surprised if the characters stopped what they were doing and broke out in song and dance with each other. That would've been interesting.
There's a dark undercurrent to almost everything that happens, but as with its social commentary, it isn't something it dwells upon
Because I only played Bioshock Infinite briefly I checked if others thought there similarities to it and they did, which is intriguing because the book was self-published the month before the game released.
Despite that the plot becomes less plodding near the end, it wasn't nearly enough to counteract how bored I was for most of it.
It seems to me that the impetus will mostly be the search for his wife, which isn't enough for me, though I wouldn't be surprised if this narrative pretense was abandoned and he does whatever just because it's what he's doing. Afterwards it'll be something along the lines of "You always had the potential to be the chosen one, the tower simply revealed to you who you truly are." which would be returning too closely to a standard fantasy model and disappoint those who thought this was a book that said to them, "I'm not like those other fantasy books".
To sum up my thoughts: an unlikeable, unsympathetic, oblivious, and naïve child groomer lurches through the tower dragging everyone else down to pull himself up, even if unintentionally so.
I won't be reading the second book. Sometimes 3 stars are because the book is very uneven, with many highs and lows, but in this case it was almost a flatline and that simply won't do at all for me. That I don't care enough for the characters, setting, plot, or anything else about it doesn't help either.
Rating: 3/5