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. And I'm a bit unsure about this, but my gut feeling is that it seems at some point Josiah Bancroft decided to turn this book into some sort of psychedelic hallucination, mixed with a travelling freakshow. I’m a reader who loves seeing the puzzle pieces come together and with some of these puzzles I’ve waited a long time and I didn’t get my answers.

The Fall of Babel, the final book in the series, was originally scheduled for release in 2020, but Bancroft asked his publisher for an extension because, among other reasons, he "suffered some setbacks with the draft, including the deletion of a hundred pages or so. 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. First, they had crossed pastureland, spotted with fattening cattle and charmless hamlets, and then their train had climbed through a range of snow-veined mountains where condors roosted in nests large as haystacks.

What is remarkable about this novel, quite apart from its rich, allusive prose, is Bancroft’s portrayal of Senlin, a good man in a desperate situation, and the way he changes in response to his experiences in his ascent.

Marya took hold of her husband’s belt just at his spine, startling him from his daze and goading him onward. A gap in the awnings above them exposed the sky, and there, like a pillar holding up the heavens, stood the Tower of Babel. He had been only momentarily distracted by the loss of her luggage and had gone charging off through the press of hagglers and tourists without any sense of which direction the thieves had gone. I for one am glad we have many more instalments to come because although it’s impossible to predict where the story will lead, I’m excited to see what paths Bancroft will take his readers down next. That being said: This series is more than a mere reference to the Tower of Babel; it is a reinvention of a story featuring a great, magnificent and proud building whose creators, in their hubris, were so much convinced of its magnificence that they ultimately allowed its demise.Unwashed children loaded with trays of scented tissue flowers, toy pinwheels, and candied fruit wriggled about them, each child leashed to another by a length of rope. His books are that rare alchemy: gracefully written, deliriously imaginative, action-packed, warm, witty, and thought-provoking.

The Tower of Babel stands as the world’s greatest phenomena, with its multiple and mysterious ringdoms which rise beyond the clouds, it is a sight thousands of people flock to see on a daily basis. 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 pageant outside her window was nothing like Isaugh, a salt-scoured fishing village, now many hundreds of miles behind them. We saw that in how Senlin, from being the fulcrum of the story, becomes one of many POVs, not even the most important one in many respects. 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.As Adam unravels the mystery of his fame, he soon discovers the crowning ringdom conceals a much darker secret.

Here, Shannon chooses a more traditional view of magic, where light fights against dark, earth against sky, and fire against water.Instead of jumping right into their misadventures, Bancroft first shows the reader what happened to Adam. 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. A little troop of red-breasted soldiers slouched by on palominos, parting a family in checkered headscarves on camelback. Senlin loved nothing more in the world than a warm hearth to set his feet upon and a good book to pour his whole mind into.