Tim Mar 06, 2018

it was amazing Read 2 times. Last read January 1, 2018. 's review

There are many ways to define the Tower in Senlin Ascends. If Jule Vernes built a building and then the aristocrats got a hold of it, that would be the Tower. If you took Camorr from Locke Lamora and flipped it on its side, that would be the Tower. If you took all of your doubts and fears about what people are truly capable of, and put each individual one atop the other, you would have the Tower. Mr. Bancroft has written a story about a man climbing a tower after losing his wife and has made it so much more. We have had stories about people looking for lost loved ones. We have seen the evolution of characters into something more than what they started with before. But never have we really seen it like this. We see the flaws of the main character and we see their shadows at the end. This book, with its prose and subtleties, has captured the feeling of what it means to a person to change. Taking your opinions and having them torn to pieces one by one is something we all experience, but we can never truly relate to when it happens to someone else, because that was their opinion that changed, not yours. But with the journey of Thomas Senlin, Josiah Bancroft comes very, very close. This book, at its core, is about how people see the world, see themselves, and see the things that rule them. This is a book about the nature of humanity and the things we make and the positions we elevate those things to. This is a book about a tower, and a man who climbs it, but does so much more than that too.