Senlin Ascends

Thomas Senlin, a soft-spoken schoolmaster from a village, sets out on a honeymoon in the Tower of Babel, a structure so vast it rivals a mountain. Its countless ringdoms, some at war and some at peace, are piled atop one another like tiers of a wedding cake. Drawn by a love of learning and the bold claims of a travel guide, he expects a dream trip. The Tower is a realm of brilliant inventors and cruel rulers, of airships, steam engines, strange creatures, and puzzling machines.

His dream turns to crisis almost at once. In the crowded bazaar of the Tower, Senlin loses his new wife, Marya, and he must first come to terms with who he is before he can hope to find her. His search leads him through asylums, grand balls, and seedy variety theaters. Along the way he faces treachery, a plot to kill him, and the gunfire of a flying fortress. Reaching Marya will demand more than endurance, and the bookish gentleman must become a man of action.