#the books of babel

[waitafrikk]

"its an emu"

"how can you tell?" "

"it has 3 toes, an ostrich only has 2"

"how in the world would you know that?"

"i had a student ask me once what the difference was, and so i went home and read everything i could find on emu and ostrich anatomy"

[whisperofthewaves]

Ann and Iren are everything. to me.

[old-habits-die-screaming]

oh to be immortal and be able to consume every piece of knowledge and literature ever

[lilareviewsbooks]

“Senlin Ascends”’ Odd Choices For A Romance

3/5 stars

448 pages 

Contains: a shy nerd; a tower full of crazy things; steampunk! Let’s go steampunk!

Senlin Ascends required stepping outside my bubble, something I’ve been periodically doing this past year in hopes of reading all the fantasy “classics” or important works in the genre. My bubble, of course, being my little gay SFF books. Senlin Ascends is most definitely not queer, not in the slightest. In fact, it is so straight I feel like I need to make a proper complaint: there’s no gay people! Not to mention the shocking absence of people of color from the cast of characters, save for the occasionally ambiguous “olive skin”. And this was published in 2013!

Anyway, before I go on my tirade: what is this book about? It follows Thomas Senlin, the headmaster of a school in a tiny village, and his wife Marya. They’ve just gotten married and chosen a fantastic honeymoon destination – the Tower Of Babel, which Thomas idolizes as the pinnacle of civilization. Tragedy strikes, though, as soon as they arrive – Thomas and Marya lose each other at the base of the Tower, and it’s up to Thomas to navigate its many floors in search of her. However, his previous impressions about the Tower might be completely wrong – maybe it’s not all that civilized, after all.

When it comes to social concerns, I have an even bigger one. The main relationship in the book – Senlin and his new wife Marya – has a 10 year age gap, which I guess is fine if both parties were consenting adults when the relationship began (which, as I understand, they were). The problem I have is that they were teacher and student when they met, and Marya was a minor at the time. And listen: I hate student teacher relationships with a passion. I don’t care if it’s fictional – do you know how many kids will read these kinds of books while still in school and internalize that this is normal? Like, no! This is bad! 

But even without this social issue, I think this is just so, so avoidable. In Chapter 13 of Part 2, it’s established that Marya was a student at the school when Senlin became headmaster – that is, he wasn’t teaching there when she was first enrolled in the school. Now, this makes sense because Senlin is a headmaster and the only teacher in a small town, which only has one multi-serial school. He must’ve taught almost all the village’s younger citizens. But if Marya was already a student, why not age her up a little bit (a matter of 2 years, or some such, so the big age gap between Senlin and Marya can be kept, in case that’s important) so that she wasn’t in school at the time Senlin took the helm there? Why must they have been student and teacher at some point? It’s just so incredibly predatory – the age difference might already raise a few eyebrows, but the fact that he knew her since she was underage, and had power over her? That’s so weird!

And although this book and its series are very popular in the fantasy sphere of BookTube, for example, I haven’t heard comments on this at all. I had no idea that they were student and teacher, at all, because I’d never heard anyone mention it. I think this isn’t something we can ignore, and it says something about the message the book is trying to convey. 

Of course, as always, I hold out hope that this will be some sort of critique, or that the narrating voice or the characters themselves will condemn or discuss this issue, in further installments of the series. But, judging from the lack of representation for any minority groups in this at all, I’m assuming social consciousness isn’t at the top of the author’s list of priorities – which I guess is fine? I don’t know, I don’t want to tell anyone how to live their lives or write their books. 

Apart from this concern, Senlin Ascends is – and I’ll put it as eloquently as I can – meh. 

It has strong characters, that’s for sure. Quirky ones that appear and reappear as Senlin goes through the Tower, whose personalities are convincing and well thought-out. Senlin himself evolves as a person throughout the story, which is satisfying to watch, especially when it intermingles with other characters’ arcs. But there’s something quite predictable about the structure, as Senlin continues to go up the Tower, find something odd and vaguely steampunk-y, and then leave to continue on upwards. This is held together by short chapters, which almost always end in either a cliff-hanger or in a revelation. This is a common tactic in popular writing, and I don’t think it’s necessarily bad, it just loses its efficacy and all meaning when it's done so much – not to mention how tiring it is. The short chapters sometimes fall flat, as it feels like there’s something missing and the atmosphere needs a little tending, which would’ve happened if Mr. Bancroft had opted for longer chapters.

Senlin Ascends is the first book in a series, The Books of Babel, which spans four books. From what I’ve heard from BookTube (specifically, I’m thinking of a video by Tall Guy Reads), the books become more epic, as the scope of the story shifts from “trying to get to Marya” to “saving the world”. This doesn’t really entice me. What led me to Senlin Ascends in the first place was its premise – and I liked how contained the story felt, how small it was in comparison to other fantasies. This was what would’ve kept me on track to finish the series. Unfortunately, given the mediocre experience I had with this first book, not to mention the weird origin of the main relationship, I think I’ll be calling it quits now. I’m really not interested in seeing this expand and become a “saving the world” story. I think the strength of the book lies in its protagonist and supporting cast, all of which don’t have much to do with saving the world, and whose backstory was compelling enough without it being fuel to do something heroic. 

If you’ve read this one, I’m curious to know your thoughts and would love to hear them! I’ve seen so many people love this one, so I’m wondering what I missed and if it was just a matter of not connecting with the story as much as others.

[draculaswidow]

Oh to be a student in a haunted academy, your reading companions the ghosts of a glorious past

[belle-keys]

The Ultimate Dark Academia Book Recommendation Guide Ever

The title of this post is clickbait. I, unfortunately, have not read every book ever. Not all of these books are particularly “dark” either. However, these are my recommendations for your dark academia fix. The quality of each of these books varies. I have limited this list to books that are directly linked to the world of academia and/or which have a vaguely academic setting.

Dark Academia staples:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

Dead Poets Society by Nancy H. Kleinbaum

Vita Nostra by Maryna Dyachenko

Dark academia litfic or contemporary:

Bunny by Mona Awad

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

White Ivy by Susie Yang

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Black Chalk by Christopher J. Yates

Attribution by Linda Moore

Dark academia thrillers or horror:

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian

Dark academia fantasy/sci-fi:

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

Dark academia romance:

Gothikana by RuNyx

Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

Dark academia YA or MG:

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Crave by Tracy Wolff

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Dark academia miscellaneous:

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip

[dearlyjess]

will always treasure mornings like these

[sleepy-vix]

we've got greek, we've got theatre, we've got translation. can we get an insanely good "dark academia" book based around music? 🙏

[literatureaesthetic]

this city is the definition of dark academia | oxford

[a-study-in-dante]

July 25th, 2024 | So far trying to finish Babel (started 2022) has meant the cautious company of Yoshi the cat, writing sarcastic little comments in the margins and worrying about running out of the specific set of sticky tabs I've been using... But maybe, maybe, I might start being curious about what's brewing.

[waitafrikk]

thomas senlin anti propaganda btw

the books have been out for 10 years and im the only one whos made fanfics for it

the books of babel are about thomas senlin losing his wife in the tower of babel

hes a babygirl and completely pathetic hope this helps

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

[waitafrikk]

About to write a music shop AU for a fandom yhat doesn't even exist

[whisperofthewaves]

I had no idea I needed Irene, the homicidal muscle for criminal lord turned a ship crew member to have a middle aged lesbian romance with a sensible governres while posing as one herself, but now I do, desperately

[paperbaacks]

༊*·˚ — 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝟻-𝟺-𝟹-𝟸-𝟷 𝚝𝚊𝚐

✧ — five books i love

the invisible life of addie larue - v.e. schwab

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo - taylor jenkins reid

yellowface - r.f. kuang

piranesi - susanna clarke

paper moon - rehana munir

✧ — four books on my tbr

the cinnamon bun book store - laurie gilmore

butter - asako yuzuki (translated by polly barton)

just kids - patti smith

the picture of dorian gray - oscar wilde

✧ — three books i recommend

babel - r.f. kuang

loveless - alice oseman

blue sisters - coco mellors

✧ — two books i've read recently

intermezzo - sally rooney

in the dream house - carmen maria machado

✧ — one book i'm currently reading

the pumpkin spice café - laurie gilmore

[pria-png]

So we already know that the family names are related to house numbers in tlt. And they're taken from various ancient languages.

The "Nav" in Gideon Nav is 9 in Sanskrit but you know what else it means? New. It means new!! Means she's the "new" Gideon!!

[whyamiheretm]

- She’s the only divine thing he’s ever believed in. The only creature in this vast, cruel land who could kill him. And sometimes, in his loveliest dreams, he imagines she does.

this was supposed to be posted here on valentine’s day but i forgot to happy late valentine’s day from your favorite doomed lovers

closeups under the cut 💋