This was really fun. It was probably the weakest of the series, for me, EXCEPT for the final act. Woah, was that awesome. I love how everything wrapped up for all the characters. I felt like my heart was in my throat through the whole ending. Fingers crossed for more in-universe books later!

I have a lot of feelings about finishing the Books of Babel. Josiah is sort of /r/Fantasy’s “local boy made good.” He was in self-published obscurity for years after first publishing *Senlin Ascends*. It had been rejected by pretty much everybody, and he was (I understand) discouraged and pretty much ready to give up on being a writer. But Mark Lawrence read and boosted him, and he got a surge of popularity as word of just how awesome *Senlin Ascends* was spread around /r/Fantasy, and now he’s writing for Orbit. Like I said, local boy made good.

Plus I get lots of hipster satisfaction by being able to say “Oh yeah, I read the Books of Babel before they were cool.”

I’m not going to make any particular effort to sell the series here. If you’ve read books 1-3, you know what you’re getting. What I will say is that *The Fall of Babel* was an immensely satisfying conclusion to what has proved to be a totally unique journey.

We get answers to all the big questions. We learn what the deal is with the Tower of Babel itself. The love triangle gets resolved in a way I found very satisfying (which is saying something, because I *despise* reading about love triangles). There’s satisfying character growth all around. Nothing feels cheap or unearned. Things are exactly as easy (or as hard) as they should be. No one gets a Disney-esque “happily ever after,” because such a thing doesn’t exist. Everyone’s journey continues; everyone has more struggles on the horizon. But it all feels right.

Part of me really wants a sequel series to find out what’s next for Tom, Edith, and the rest. Or more than one sequel series; anyone who reads the book will know why just one won’t cut it. Another part of me (a bigger part, I think) wants to leave what happens to them all purely in my imagination. But whatever Josiah has planned for his next book, I can promise you I’ll be reading it.

This was such a fun read. It started off with the gang split up and so was telling separate stories, but it all came together in the end. Great book!

Wow, so much happened in this conclusion to the Books of Babel! Adam is having one heck of a time in the Tower’s summit and Voleta is changing. In more ways than one. I’m having a really hard time writing a decent review for this book, so I’ll just say that I’m so happy that I started reading this series when I had initially been not so excited about it. It was so good, and the characters felt so real and fleshed out. I loved being in all of their heads. Even Senlin! I didn’t really enjoy his POV in the books, but I enjoyed it more in this one. I think it’s because things were so crazy, and the action was really ramped up. He had no choice but to not be boring, lol! The only slightly negative thing I can say about this conclusion is that I’m really not sure how I feel about the ending. I didn’t really mind what happened to the characters, that all felt pretty realistic (everything isn’t just hunky dorey and ribbons and bows), but what happens with the summit of the Tower. It just felt like a really huge thing to end on and I really would’ve liked to have a better understanding of exactly what the purpose was. I’m sure this was the intent of the author, that we aren’t supposed to know. We were only being told this specific story and that story is done and told. But still. I felt a little let down by not having more of a conclusion.

Received via Netgalley

Great ending to the series! The Fall of Babel sticks the landing. Full review on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8PH0xDSZ-xM

I've been struggling to summarize my thoughts on this one.

After a prologue novella catching us up on a character we haven't seen since book two (in March 2018!), The Fall Of Babel is all climax. Unless you have a high tolerance for detailed action sequences, this is not as fun as it sounds. Few of the pleasures of the previous books are there, so there's nothing to balance out Bancroft's storytelling flaws-- the lopsided character POVs, the general miasma of misery hanging over everyone-- plus a new rushed sense of urgency which is completely at odds with the pace of previous books.

For a series with so much meticulous build-up, this 600-plus page conclusion is largely perfunctory. The Fall Of Babel feels less like a carefully crafted bookend to the series than a volume cobbled together posthumously from the author's notes.

I'm sad to say goodbye to these characters. This series has been such surprise. I was intrigued by the cover of Senlin Ascends and decided to read it. I loved it a lot! Steampunk vibes, air pirates, a mysterious tower with mysteries left and right. Book 1 was mainly Senlin looking for his wife he lost almost as soon as they arrived to the tower. Book 2 saw the introduction of more characters. Book 3 had less Senlin giving space and POV chapters to side characters. I loved seeing others POV and what they went through. It was all so interesting! Book 4 starts with a few chapters from a character we didn't see much of in previous books, jumping to other's POV throughout the whole book. There wasn't much Senlin in this but at this point, The Books of Babel are about all these different characters and what they did and will do with everything they face. It's all of them getting apart and finally coming together. Things go to unexpected ways. I had no idea how a series this big could end, and I admit I didn't see the ending but nonetheless I thought it was fitting to the story, to the whole series. I really really enjoyed to wild ride through all the ringdoms of this peculiar Tower.

This is the fourth and final book of the series. Fortunately, the book begins with a brief recapitulation. Referring to the fourth book: “[I] … shall hitherto attempt to puff upon the dwindling coals of your enthusiasm for a tale that, like the besotted guest who has begun to drape upon the drapery, departs not a moment too soon!” Even with the recap, this book doesn’t work as a standalone, way too much has happened in the Tower of Babel and a new reader would be missing a lot.

I’ve enjoyed the series, but I’m glad it’s over. This book felt very long. My favorite books were the first and third. I thought this one had way too many battles and confrontations. There were 3 separate groups of characters that didn’t come together until the end. Very briefly, Senlin is trying to stop Marat and the Hod King which is chomping it’s way through the Tower. Adam discovers that someone has possession of his memories and he tries to rescue a group of Hod orphans. Edith and her crew try to recover the paintings that contain a secret code that is vital for the salvation of the Tower. See, you really do need to read all 4 books.

The ending left a lot of loose ends, so if the author wants he can continue with the characters but take them in a different direction. The pleasure in this series came from the author’s wit and wild imagination. I would expect that to continue if more secrets of the Tower are revealed.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

ARC acquired by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Senlin Ascends ★★★
The Arm of the Sphinx ★★★
The Hod King ★★★

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

It seems I’m in the minority with my rating of this final book of the Books of Babel series. Perhaps I’ve missed the mark on this one. I felt this was a little underwhelming as a finale with unsatisfying resolutions that just left me with a loss of words to describe how I feel about his series.

This book starts out following Adam’s adventures that we didn’t get to see in The Hod King. This takes up the majority of the first half of the book. We don’t see much of Senlin until later. While it was interesting to find out more about the Brick Layer and the Tower with Adam, I just kept waiting to get back to Senlin’s quest to find his wife.

Even though I gave every single one of these books three-star ratings, I still find myself thinking about some of the characters Josiah Bancroft created. He definitely did a great job instilling these characters personalities into my mind and I won’t soon forget some of the adventures they went on. And while I feel like some of the resolutions where underwhelming, particularly with Senlin and Marya, I do feel that they were genuine to how the real-world works. Not everyone got the happy endings we are accustomed to seeing in modern literature.

Josiah Bancroft’s writing style is very reminiscent of classic literature and at times I felt it hard to get through some of the meandering descriptions, but overall, I feel like this is an extremely memorable series and I will continue to recommend it to many readers.

“I grow old in the company of youthful ghosts.”


The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

It feels like the spirit of the Tower will continue on without us. Each floor and society will keep ticking away, producing their oddities, building and breaking relationships, creating and sharing secrets, and disrupting the roots of human nature. And the Tower will continue to reflect our own world, showing us the best and worst of us, giving us a chance to chase what is lost, build up our dreams, or providing outlets for anger and fear to take over.

My expectations for this book were astronomically high, and I'm thrilled to say that nearly all of them were met.

The Fall of Babel is a freight train of story threads finally coming to a head, but it is also a love letter, saying goodbye to this weird and endearing group of adventurers and castoffs, far removed from where they all started, now so much further along the journeys of their lives.

For years I had pondered the mystery behind Adam's disappearance and what the surrounding clues meant. Bancroft wrote an original and immensely satisfying explanation that sated my curiosity. The Edith & Marya conundrum was one of the biggest plot points to the story, and its resolution was one of the most heart-wrenching and ultimately human conclusions I could have asked for. And the story ends just as it began: full of mystery, wonder, excitement, and promise.

There are passages that have dug trenches in my mind. In particular, when a character emotes love for the first time. Or when a long-teased action piece culminates into a terrifying, beautiful, and wonderfully sad denouement. But most of all, the simple conversations that feel so impeccably human: words full of fault, grief, apologies, and glimmers of hope. Bancroft's soaring prose and heartfelt characters has restored some of my faith that there is more good than bad in this world.

The Books of Babel is an original and brilliant saga that is even better on the second read-though. It has left an unmistakable footprint in the self-published and traditionally-published world of storytelling. There's nothing else quite like it.

Do you ever enjoy a book…but hate the ending?
As the last book in the series, I was ready to see what became of our cast of characters. I loved following their separate plots as they slowly made their way back to each other. But…I just didn’t love the end of this book. I think most people will like it but it was disappointing to me.
Despite that the rest of the book was my favorite of the series! This book had more action and I just continued to fall in love with all the characters even more. I’m sad I’ll no longer get to go on this adventure throughout the Tower of Babel.
I would definitely recommend this entire series to anyone who’s looking for a unique steam punk adventure.

The Fall of Babel is the final book of the man who would scale a tower of unimaginable heights to be reunited with his wife. It is a beautifully written capstone to the series. The arcs of the characters remain intriguing throughout. The worldbuilding continues to amaze. Bancroft does a wonderful job upending tropes to keep the story feeling both familiar and still surprising. In short, the writing style is fantastic and the prose and world building remain excellent. To hear a spoiler-filled discussion of our thoughts on the book and the Book of the Babel series, listen here: https://anchor.fm/legend-green-team/episodes/87-The-Fall-of-Babel-The-The-Books-of-Babel-4-e19rmbm

The Fall of Babel by Josiah Bancroft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, now! That ending was something else!

From the very beginning of this series, I was always pretty thrilled that we had something so grounded and fantastical at the same time -- part steampunk, part dystopia fantasy, part swashbuckling, part desperate romance.

So much happened. So many changes to the characters. And by the time we get to book 4, having undergone so many massive reveals as to the nature of Babel, the towering tower of a city, its makers, and the people who supported it, it kinda felt like there was nothing else that could have surprised me.

I was wrong.

No spoilers, but this adventure that gave us more Senlin and a great deal of Adam and others as well, is satisfying in a way that all huge epic fantasies can be. If you've loved the series so far, you will definitely love this as well.

It's big.

Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for the ARC.

It feels a bit strange reviewing the fourth and final book in a series. I doubt my opinion could sway you all too much, given how much you have invested to get this far. That being said, I suppose there is anticipation, and I will address that first: this book is well worth your time. Regardless of which characters matter to you most (you have plenty of options - Bancroft gives all of his characters such rich depth), they get a measured and meaningful conclusion.

Rather than get into spoilers, I will address my feelings upon reading the final entry. I felt great joy getting to receive more of the characters I had come to love. Also, much of the mystery of the tower was resolved. Like any mystery, especially one so impactful, it is inevitably a let down when one solution rises above all the countless other speculative ones. Likewise, having outcomes to the arcs of such tremendous characters was bittersweet. And while some endings were left ambiguous, it hurts to know the series is over.

Honestly, that hurt made me realize how special this series was to me. I was emotionally committed to each and every one of them. As such, I wanted the impossible. I wanted an ending that fulfilled all of my aspirations for each of these characters...characters that were often enough at odds with one another.

Ultimately, this book is an excellent ending to one of my favorite series. It may not answer every question you have precisely the way you'd want, but it will remind you why you started and stuck with Bancroft and this series this far along. It's because you've found something to love about it.

"He believed true love was more like an education: it was deep and subtle and never complete.”
The series may be finished, but if it affects you in the same way it affected me, your relationship with the series will never be complete. I look forward to thinking about this series for a long time to come.

Dun Dun DUNNNN. It’s the end of the story!

This is the continuing story of the Tower of Babel and its various inhabitants, but mostly one Thomas Senlin, whose adventure in the tower has been the main plot of this entire series.

This particular volume does what I wished that The Hod King does, and it follows one of my favorite characters, Adamos Boreas. A good section of the beginning of this one follows Adam after he parted ways with Edith, and I loved every second of it. It took us to a part of the tower we hadn’t ever seen before and it was unlike any other ringdom.

But the real enthralling story continues (for me) to be the story of Tom himself. Once again, I couldn’t put this one down. It is a fairly chonki book, but nonetheless, I was reading until the wee hours of the morning because I just couldn’t stop reading. The prose is so evocative, and the story so immersive that I just fell right into the book, and before I knew it, it was 3am. It has been a long while since I experienced a book that I couldn’t put aside to do things like eat and sleep. Josiah Bancroft has done it again!

I love this book just like I loved the three before it. The world this series builds is so unique and fun to read about. I can’t wait to see what Josiah Bancroft comes up with next!

The Senlin Ascends saga has been one of my favorite modern fantasy series, and having it come to an end is a bittersweet experience, as I will miss these characters and the amazing world building on The Tower. But what an ending. Bancroft weaves an exciting and emotionally satisfying final book that was a joy to read. I was especially thrilled to have Adam back, as he was one of my favorites and I missed him a great deal in book 3. He really gets a chance to shine here, but everyone gets a spotlight moment.

This is a great end to a great series. I imagine that this is a saga that I will revisit many times in the years to come.

This was a good ending to the Senlin Ascends saga. The story’s strongest parts were when the characters interacted. I was a little lost in some of the action sequences. Loved when characters reunited after being apart, and Delyth has to be one of the scariest villains in the story. This was a long story, but there were a lot of loose ends to tie up.

The Fall of Babel was a magical experience. In a rare instance, I’ve come to the end of a series that I absolutely adore and was wholeheartedly satisfied with it. This book succeeds not only as a fantastic story in and of itself, but it also ties up a four-book series in a way that is both enjoyable and optimistic. (Most) loose ends were tied, character arcs fulfilled, many questions answered, but a couple of new ones were introduced that infused the finale with a wondrous sense of mystery. To be honest, I was caught off guard with how it all wrapped up, reeling from how amazingly cool things turned out that I needed to re-read it just to absorb everything that happened—and I loved it. I don’t need a tidy ending, truth be told. But author Josiah Bancroft did a phenomenal job giving this series an ending befitting the majestic, enigmatic Tower of Babel.

Of course, much of this success comes from Bancroft’s writing, which is absolutely on point. He delivers descriptive, sardonic prose alongside witty, subtle dialogue and character interactions with astounding consistency. Each character feels unique, coming into their own as they have throughout the series, but they also feel like they’ve truly grown. And this is what Bancroft nails by book four: the belief that the journey is far more important and illuminating than the destination. Thomas Senlin and co. are such well-realized characters as The Fall of Babel opens, but by the end it became clear (and crucial) how vital the relationships they’ve formed and developed over the course of their journeys have been.

Tom is nothing without Marya as his muse, but he is also an honest reflection of the people he has met along the way; those he has befriended, romanced, confided in, lied to, screwed over. What is Thomas Senlin without Marya or Edith Winters, for example? Conversely, Edith and Voleta and Iren and Adam and The Sphinx and Byron (and all the incredible characters Bancroft has graced us with), where would they be and who would they be without the people whose paths they’ve crossed throughout their journeys? It’s such a sincere reflection on how real people are in the real world. We change—all of us do. And Bancroft’s decision to dedicate so much page time to characters beyond Tom is a testament to that (especially Marya). These characters inhabited the story as much as him, gave it life in equal measure, and in the end fueled their own paths as much as Tom’s search for Marya.

Now, on that note, The Fall of Babel fixed one of my biggest issues with book three, The Hod King: it brought back Adam! He was glaringly absent from the third novel that I always had it in the back of my head, “What happened to him!?” But, Bancroft addresses it right off the bat with a hilarious, fourth-wall-breaking, in-world newspaper article—all I can say is well done, sir. Taking that in stride, the narrative launches into a well-paced three act structure, first focusing on Adam and his experiences at the top of the Tower, then Edith, Voleta and Iren, and finally with all the characters converging in the final act. Meanwhile, the book’s three acts is interspersed with blocks of Tom’s ascent through the Black Trail and his dealings with the devious villain Marat.

While this structure didn’t always work out from a pacing standpoint, I was consistently happy with where I was and the character whose chapter I was reading. Each of them was so damned well written that I was content to divulge in their oddities and minutiae, rarely ever feeling like it dragged on too long. And thankfully, once their storylines came together in Act Three, the pace was pitch perfect and ripped along with a delicate balancing act of continued character development and great story reveals. This was especially tantalizing and rewarding in regards to The Sphinx (so many damn mysteries!), as well as The Brick Layer and the history of the Tower itself (so many more mysteries!).

This last bit was especially important, as the story of The Brick Layer (he who originally built the Tower) is directly intertwined with eeeverything The Sphinx has done until now, thus influencing the entire series, but also the very existence of the Tower and the reason it was constructed in the first place. But a lot of that is revealed toward the ending of the book, so I won’t spoil anything there. Suffice to say, it was crazy, awesome, enchanting, hilarious and Bancroft handled it all with a deft touch. Plus, things get very existential in a way that works oh so well with his satirical approach.

A couple final notes: I adore the Tower of Babel as a setting. This gargantuan structure is like a living, breathing entity and I was enthralled every time a new ringdom (each level/ring of the tower is its own unique kingdom/society) was mentioned, described or visited. The richness of detail that Bancroft goes into with the ringdoms is fantastic, as though each of them requires their own set of worldbuilding and rules. But piecing together which ringdoms do what, and having some of that information revealed throughout this book, it was obvious how complex and full of life the Tower is. Hell, Bancroft even goes into detail about a specific ringdom that is essentially the Tower’s shit processing plant. Kudos to him for that, and I am going to miss my fictional visits to this Tower of Insanity.

Finally, there’s the villain, Luc Marat. With everything that happened in Arm of the Sphinx and The Hod King, it was obvious things were going to heat up in a big way—and they sure as hell did! Marat is a worthy antagonist, someone who works as a moral and ethical foil for Tom, The Sphinx, The Brick Layer and many of the fundamental players in this series. Marat represents the worst that the Tower can create, a poisoning of the moral well, and as a result he dishes out some brutal acts, spurs amazing action scenes and fights, and even puts on a classic “muahaha” villain hat as he rants, lays out his plans blatantly and has aggressive tantrums to comic effect. It was also the interactions between him and Tom that helped frame the latter’s true character, solidifying Tom as a genuinely likeable person, despite all the terrible stuff he has done in order to find his wife.

And that’s why this series worked so well: the bountiful complexity of its characters was slowly woven together through conversations, actions, body language and description. Paired with the hedonistic Tower of Babel, there was ample room for them to explore the depths of their psyches and personalities as they strove towards their ultimate goals. Did Tom eventually find Marya? What became of Edith, or Iren, or The Sphinx? Are the Voleta and Adam brother-and-sister-dream-team reunited? Did they all save the Tower of Babel from the wrathful Luc Marat!? Well, you’ll have to read the books to find all that out.

But for now, it all comes to a spectacular close. Years ago, Senlin Ascends introduced a bumbling schoolteacher known as Thomas Senlin to the mystery and magic of the Tower of Babel, and by the closing page of The Fall of Babel he is world-wearied traveler, a con artist, a thief, a pirate—even a murderer. Journeys change us, shaping us in ways we don’t expect. The people we meet, how we react in situations of stress, what we do when faced with moral conundrums; everything in life adds layers to the complexity that is us as individuals. And so, you may ask, is this a series worth investing in? Just know that this journey, from start to finish, is a stunning one to behold, and Josiah Bancroft’s The Books of Babel is hands down one of my favorite fantasy series of all time.

Will you take the plunge into the infamous Tower of Babel? Enter at your own peril, ’cause if you do, if you succumb to the allure and the spectacle, you’ll never be the same person as you were before.

What makes the worldbuilding of the tower so interesting is that it is not merely a conflict between people, but between the systems that they represent. The tower is an attempt by the brick layer in order to impose his own self-contained and self-perpetuating system on the world, an indifferent one which naturally follows an ur-system which is in some circles referred to as Moloch, the god of entropy, greed, and coordination failure. Although the state of the tower can be seen as a magnification of the ur-system, what the Fall of Babel reveals is that the current state is actually a regression which occurred upon interruption of the Brick Layer’s plans. Viewed from this lens, the battle between the State of the Art and the Hod King is actually a contest between the two systems, enacted as a battle between champions. At a personal level, this is a contest for the seat of the sphinx and the control of the tower, but really it is a struggle over the purpose of the tower. Is the sphinx a king, who seeks control and rules by domination? Or a manager, who nudges incentives and assists in coordination?

While Edith and Marat are fighting over the body (or corpse) of the tower, Adam is fighting for its soul. It is revealed that Nebos, the crown of the tower, was originally built by the Nebosians for the Hods who emerge from the black trail. This brings to mind spiritual connotations of emerging from purgatory to heaven, or perhaps Herakles ascending to Olympus upon completion of his labours. But the Nebosians broke the trail and took up residence themselves. This bring to mind questions on the nature of ownership, of what responsibilities are given to those that are built for and built by, and the nature of migration, which has parallels in the colonization of the Americas, the question of sovereignty of Taiwan, or the role of the Mexican wall. But there isn’t much of a need to dwell on these questions within the scope of this novel – in this particular instance, given Nebos is functionally a post-scarcity society in need of genetic rejuvenation, the answer is already obvious. The rest of Adam’s story is similarly flat. But perhaps this is because, having lost all memory of the previous entries in the series, I lost the relevant context to properly understand his mindset. Without the full story, all I got was a compelling scint.

During the race, Senlin and Gedge discuss the nature of the tower – what is it exactly? Clearly, the tower is a dynamo, a battery which manufactures the Crumb. But for what purpose? This is what is revealed in the exciting conclusion of the final act. It is the search for meaning which informs the title of this volume – The Fall of Babel. What exactly does it mean for the tower to fall? In the end, all the whats are answered, but the whys are left ambiguous. The following is my own theory crafting. If the purpose was the mere construction and launch of Nebos, whether for war of colonization, it would be much simpler and less energy intensive to manufacture in situ. Therefore, the purpose of actually the tower which is left behind. However, although the Sphinx detests Marat, she nevertheless acknowledges him as a valid inheritor and leaves a message for him to that effect. Thus, the nature is not important, only the form – that as the manufactory of the Crumb. In my opinion, this also answers the question of the nature and origin of the brick layer, who acknowledges to Voleta that the tower is awful. Why then, does he perpetuate and propagate the tower? It is because the brick layer never really existed, but was a manifestation of the Crumb who travels to the past to initiate its production. Thus, emerge full of knowledge and ultimately disappear in plain sight. However awful, self-preservation is a natural prerogative. What is the Fall then? The fall from the stars to the earth, the future to the past.

4.5/5

I received an ARC of this book from Orbit in exchange for an honest review.

The following will contain spoilers for the previous three entries in The Books of Babel, but not for The Fall of Babel itself.

Ever since Senlin Ascends, Josiah Bancroft has carefully been building a puzzle. As Senlin climbs into the Tower's upper reaches, we've been allowed to fill in the edges, gradually learning more about the major players and their plans. However, the puzzle's center has remained elusive, with the Sphinx refusing to share what the Bricklayer is hiding (if she even knows) and the author choosing to cut away as soon as Adam meets the inhabitants of the Tower's top. Finally, though, the puzzle is filled in; by the end of the book's first section, clever readers will know what's coming, though they will be no less in the dark about who will make it out alive and what state they will be in. In a move that recalls Robert Jackson Bennet's Foundryside, Bancroft melds the series' steampunk aesthetic with some decidedly more modern plot points. Senlin and Edith's futuristic warship, the State of the Art, is only a taste of what is to come, and not even the Lightning Men guarding the tower's top are fully aware of their ringdom's true nature. Amid these dramatic revelations, Bancroft is able to deftly resolve many of the questions of character that have been brewing over the course of the series. Voleta and Reddleman explore this world's version of life after death; Senlin and Marya, both changed by their harrowing experiences, find out whether or not they can resume some semblance of their old life together; Adam and Edith continue to grow beyond their criminal pasts. While the ending is made more predictable by Bancroft's early foreshadowing, these personal developments are more than enough to keep the reader engaged, and the ultimate conclusion does not so much close the book on the Tower of Babel as lay the foundation for an even grander journey.

Four out of five stars.