The set-up is fantastic: Thomas Senlin is an unassuming, uptight and proper headmaster who has just married a feisty, independent woman named Marya. But having made it to the end, I can now say I’m a fan. Many reviewers have praised this book up and down, and honestly, I could NOT figure out why. It’s an odd sensation to go from forcing yourself to read a book to discovering it’s actually pretty damn good, to be absolutely certain that I wouldn’t touch the sequel, to wondering how soon I could get a copy of it. The character of Senlin, whom I had no feelings for whatsoever, suddenly became engaging, and I wanted nothing more that to finish the story as fast as I could. But then I got to the midway point and everything changed. It wasn’t engaging, I was bored to tears, it was beyond silly, and I just couldn’t bring myself to pick it up, let alone finish it. About halfway through this book -and to be honest it took me two weeks to get that far-I was planning on giving this three stars. So, something strange happened as I was reading Senlin Ascends. It’s always exciting to hear news of self published books catching the attention of traditional publishing houses, and I was eager to read the book that everyone was talking about.

Since then, the book was picked up by Orbit Books, which is how I ended up with a copy in my hands. SenlinĪs you probably know by now, Senlin Ascends began life as a self-published book and gained attention during Mark Lawrence’s Self Published Fantasy Blog Off.

– Every Man’s Tower, One Man’s Travails by T. Though, who in their right minds would’ve come if the editors had said, “the Tower’s true trade is in tyranny, dismemberment, and heartbreak”? It said something like, “the Tower’s real trade is in whimsy, adventure, and romance.” I cannot image a less accurate trio. I still recall a line from that feckless Everyman’s Guide. The nitty-gritty: A surprisingly well-written, well crafted and thrilling adventure. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Marya senlin ascends