Publication Date: Available Now from Orbit
Source: Review Copy
The Tower of Babel is proving to be as difficult to reenter as it was to break out of. Forced into a life of piracy, Senlin and his eclectic crew are struggling to survive aboard their stolen airship as the hunt to rescue Senlin’s lost wife continues.
Hopeless and desolate, they turn to a legend of the Tower, the mysterious Sphinx. But help from the Sphinx never comes cheaply, and as Senlin knows, debts aren’t always what they seem in the Tower of Babel.
Time is running out, and now Senlin must choose between his friends, his freedom, and his wife.
Does anyone truly escape the Tower?
I devoured the first novel in this series – Senlin Ascends – with its beautifully imagined and totally insane world, throwing a rather normal and easy going guy into a maelstrom of madness, as he loses his wife and almost his sanity. At the end of that book, our main protagonist Senlin was a whole new man…
Now, in book 2, Arm of the Sphinx, we enter once again into the world of The Tower, with it’s quirky, dangerous and unpredictable levels, it’s diverse and often treacherous communities as the hunt for Senlin’s wife intensifies and he and his new found “crew” seek help from the enigmatic Sphinx – a character so devious that even Senlin’s intelligence and problem solving abilities might not be enough to avoid the pitfalls..
I adored this one too – it is so brilliantly entertaining, you know not what you will get from one page to the next, the author explores many socially relevant themes within the multi-layered drama and there are more adventures to be had than you can shake a stick at – or, you know, whatever weapon comes to hand. The characters are wonderful, engaging and sometimes really quite scary and the descriptive sense of the world they inhabit is incredibly immersive. You live it.
Arm of the Sphinx, like Senlin Ascends before it, is a book where you have to wonder what goes on inside the author’s head – but whatever it is you are extremely pleased it has come out onto the page to create this quite simply wonderful story. Roll on book 3. Poor Senlin – I think he has a way to go yet…
HIGHLY recommended.
Happy Reading!