In the previous book, Senlin was swallowed up by the Tower of Babel, lost his wife, and underwent all sorts of terrors and indignities and character growth, until finally breaking free with a truly motley group of friends. Now he's become a dread pirate (though still recognisably the old school teacher, if you know how to look).

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft is unexpected in many ways, and at least some of them are charming. It takes place in the Tower of Babel, so that's one. We are definitely in a fantastic world, because we have trains, and airships, and guns, so that's another. The book never really discusses the world outside the tower too much, except as a character backdrop, which worked extremely well.