It took me about three fourths of the way through the novel to know if I liked it. I finally decided that I did.

Selina Ascends is a different sort of novel. It has an entirely logical and serious narrator set in a world this is completely absurd. It is like an adult, more outrageous, version of Alice in Wonderland. It is all based on the Tower of Babel, and it was my son who pointed out to me that it is following the seven deadly sins - we think. It is not clear cut enough to say for sure. Especially since this is just the first part. However, you can see sloth, greed, and lust pretty easily.

The novel features Selin, a school teacher that decides to take his wife on a honeymoon to the Tower of Babel. What he does not realize is that everything that he has read about the tower is wrong. It is a world all it’s own and travelers are pretty much doomed as soon as they get off the train, or airship.

It is really the world building that drives this novel. The characters are good, but not brilliant. The writing is also well done, but not brilliant. The world is a genius all of it’s own. There is a complex interplay between all of the worlds. Some of the interconnectedness I saw back on the first level. Some I did not even flush out until I talked about this book with my son. We had some interesting conversations about this world. The interactions between the characters are more interesting then the characters themselves. Although it has been interesting seeing them change, depending on the floor that they show up on.

I am interesting to see where Bancroft goes with this in the second book. While I am fairly confident in the final destination, I am fascinated about the journey to get there.

(This book was read as an audiobook from the library)