A lengthy but worthy finale to Bancroft's fantastic high fantasy series 'The Books of Babel'. As always, it's difficult to review a later book in a series if you want to stay spoiler-free. The story stays cohesive throughout, interweaving the characters' viewpoints better than in the last volume. Bancroft's writing is strong, his imagination and creativity shine through, and he does a great job giving us interesting answers to the questions raised in previous books. The final 100+ pages are a wild ride and I love where Bancroft took the ending. The pacing dragged in a few places, which isn't ideal in a book this long (more editing!), but other than that I really liked this finale. If you're a fan of high fantasy, really imaginative world-building, and complex characters, you really need to pick up this series! Thank you to Orbit Books, NetGalley, and Josiah Bancroft for providing an advance copy for me to read and review.

I'm really sad to be done with this book, but it was a very satisfying conclusion to a terrific series! Josiah Bancroft has a fantastic imagination. The things we see in these books are extremely original, but without sacrificing logic at all. The writing is masterful, and each character is fully multidimensional. I am a huge fan of Edith, she really comes into her own in this final book in the series. There's a sense of being on the brink of doom throughout, and an expectation that the best laid plans will probably not work out anything like intended. By now though, there's also some trust that somehow, sometimes in ways we weren't expecting at all, things do eventually turn out for the best. I'll be watching for whatever Mr. Bancroft dreams up next!

The Fall of Babel is a satisfying ending to a spectacular series, but is better read back-to-back for it to have a better impact.

I read the previous novel, The Hod King, back in 2019 when it was first published and have since forgotten most of what happened. I read some spoiler-filled reviews and the summary at the beginning of The Fall of Babel, but it wasn’t enough. This series is one I would recommend reading back-to-back or at least without a significant amount of time in between each novel. The characters are at the heart of this story and having forgotten key details, I missed out on emotional moments throughoutThe Fall of Babel.

Bancroft’s writing is as flawlessly lyrical as in his previous novels. As I mentioned in my review of The Hod King, each sentence, paragraph, and chapter are meticulously written to weave together an adventure tale that sheds light on more serious topics like, slavery, abuse, the disenfranchisement of a people, and the mistreatment of women.

One slight criticism I have of The Fall of Babel is the lack of Senlin in the novel. The Fall of Babel is told from multiple POVs, which isn’t a surprise considering all the characters who have been introduced and promoted to main characters. However, Senlin has always been and will always be my favourite so to see so little of him was slightly disappointing.

The ending of The Fall of Babel was unexpected and satisfying. Bancroft ended his series while also leaving the door open for future novels or a spinoff series.

Overall, The Fall of Babel is a fantastic conclusion to The Books of Babel series. This series is full of eccentric characters, mystery and intrigue, and adventure all while touching on more serious topics in ways that feel meaningful.

As a huge fan of the Books of Babel, I’ve been anxiously awaiting this finale for years. While the main cast of characters were still as lovable and multi-dimensional as ever and while I still struggled to put the book down, I felt a bit unsatisfied when I had finally finished reading. The more graphic and sometimes horror-adjacent moments of this book aside (I would consider my dislike for those to be more of a personal preference), I felt that this book opened up far more questions than it answered. The conclusion also seemed to veer off into what felt like a completely different genre while not providing the sense closure I was expecting.

That said, the world-building and lore surrounding the Tower itself is still incredible and continues to dramatically juxtapose beautiful veneers with their ugly underbellies. Bancroft’s prose is lovely as ever, although occasionally it obscured meaning a bit and I found myself struggling to follow the action. For me, the sense of transported escapism and the wonderful protagonists are the main draws of this series, and those elements certainly shone in this final installation.

And while I would have loved more answers than we were given, I do have a sense that at least some of those answers (along with the meaning of the title) can be chased down with a careful re-read and an online discussion board or two. And perhaps that is Bancroft’s gift to his readers - that, should we wish it, the Tower and its questions will live on in our minds.

Wow. I can't believe the ending of the series has finally arrived! It's definitely a lot to process.

I will say that with books #2 and #3, I was worried the story had lost its way. But I'm glad this conclusion finally brings the story back to where it all began - Senlin reuniting with his wife.

I'm also glad to see the things that annoyed me about book #3 - the formatting and lack of Senlin - are fixed in this final installment. All of the character POVs are integrated throughout, which makes the story feel more cohesive and progress more smoothly. It also allows the characters to show up more consistently, rather than just appear only for their POV section and then never be seen for the rest of the book. So the narrative definitely improved and, with it, so did the story and characters.

And the ending to this is one I think will be surprising to most readers, as it was to me. With a title like ‘The Fall of Babel,’ it isn't hard to get a certain idea of how things are supposed to play out, but I found JB's ending to be completely unexpected. Especially as it leaves rooms for additional books/possible companion series.

All in all, I think this is a very satisfying ending to a long-awaited conclusion. If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading the first book, ‘Senlin Ascends,’ as it's a modern work of wonder.

The Fall of Babel is the long-awaited final volume in Bancroft’s fantasy quartet, the Books of Babel, one of the most amazing and creative fantasy adventures to ever grace the printed page. Those travelers arriving here first without first venturing through the other three books are doing themselves no major favors and missing a huge amount of storyline and character development. Don’t expect the brief introduction to suffice. It won’t.

Set in the Biblical land of Ur sits the works famous Tower of Babel, here rather reimagined. Surrounded by a fair or flea market miles deep, it is that treasured goal of every traveler and dreamer the world over, including, that is, Selin, headmaster of a school, and his wife, Marya. They soon become separated in the giant flea market and Selin enters the giant tower in search of her. But this Tower is so broad that it each level hosts a kingdom or ringdom as they are known. Most of these ringdoms and there’s some 64 of them for good measure are ruled by feudal aristocratics.

All the ringdoms are connected by allegiance to the Sphinx, a shadowy figure who provides technology to the ringdoms from plumbing to electrical to hovering craft that glide from one kingdom’s port to another. The kingdoms are Also seeded with the Sphinx’s wakemen, people altered with engines instead of arms and the like.

As this volume of the quartet opens, the hods who walk the dark stairways in the center of the tower are some in open revolt with one having enlisted wakemen to his side and having built a giant burrowing craft, the Hod King, to tunnel through the ringdoms. Our hero, the mild mannered schoolmaster Selin is a prisoner aboard this mole.

Meanwhile, Selin’s friends are in the Sphinx’s flagship, having rescued Selin’s wife and child, and now bent on securing paintings the Sphinx left in each Ringdom with a secret embedded code because the entire tower is unstable and the energy erupting within rivals the sun. Each of the shipmates are startlingly unique from the Captain Edith with an engine for an arm to the giantess Iren to the half stag half man to the former Red Hand, the most feared man in all the ringdoms. Not to be outdone, acrobat and pickpocket Voleta is among them, but changed so that her batteries need recharging and vials if the Sphinx’s medium must always be at the ready for her injections. She’s on the cusp though if disappearing into the mists of time.

But this volume opens with none of that. It’s Voleta’s brother Adam’s story as he enters the topmost ringdom and ascends to near heaven into gardens and perfection. Of course, in such a place strangers are not welcome and he must be tried by a people with nothing better to do than to consume movies and make biographs about people like Adam.

The world of this amazing tower just keeps getting more and more amazing. Nevertheless, as the crew of the Sphinx’s flagship meets with the crew of the Hod King the battles are so ferocious that there is little time to marvel at the sights. Like all three other books in the quartet, this is first class fantasy with all the tension and excitement you could want.

Inventive, heart-wrenching, and eye-popping, Bancroft's conclusion to the Books of Babel goes out (literally) with a bang while a hinting at more excitement to come. I have to admit that I was startled and a bit disappointed by the highly uneven pace of the novel - the first third moves at such a radically different speed than the second two-thirds that it felt like I was reading two totally different books. However, as rushed as this concluding novel felt, my frustration was eclipsed by my overwhelming adoration for these characters and this world. We got a thrilling introduction to several more ringdoms, which besides the characters are my favorite part of the series. I could easily read an entire novel just going through each ringdom one by one and exploring their society and culture. Furthermore, Luc Marat evolved into a deeply compelling if less sympathetic villain, with Senlin's proximity to him throwing his zealotry and egotism into sharp relief. His crew of dispossessed Wakeman also revealed more of the Sphinx's flaws and introduced some exciting antagonists for the crew to war against.

In terms of the characters, I was surprised by how much I fell in love with Voleta and Adam. The last three books solidified my affection for Senlin, Edith, and Iren, but the siblings always fell on the periphery of my attention. I was frustrated by Adam's self-recrimination and Voleta's flighty nature, but both of the Boreas' are rapidly forced to come to terms with their flaws as they step into the shoes of the Sphinx and the Brick Layer. I loved Iren, but wished more time had been spent on her coming to terms with her mortality and in particular how this new fear was influenced by her relationship with Ann. Byron was dashing and hilarious as always, balancing out the darker moments with his tender affection and dedication to propriety, and a surprising favorite was Reddleman who, despite his initial ghoulishness, turned out to be a dedicated crewmember and loyal friend.

Edith, Senlin, and Marya felt more like participants in an awkward three-legged race than unhappy members of a love triangle. I was happy that Bancroft didn't take the easy way out by fridging one or both of the women, but this led to all of their relationships felt distinctly unfinished. The friendship blossoming between Edith and Marya, Edith's lingering feelings for Tom, and Tom's confusion of guilt and love for his rediscovered wife, all of these feels like the second act of a much longer play. These three,more than any of the others definitely suffered from the hurried pace of the second two-thirds of the story - Tom's respective reunions with Edith and Marya were highly underwhelming for how strongly I was anticipating them, and Marya didn't quite achieve the character development I was hoping for.

Bancroft has left this ending so enormously up in the air that I was actually surprised not to come to the end of the story and find a suprise fifth book in store. While some loose ends are tied up, many more are ripped open, and I am comforted by the knowledge that this can't possibly be all there is left of Senlin, Edith and the crew, Until Bancroft picks up his pen again, however, I will comfort myself by re-reading this series back to front until the book bindings crack and the pages fray in my hands.

A wild ride with an unexpected ending. Josiah Bancroft, wraps up his Babel series with the wit and excitement we’ve come to expect, but also throws in surprises, ending and not so endings.
Well done.

Whoahhhh I was so glad to get a copy of this one! Crazy story, fourth volume in so can't say much, but very good continuity of the story and the characters development. A very unique and immersive universe! I totally recommend reading this series!