An okay ending for a series that started so good. got a bit bored by all the characters' struggles. The various plot lines were tied together neatly but the pacing felt off for the whole duration. Bancroft really brilliant at creative worldbuilding as such it was always the bizarre tower itself and especially the lower bizarre ringdoms which I enjoyed the most. Overall, I enjoyed the series and it's worth reading.

Unfortunately this review breaks my heart to write.

I'll start by saying I adored Senlin Ascends, and The Hod King, and enjoyed Arm of the Sphinx but The Fall of Babel fell so short of those for me.

I found it a slog to get through, despite Josiah Bancrofts beautiful prose. And the ending felt so far detached from the rest of the series that it completely took me out of it.

3/5 mainly because above all else, Bancroft's writing is still a joy to read and I hold fond memories of the series.

amazing spectacular i’m in awe!
looooved this and will be following josiah bancroft all his life to read his grocery lists :)

— thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m going to start this review in a way that isn’t the most professional. Rather than diving straight into any praise or critique, I want to talk about what this series means to me.

Reading can a very emotionally intensive hobby. That’s an obvious and somewhat trite statement, but it’s true. We put ourselves in the shoes of other people, and in some fashion live through a simulation of their lives. The best writers allow us to feel the emotions that their characters would have felt. But even beyond the skill, experience, and hard hours that go into creating a book… On the reader’s end, there’s sometimes — very rarely — an intangible, magical something that allows a book to connect with you on a deeper level.

As wonderful and magical and Disney as that sounds, that intangibility frustrates me as a reviewer. Because I don’t know how to tell you how these books made me feel. I used the word “professional” earlier, but at the end of the day I’m just a guy on his lunch-break fumbling to describe the words of far more talented writers. I can tell you that I felt that connection with the Books of Babel. I can tell you that this series is one of the very few that felt like it actually transported me to a different world. I can hit all the buzzwords, or construct short, snappy sentences to be lifted for social media, but I just… My feelings for these books are too huge, too complex, too contradictory for me to articulate.

I never expected to love them like I do. I first picked up Senlin Ascends for a book club on Reddit. It had some buzz behind it following some good reviews, but as contrary as I am, I wasn’t prepared to buy into the hype. Four or five years later, I feel like I’m grieving the loss of a friend now that the series is finished. If all the stories I’ve ever read could form a library in my mind, that library would have statues to Tom, Edith, Voleta, and Marya inside. There would be paintings of my favourite scenes on any spare patch of wall, and the closing scene of the series would have pride of place.

I’ll try to tease without spoiling anything here, but that scene was everything I’d wanted. I love finales that end with more of an ellipsis than an exclamation mark, and I’d say this fell into that category. Josiah Bancroft has such a way of setting a scene, posing a question, and leaving enough space for the reader’s imagination to bloom. And for me, that kind of feeling is at the heart of this series. I love the way that reading these novels can feel more like examining a painting or a poem, rather than watching some kind of action movie.

…unfortunately, that leads into my main criticism. One which, honestly, I’m expecting to be entirely personal and very at odds with what most readers will think. Essentially, I thought that The Fall of Babel was quite action-and-fight-scene heavy, in a way which I felt was out of keeping with the rest of the series.

Most of this, I think, is down to my personal expectations. I had internalised The Books of Babel as a voyage of discovery for their characters — both in terms of physical discoveries within the tower, and more introspective discoveries about themselves. The Fall of Babel is bookended with blocks of chapters that totally deliver on that front — the opening chapters were some of my favourites from the book. In the middle, however, there’s a lot of fighting and running and chasing that, while exciting, felt ever-so-slightly out of place for me. Which wasn’t helped by some confusing POV structuring. It started to feel a little Marvel at points (including the addition of more goons), and if you’ll allow me to butcher that comparison, I was hoping for something more WandaVision than Endgame.

I should emphasise at this point that these nit-picks did nothing to stop me loving the time I got to spend with probably my favourite character cast in fiction. If anything, I love some of them even more after finishing. Both Marya and Reddleman get more time to shine in this final volume, and I found some of their dialogue to feel at once feel incredibly poignant, and very effective at establishing their characters. To give an (admittedly ironic) example:

“My piano moved from the pub to the opera house and everything changed. I started thinking about my technique, my posture, whether I had the ability to play with any real affettuoso. My fans raved over my worst blunders; my critics jeered my best efforts. The thing I had once gone to the piano for—the escape, the community—became my public function. I was the people’s piano, a thing to be banged on and knocked out of tune. That’s what I think about now when I sit down at the keys.”

Of course, we also learn a lot more of the Tower’s secrets. Not all of them, mind. But enough. The Sphinx, The Bricklayer, The hods, The purpose of the Tower… all of that is explored.

I said earlier that I feel like I’m grieving now that this series is done. That might be some slightly hyperbolic language, sure, but… again, I don’t know how to convey the depth of my feelings towards these books. This is a story that will always, always stay with me. It has got me through some hard times, and it will do again. I wore a quote from this series pinned to my chest for my wedding day. What more can I say?

If you haven’t read it yet, please do.

The long awaited conclusion of the series (as in: I have wanted this series to end for a while now).
For me, the series started as an exercise in world-building, the Tower having these strange little kingdoms on each floor, each with their own unusual traditions and practices and their own strange contribution to life in the Tower itself. This stalled somewhat over books 2 and 3 as Senlin's ascent was distracted by plot which was less connected with him trying to find his missing wife and more on the back story to the Tower. Book 4 uses the excuse of Senlin's former crewmates' mission to find the copy of a painting which was given to each of these kingdoms, in order to "unlock the bridge" and hopefully continue the upwards trajectory of the Tower, to try and pick this up a notch. We are treated to a few more of the many many levels of the tower, as they race Senlin's new involuntary crewmates to recapture these paintings, and find the hidden code once they are put together. But the end of the book contains around 50 levels, the vast majority of which were never mentioned, let alone explored, which make me think the series didn't pan out as planned. For me, it seems like this was meant to be a Gulliver-style book, with a massively ambitious journey upwards planned, which was abandoned for a very different plot. Why make an implausibly large tower even larger by adding 30+ irrelevant levels, allof which are themselves massive lands?
Sometimes I find myself growing tired of a slow paced book and start speed-reading, briefly glancing over the narrative and focusing more on the dialogue. I found myself doing that for most of this book, as with the previous ones. There is just so much focus on somewhat needless narration and simile after metaphor after aphorism.
Even when I was fully concentrating on reading the action sequences, I found it quite hard to picture what was happening and who the new characters were (particularly Senlin's new crewmates aboard the Hod King), the author's tabloid-like insistence on using a different noun or adjective every time a character is mentioned made this hard work.
In summary, as I have said from book 1, this is such a compelling idea and a very well-thought out world, the execution just was not to my tastes with so much more flowery narration than I thought the book merited. The pace of the books is really slow, and the word count so high that I really struggled to get through this series. I am glad it has ended, but not because I enjoyed the ending (which was a massive shark-jump followed by just ending with so many questions) but because it is over. I longed for the series to get over my issues and it just never did.

An excellent ending to a unique series.

Josiah Bancroft has created a unique world all set within the Tower of Babel, with its many different levels, each with a unique setting and as we find out unique purpose.

The book initially helps us catch up with Adam, Voletta's brother who has been off on his own and "missing" during the last book, however we are the left in suspense as the story then moves to the other main characters, Senlin as he tries to thwart the Hod King's pans and Marya, Iren, Olivette and Edithas they progress up the tower.

This being the final book brings all the family back together (sort of) and we eventually find the real purpose of the tower.

A fantastic read

Another in my occasional series "David catches up with reviews he should have done last year, but didn't".

I'm grateful to Nazia at Orbit for an advance copy of The Fall of Babel to consider for review.

This is the fourth in Bancroft's series, The Books of Babel, set in a massive tower that stands over a desert. The tower contains, stacked one upon another, numerous polities ("kingdoms") some of which have been explored in previous books and which contrast wildly with each other. It also has its downtrodden serfs, the Hods, who are in rebellion; an enigmatic technologist, the Sphinx, who whole not exactly running the whole tower, influences events; and a host of characters, chief among whom is Thomas Senile, once an innocent schoolteacher who came to the tower on honeymoon with his wife Marya. Separated in the hustle outside the Tower, the two have been trying to find each other ever since, accumulating adventures on the way.

The Fall of Babel, though, doesn't begin with Senlin, it follows another character, Adam, who disappeared a couple of books ago attempting to reach the very peak of the Tower. Bancroft indulges the reader whose memory of precisely who is who and who is where by giving a summary of the position in the style of one of the Tower's periodicals, "The Daily Reverie" - ('A Refresher for the Devotees of the Senile Saga'). This reinforces the sense that Bancroft has been cultivating, in various ways, of the whole sequence as taking place before our eyes, perhaps on a stage, but it's also very useful to the reader who finished the previous book some time ago!

I won't try to summarise events here, but will just say that everyone we've come to know and love (or n to love) returns here: Maria and Senlin, of course, but also Edith, Voleta, Reddleman, Bryon and their enemies, principally Luc Marat, the leader of the rebellion. There's perhaps a more focussed, linear plot than in some of the earlier books, with Adam doing his best to understand the history and origin of the Tower from his study of the strange society that lives atop it, to Maria and co on the Sphinx's flag (air)ship, the State of Art, seeking to prevent a disaster in the Tower's workings by frustrating Marat's sabotage plans. Senile, and his friend John Tarou, are aboard The Hod King, Marat's vessel, which wreaks havoc as it burros through the masonry of the Tower.

There's lots of satisfying combat, and lashings of the quotations, historical references and steampunk(ish) technology that makes these books stand out - they have their own peculiar, slightly sulphurous, tang, rooted I think in the degree to which the Tower has "gone wrong" and fails to live up to the intentions of its creator, the mysterious Bricklayer. His purposes becomes much clearer in the final section of the book which overturns one's whole understanding of the origins, and destination, of the Tower. Bancroft also manages - a minor miracle I think - to draw together not only the threads of plot (hard enough) but the, how can I say this, moral threads that link the characters: primarily of course the complex relationship between Senlin and Maria, but also the various histories, animosities and misunderstandings between the other characters.

Indeed, this book possibly pays more attention to the latter than the former. I hadn't expected this. In previous instalments the story felt very much as one of Our Heroes desperately seeking to defeat Marat's evil plans/ save the Tower from a catastrophic malfunction. While that aspect is still here and still very much the explicit driver of the story, once I got to the end I did wonder if the group had actually done much of this themselves or if other forces would have sorted it anyway. Nevertheless, at the same time, the story had explored much more than I expected of the relationships and histories of the main characters and in very different ways - Senlin, imprisoned by Marat, has lengthy and deep conversations with him, Adam finds his and his sister's life literally made into a spectacle by a ghoulish documentary producer, and so on. These histories and the way they play out on this final instalment of the series were often rather moving and always deeply interesting, rounding everything off in a much more satisfying way that mere action (also, much more satisfying than my poor description conveys).

So, a good ending to this series, I think - if a rather different one than I'd have expected given the first three books. I'd recommend, though of course of you've been reading these you'll want to read this one anyway and if you haven't, it's is obviously NOT the place to start.

A thrilling conclusion to a wholly weird, fantastic, and addictive fantasy series! The Fall of Babel might not be my favourite book in the series, but I loved it nevertheless. Josiah Bancroft's imagination and writing deserves a whole lotta more credit and I'm excited for more people to discover and pick up this series.

Superb. Fresh idea for a fantasy. Out of the box world-building. Looking forward for Bancroft's next books!

ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.

1.5/5 stars

The Fall of Babel is not just a title; it is a state. A state where the quality of the series ends up.

Josiah Bancroft, please do not read this review. I love your previous books, and I would prefer your memory of my thoughts on your books remains that way; leave it in the state of innocence and happiness just like Senlin before he entered the Tower of Babel. Now, let’s get on with the review.

“You could resent yourself for your imperfect enjoyment of your life, but that seems to me like a never-ending chore. A thankless one, too. I think that if we really knew how good our lives were while they were good, we’d be too scared to do anything, change anything. We’d never take a risk, or explore, or grow. You can hate yourself for not fully appreciating your happy days while you had them, or you could look back and be warmed by the memory, couldn’t you?”



I will not lie; I am incredibly disappointed with The Fall of Babel. I never expected I would give such a low rating to this book. Those who’ve read this book will know where my first issue lies. The decision to put Adam Boreas as the only POV character in the first 200 pages was simply excessive. Instead of immediately reading the continuation of The Hod King, we’re forced to spend our time with Adam Boreas as he lives in a new Ringdom named after his name: Boredom. It took me almost a WEEK to read through the first 200 pages; I usually read 150-200 pages a day. That’s how disconnected and uninterested I was with Adam’s storyline. And to make things even worse, Adam’s section felt almost entirely unnecessary to be put in the front of the novel; it belongs in a separate novella or at the end of The Hod King. I’m not saying Adam should be excluded from The Fall of Babel, but this is also the final book of the series, and he was entirely absent in the previous book that it’s hard for me to care what’s going on with him. The Hod King was brilliant, and the way it ended makes me want to get back to my beloved characters as soon as possible. Instead, we’re forced to read Adam Boreas’s boring story with some brand new characters I didn’t care for about 200 pages. The effect of this, after struggling through the first part for a week, which is a new record for the slowest reading time I’ve ever had, by the time I got back to reading the other characters, I already don’t care about the any of the characters beside Senlin, Marya, and Byron. I just wanted to be done with the book as soon as possible.

“But understanding nothing, or very little of the world, and having no desire to understand more than you already do, well, that invites entitlement. What was a privilege becomes a right. And that, I think, is dangerous.”



But that’s not all. It actually took me another week to finish the rest of the novel; this makes The Fall of Babel the longest time I ever spent to finish a book. It’s insane, The Fall of Babel consists of 241k words but it felt like 600k words. For comparison, Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (460k words) took me a week to start and finish, and The Stand Uncut Edition by Stephen King (468k words) took me ten days. I don’t know about you, but often I can measure how invested and enamored I am by a book through how fast—not intentionally, but I always feel like I WANT to continue reading—I can read through it. Yes, the immense pacing issues I had with the beginning of this book could’ve been fixed simply by having all the POV characters appearing interchangeably instead of doing it in a large chunk. It’s also true that this worked in The Hod King, but it didn’t in here, not for me anyway. But The Fall of Babel felt like four novellas combined into one book, and the only sections I loved from the book were the four long chapters titled “From the Belly of the Beast” and some of the chapters in the last part of the novel, at least until the ending happened.

“What is a poison to the simple may be a liquor to the wise.”



Here’s the thing, I’m invested in Senlin’s journey to be reunited with Marya; this has been the case since Senlin Ascends, and this remains the main focus of the previous three books. Even in The Hod King where other characters like Edith and Voleta take the central stage, Senlin remains the main character of the series. But not in this final book; Senlin is put in a secondary role. The “From the Belly of the Beast” chapters I mentioned were the only Senlin chapters we get, and they’re amazing. That’s it, though. Honestly, this book reminded me of reading The Queen of Fire by Anthony Ryan; Vaelin was the focus in Blood Song, but he has become a side character in the final book. This is what happened with Senlin, and other than him, Marya, and Byron, none of the characters captivated me anymore.

“Those who claim to be “ready for anything” are overpacked and invariably unprepared for the one obstacle every adventurer must eventually face—disappointment.”



The Fall of Babel is well-written, just like always; I highlighted a myriad of epigraphs. But beautiful prose alone isn’t enough for me to love a book. Investment in characters needs to continue, revelations need to make sense, and the narrative has to be able to captivate me, among many things. On several levels, The Fall of Babel to achieve this. Also, unlike the previous three books, The Fall of Babel is bursting with action scenes, and in my opinion, they’re not engaging because Bancroft’s prose isn’t suitable for it. This is, as I said, mostly caused by the lack of investment I had with the characters besides Senlin’s story. And other than that, the action scenes from other POV characters ran on too long for their own good. It even almost felt like they were put there for the sake of making the novel even longer. Then there’s also the hallucinations, dream sequences, and also ‘time travel’ that felt out of place. And finally, the ending, which was extremely disappointing and unsatisfying. The resolution between characters left a lot to desire, revelations given felt like they came out of nowhere, unanswered questions are still at large; it was one of the worst endings I’ve ever read. Seriously, after everything, I can’t believe the book concludes Senlin and Marya’s story like that. Stephen King could write a better ending than this, and I consider him one of the worst when it comes to endings.

“I suppose books are like a surgeon’s scalpel. The same blade that can kill when wielded by a fool can save lives in the right hands.”



I’m sure this review is just an unpopular opinion, I can already feel all the spoon of Bancroft's fans being raised, and I genuinely hope people love this book and series. But in my opinion, The Fall of Babel was utterly disappointing. I wanted to love it. I really do. I mean, I even reread the previous three books just to refresh my memory before I read The Fall of Babel so I can enjoy every detail of it. For those of you who don’t know, this is something that I rarely do due to my mountainous TBR pile, but I did it for The Books of Babel because I highly enjoyed the first three books. I chose this as the last fantasy book I read in 2021, it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and unfortunately, it ended up being the disappointment of the year.

“I don't think there's any shame in doing your best. Of course, in hindsight, it's easy to see a better course, a wiser choice. When I look back, I see a thousand small missteps that altogether brought me here. I try not to dwell on my mistakes because it doesn't change them; it only changes me."



Series review:

Senlin Ascends: 4.5/5 stars
Arm of the Sphinx: 4/5 stars
The Hod King: 5/5 stars
The Fall of Babel: 1.5/5 stars

The Books of Babel: 15/20 stars

You can order this book from: Blackwells (Free International shipping)

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions | I also have a Booktube channel

Thank you to both Orbit and Netgalley for this book.

Unfortunately my feelings on The Fall of Babel are not positive.
My feelings on the Books of Babel as a whole are rather luke warm. Going into this 4th and final book I really hoped that this one could be my favourite in the series but it fell short (Arm of the Sphinx remains in this top spot).

Fall of Babel follows a similar structure to the Hod King which for me made it feel pretty disjointed. The first 200 pages are all one character (a character we had not seen since book 2). I found this first section quite a slog (despite not having any real issues with the POV). By the time I'd finished with this section I really hoped it would pick up but by this point I was struggling to maintain interest.

As for the writing, whilst poetic, it left me feeling like I was reading in a foreign language that I only half understood. I would reread sentences and still not grasp what they meant. There was one at the end which I reread multiple times and only realised a few pages later that despite my multiple rereads I had completely misunderstood that passage.

I struggle with how I feel about the direction of the plot and the step away from Senlin as a main character towards more of a thematic exploration and looking at the Tower of Babel as a whole. I think I would have preferred a more character focus (similar to the other books). Part of me also wonders if this book (and series) suffers from biting off more than it can chew; we are told in book 1 that the tower has 100s of levels but over the course of the first 3 books we only really explore a handful of them.

I guess I liked the very ending of the series but I'm not too sure on the execution of how we got there.

I have finally come to the end of this excellent series having binged read the whole series, one book straight after the other. It took me a long time – 2114 pages in total, with each successive book longer than the previous one. But, I cannot think of any way it could be made shorter – it was all relevant and compelling. Indeed, when I reached the end, I wanted it to continue. I had grown to love the main characters (except Marat), and really wanted to know what happened to them next. Sadly, the author states that this is the last book in the series. However, although there is and ending, not everything is settled. We still don’t know what the Bricklayer’s ultimate plan was. All the main characters end up with new roles, and new habitats – but now what? And speaking of habitat – what becomes of the tower and all its myriad inhabitants? So many questions unanswered – just one more book, please????
The book abruptly changes genre near the end. It has been a (maybe steampunk) fantasy – but no longer. It also has some really heavy political commentary underlining the whole story: what is the nature of power? how does society change over time? what makes a good/bad/evil leader? what happens when an underclass is denied any hope?
From the ‘Hod King’:
“Once upon a time, the ringdoms attempted to maintain and repair the pipes of the Old Vein, but what was called a duty by one generation was considered a charity by the next and, soon enough, a burden. Eventually, the ringdoms refused to be exploited by their poor any longer, and the neglected plumbing began to fail.”
The Hods were not originally designated slaves by the Bricklayer – but that is essentially what they have become. Shunned and desperate, they are ripe for Marat’s exploitation. In an evil plan that would make Machiavelli cringe:
“The wonderful thing about creating a culture from whole cloth, my dear Thomas, is that you can begin with the desired outcome and work backward. I wanted a devoted and fanatical core of uninquisitive drudges who perceived all outsiders, even other hods, as being either gelded or sinister. One way to accomplish that was by cloistering them with a new language. Those who spoke hoddish would feel included, those who didn’t, shunned. From there, it was easy to discredit all other opinions with the broad stroke of illiteratization and the destruction of books. Then, having extinguished voices both present and past, I fashioned myself as the only luminary, leaving them neither alternative nor the capacity for dissent.”
“Hoddish is a means of management, a way to cloister the culture. If you wish to control a populace, you must first isolate it. A king hopes his subjects won’t listen to his enemies; an emperor ensures that they won’t. If you take away communication, you can install yourself as the only font of truth. Disobedience begins with discourse.”
And Marat’s desecration of books – akin to book-burning and an anathema to Senlin and all bibliophiles:
“I wanted to devour the words, absorb them into myself, and leave nothing behind. If there’s no record, there can be no correction.”
Marat sits in a wheelchair to appear more meek and vulnerable, even though he is quite capable of walking:
“To take the throne, you can’t begin by posing as a king. You must first introduce yourself as a servant: Oh, the throne is not mine, but ours, etcetera, etcetera. It’s why I keep my Wakemen secluded from the rest of the camp and crew. If they knew our true strength, they would fear us. They would break and run—as they should. It’s too soon for such terror to be useful. First, the masses must be coddled and made beholden, then given no alternative, and at last, when their fear is as potent as awe, they will have forgotten any illusion that they were ever my equal. Have no doubt, Tom, I will stand at my coronation, and all the Tower shall kneel.”
Reading the book(s), you want – no, NEED – Marat to fail. But, how? And will his failure make the plight of the Hods any less oppressive? The world today has too many tyrants, dictators and populist demagogues – Marat brings together so many of their defining characteristics in one body, and that compels the reader to analyse the current inequalities and political movements in our own countries and abroad.
You can read the books as a simple fantasy, without the politics if you wish. The worldbuilding is superb, and so intricate. The characters are brilliant, and continue to develop and mature throughout the series. Maybe that would be enough for you. For me, the politics and sociology really was the cherry on the cake.
I highly recommend this book – and the whole series – to everyone.

After waiting for the conclusion of this fantastic series for years, I was thrilled when I received the eARC for it!

The last installment of the series picks up right where the previous books left off (and yes, books, because we finally learn what happened to Adam, something I've been waiting for since the end of book two!). Regrettably, I wasn't able to reread the entire series before diving in, but fortunately, it starts off with a recap. That helped me out a lot for the finer details!

My favorite parts of the book series that also shone in the finale are the atmosphere and the unique characters. The writing style is very poetic and uses sometimes rather obscure words that I had to look up as a non-native English speaker. Which is to say, I loved it! It helps set the tone of this intricate story perfectly. I enjoyed following all the different point of views, even if the author seemingly prefers to put as many cliffhangers in as possible. (Though nothing can beat the satisfaction of finally seeing the end of the story come together!) I was gripped until the very end.

The Fall of Babel is full of suspense and mysteries. It was great to finally be able to uncover them all, especially since they had been set up for such a long time. A slightly negative point I want to bring up, though, is the width of the cast and stakes. At times, I struggled to keep up with so many things and characters happening at the same time. That's why it took me a far longer time to read through this book (as opposed to the third installment, which I read in two sittings, if I recall correctly). That being said, I do appreciate how masterfully all the different plot threads came together in the end. It was a very enjoyable experience.

In conclusion, the finale of this series is as fascinating and terrific as all the previous books. It gives the series a very deserving and fantastic ending and I can only recommend it wholeheartedly.

The Fall of Babel es la última entrega de la saga The Books of Babel, una de la series más originales que la fantasía nos ha dado últimamente, que yo personalmente he disfrutado muchísimo. Es por esto que conforme iba avanzando en el libro, de considerable longitud, quería ver cómo terminaba la historia, pero me daba pena saber que no volvería a encontrarme con estos personajes a los que con tanto cariño he acompañado en su viaje.


El comienzo de esta cuarta entrega puede descolocarnos un poco, porque retoma las vivencias de un personaje al que dejamos de seguir hace muchas páginas, así que hay que hacer un pequeño esfuerzo para recolocar todas las piezas en el lugar en que habíamos dejado la partida. Es cierto que Bancroft hace un pequeño resumen, algo que se agradece, al principio de la novela utilizando a uno de los narradores que nos ha ido mostrando perlas de sabiduría en los pequeños extractos que encabezan cada capítulo. Aún así, he de reconocer que me costó un poco entrar en materia, mi memoria ya no es la que era.

Una vez superado este pequeño obstáculo, es impresionante ver cómo todas las piezas, atisbos y pistas que el autor ha ido disponiendo en nuestra deambular a lo largo de los años van encajando poco a poco. Su derroche de imaginación nunca se puso en duda, pero quizá resultaba complicado confiar en un final verosímil acorde a lo que se había ido mostrando con anterioridad, integrando de manera impecable los diferentes puntos de vista de los personajes. De nuevo el elemento sobre el que gira el libro es la reunión entre Senlin y Marya, que tras todo el tiempo que ha transcurrido no son las mismas personas y no sabemos si volverán a encajar.

Los personajes continúan siendo tan carismáticos y entrañables como los conocíamos, realmente empatizas con ellos y te preocupa cuál será el devenir de su vida. Incluso los “malos” de la historia tienen su trasfondo y sus motivaciones personales, aunque sean mezquinas y rencorosas.

Quizá uno de los puntos más destacables sea el uso de las palabras del que el autor hace gala, con una prosa para nada simple pero que es siempre bien recibida. Parte de las perlas de sabiduría que inician cada capítulo, las reflexiones sobre la moralidad de los sistemas totalitarios es fascinante.

He de decir que el final me tomó totalmente desprevenida, algo que quizá debería haber intuido pero estaba tan enfrascada disfrutando de los diálogos y las interacciones de los personajes que no me di cuenta de lo que el autor andaba preparando entre bambalinas.

Quizá hubiera algunas cosas que mejorar en esta última entrega de la saga, pero lo cierto es que he sido incapaz de encontrarle defectos de bulto. Creo que se trata de una gran obra fantástica y una saga que merece la pena conocer. Y ahora, Bancroft ha anunciado una nueva serie que esperaremos impacientemente, tras dejar atrás Babel.

Please note, The Fall of Babel is the final novel in The Books of Babel sequence. If you haven’t read what has transpired before it is highly likely the review that follows will contain spoilers. Don’t say you have not been warned!

As Marat’s siege engine bores through the Tower, erupting inside ringdoms and leaving chaos in its wake, Senlin can do nothing but observe the mayhem from inside the belly of the beast. Caught in a charade, Senlin desperiately tries to sabotage the rampaging Hod King, even as Marat’s objective grows increasingly clear. The leader of the zealots is bound for the Sphinx’s lair and the unimaginable power it contains.

In the city under glass at the Tower’s summit, Adam discovers a utopia where everyone inexplicably knows the details of his past. As Adam unravels the mystery of his fame, he soon discovers the crowning ringdom conceals a much darker secret.

Aboard the State of Art, Edith and her crew adjust to the reality that Voleta has awoken from death changed. She seems to share more in common with the Red Hand now than her former self. While Edith wars for the soul of the young woman, a greater crisis looms: They will have to face Marat on unequal footing and with Senlin caught in the crossfire.

And when the Bridge of Babel is finally opened, and the Brick Layer’s true ambition revealed, neither they nor the Tower will ever be the same again.

I’m going to keep this review short and sweet. If you’ve reached this point in The Books of Babel then all you really want to know is does the grand finale deliver? Does Thomas Senlin and his merry band of oddballs finally manage to confront the religious zealots threatening the existence of the mighty Tower of Babel? Will the enigmatic nature of the Sphinx and the crafty Brick Layer finally be revealed? Does the Tower have a purpose? Where the hell has Adam been? Actually, as an aside, that particular question does take up a good chunk of the novel’s beginning but that’s ok The Fall of Babel is a suitably hefty tome. Don’t fret, all your favourite characters get the opportunity to shine.

The Fall of Babel delivers action aplenty, revelations galore and as I’ve come to expect, there are moments of mesmeric chaos dotted throughout the narrative. You’ll find everything from large quantities of raw sewage, some aggrieved nudists and a group of very angry swans playing their part.

The novel answers all the burning questions you may have and suggests a few more. I shall miss Senlin and Edith, Iren, Voleta and Byron. Put it this way, if Josiah Bancroft ever decides to revisit the Tower and its denizens, I will be there, front row centre, ready to pick up from where we left off. The author leaves us with a few tantalising tidbits about where the various characters respective futures may lie. Am I being greedy for wanting more? I can’t help it, The Books of Babel has been an excellent series from beginning to end. This is a perfect swansong. Bravo!

The Fall of Babel is published by Orbit and is available now.

My musical recommendation to accompany The Fall of Babel is the soundtrack to Shadow and Bone by Joseph Trapanese. It has a grand scope that fits the tone of the novel perfectly.

“Did you ever finish reading a book, put it down, then realise some hours later that you are still inside it, still inhabiting that world, still entertaining those characters?”

I’ll start by saying how sad I am at the fact that this story is over. The Books of Babel by Josiah Bancroft has been an incredible journey. I began reading these a few years ago after it being recommended by a few of you guys. I was not disappointed and instantly invested in Senlin’s story.

As the series progressed we come to learn about the tower and its inhabitants, its levels, the nature of being a part of something this extraordinary. Intwined with this was Senlin’s own quest, we meet some interesting characters, unexpected relationships are formed, enemies are identified and a sense of something immense being revealed was aways on the horizon.

In this conclusion many many truths are revealed and if anything they have left me both satisfied but also frustrated because I want to learn more 😆 I feel like this was the ending that was deserved however when you read a series like this there is always that want for extra time with the characters. This will forever be a journey I recommend all readers to take.

From the moment I started to read Senlin Ascends to the moment I finished The Fall of Babel, I found myself in a world surrounded by wonderous characters and exciting environments that I did not want to leave. There is something about Bancroft’s prose which makes me feel emotions on levels I have experienced very infrequently, which merely added to the vortex of feelings thrust upon me as I made my way through the final instalment of this incredible series.

The progression and conclusions made in The Fall of Babel were gratifying and the pace lent itself well to the movement of the revelations and the action which plays out. Whilst the ending may seem unexpected to some, I feel it fitted the personalities and themes well. Each character arc is concluded well, with some much-needed confrontations and conversations written in.
Overall, this book concludes the series in what I can only describe as perfect and fulfilling way. This is a truly unique tale with curious world building and lore, incredible and distinctive characters, and an addictive plot. All I can do now is return to the start and go on this adventure all over again.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the opportunity to read and review an arc copy of this title.
My review can be found on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/thereadingvvitch), Instagram (@the.reading.vvitch) and Waterstones

The Fall of Babel was a great finale to a series I thoroughly enjoyed.

There's always much to appreciate in these books so I’ve been eager to return to the Tower of Babel – though I imagine this is likely not a sentiment shared by the majority of the cast since the tower has fallen into an even greater state of chaos than usual.

Marat is still hoping to incite a hod uprising that will install him as king. Tom Senlin is still being held his prisoner. Captain Edith Winters and the rest of the crew are trying to figure out how to defeat Marat, deal with Voleta’s abrupt change and determine the whereabouts of the Sphinx. Things are just an all-around mess, and the fate of the tower itself just may lay in the hands of in this already overworked and endangered bunch.

To me the heart of this series has always been its characters. The interactions between this ragtag crew we’ve travelled with for so long produce some of my most cherished moments of the books, so I was always craving more of their camaraderie. The unique dynamics between them all are always a joy to read. This might be why Adam’s storyline that makes up the whole of Part 1 began to drag on for me despite the narrative importance, because I simply couldn’t wait to get back to the others. (Sorry, Adam. I did miss you, I promise.)

Once we did return to Tom and to the crew on the State of Art, I was enjoying myself much more. I was especially pleased to see that there was an expanded role for Marya, who has always been one of the driving forces of the whole series and yet one of the most elusive characters by far. Her chapters were among some of my favourites.

I wish we had more scenes between certain individuals whose reunions I’ve been anticipating for years, but understandably the characters were a little busy with more troubling things. The action and battle against Marat overtakes everything else in this book, but I can’t say that it didn’t keep me intrigued.

Now, unfortunately I wasn’t wholly happy with how everything wraps up. I was honestly shocked when I reached that final “The End” because it didn’t seem like it could possibly end there. Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy a well-executed open ending, and I can see some of the charm in this one because there are certain elements where I think leaving it open worked best. I was also happy with the ending to most of the character arcs. But there were other things – unresolved questions with no satisfying answers – that left me feeling unfulfilled. Normally I can usually handle a few of them, but some of those question marks are just too big for me to ignore. It’s like I have an itch that still hasn’t been scratched, and now it never will because the series is complete. But this itch might just be particular to me and not to another reader.

Which doesn’t by any means negate how much fun I had with the series as a whole. This may not be my favourite book of the four, but it brought so many plotlines together so cleverly that I have to admire a job well done. Thomas Senlin’s journey will always be one that I look back on fondly.

Thank you NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and Orbit for providing the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Fall of Babel is the final book in The Books of Babel quartet and an excellent conclusion to the series, though I still consider The Hod King my favourite of the four. It wraps up character arcs and resolves various threads with great payoff while further expanding on the unique worldbuilding of the Tower.

Bancroft’s prose is amazing: clever and pithy without being excessively flowery. It can make utterly ridiculous things seem perfectly normal. The baroque nature of the writing and the uniquely consistent bizarreness lends the story a certain charm that conceals the Tower's uneasy darkness while not shying away from its brutality.

The worldbuilding in this series is very out there, and fascinating as a result. The Tower as a whole is a setting that can endlessly be explored. All the ringdoms are wildly different in theme and character, painting a chaotically diverse picture of this gigantic structure. The ones visited here are among my favourites, especially the Cistern and Cilicia, the latter with its large flesh-eating worms and massive vineyards.

The entire cast of characters is also wonderful. Senlin, Edith, Adam, Byron, and all the others have distinctive, entertaining personalities and have grown tremendously from where they started. Senlin's arc over these books has been excellent: his growth from a diminutive school-teacher into a confident and impassioned leader while still retaining his core morality and principles. All while navigating the Tower of Babel, an entity notorious for grinding people down into shells of what they once were.

Adam stands out here, with the entire first chunk being dedicated to finding out what he was up to since he was conspicuously absent in the previous book. This is probably one of my favourite sections as it gives Adam some nice character moments while having some uniquely Tower of Babel-ish worldbuilding expansion and depth with the city of Nebos. All the minor characters are imparted a certain distinctive flair that makes them stand out in the little page time they get, which helps the setting and story come to life and seem more vivid and dynamic.

Edith is a character that has really grown on me since the first book. Even up to the point where I would consider her one of my favourite characters in this series: her inner conflict about her responsibilities and principles was very compelling to read, and the conclusion of her arc is the one I would consider the most satisfying both character-wise and thematically. This book also somehow endeared me to Reddleman: a portly, enthusiastic, and generous person who revels in the sanctity of precise murder, and I don't know how.

The plot progression and conclusion I thought was very satisfying, both in the way the story played out and the interspersing of the PoV sections. It was steadily and well-paced with a constant sense of story movement, though some of the action scenes I thought extended a tad too long. There are mysteries slowly being unravelled about the nature and function of the Tower after getting bits and pieces peppered throughout the previous books. One of my favourite aspects of any fantastical world is getting to know the lore, figuring out how all of it fits together logically. This series mostly delivers on that front, as there are awaited revelations about the various ringdoms and the Tower, as well as a deeper exploration of the workings of the mysterious red substance.

My only semi-significant gripe is also related to this though. There is quite a bit of information given and hints about the mysterious Bricklayer. Certain mysteries surrounding him that were introduced were never really answered by the end, which was disappointing since there was some build-up about those. I felt that the revelations about those mysteries were promised but not paid off. And I’m pretty sure I didn’t miss anything important.

I needed a few days to settle my thoughts on the ending. It’s definitely unexpected but quite fitting both character-wise and thematically. It wraps up the character arcs satisfactorily with some anticipated confrontations and conversations. And there are a multitude of revelations about the Tower, something speculated on by multiple characters over the series. I think I would have liked if there had been one more chapter at the end, but I am quite satisfied with how it all wrapped up.

Overall, it’s a wonderful conclusion to a unique series that features some great characters, an interesting plot, and fascinating worldbuilding. There is a lot of potential for further stories to be told as well. I’ll read whatever Bancroft puts out after this, whether it be set in this world or something completely new.

I don't even have a clue on how to begin reviewing this. It was a fantastic end to the series - we got more time with all of our favourite characters, the action ramped up, and everything was solved in a satisfactory way. I do wish there was more time to just watch the characters vibe, but thats just my own selfish desire 😂

I also really liked how this installment played even more with genre. As of right now, I don't even know what kind of genre to classify this genre as, and I love that 🌛

Maybe most important of all, I think all of the characters got a very satisfactory ending. Some happy, some bittersweet, some sad, but I'm definitely satisfied with the arcs. I shed so many tears towards the end, it's not even funny 😂

One other thing I liked were the solution of plot threads. This is not a book that will give super clear answers to everything, but I like that. It gives room for the reader to imagine what happens next!

Thank you so much to netGalley and Orbit for the arc!! And thank you to Bancroft for such an amazing series 🤩