Review of "The Fall of Babel" by Josiah Bancroft

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.

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