Arm of the Sphinx cover art

Arm of the Sphinx

Books of Babel, Book 2

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Arm of the Sphinx

By: Josiah Bancroft
Narrated by: John Banks
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About this listen

Forced by necessity into a life of piracy, Senlin and his eclectic crew struggle to survive aboard their stolen airship. Senlin's search for his lost wife continues, even as her ghost haunts his every step. But the Tower of Babel proves to be as difficult to reenter as it was to escape.

In desperation, he turns to a rumoured legend of the tower, the mysterious and dangerous Sphinx. But help from the Sphinx does not come cheaply, and one of his crew already knows the terrible cost.

©2018 Josiah Bancroft (P)2018 Hachette Audio UK Action & Adventure Classics Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Steampunk Haunted Adventure

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Critic reviews

"Like its predecessor, it is a brilliant piece of work...these two books are genius. I just love them. The story, characters and imagination shine." (Mark Lawrence)

"Thomas Senlin is the most unlikely yet likeable hero since a certain hobbit rushed out of Bag End leaving his second breakfast half-finished and entirely unwashed-up." (Fantasy Faction)
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Brilliant, brilliant, brillliant, what a highly imaginative and exciting second book in The Books Of Babel series. I absolutely loved the first book Senlin Ascends, Arm Of The Sphinx just blew that one out of the water. I know I've mentioned the prose before, but holy moly they are just so good. Josiah Bancroft's worldbuilding, storytelling and his main characters are truly wonderful. Our main protagonist Thomas Senlin is still searching for his wife Marya. How he has survived making his way through these sinister, crazy world of the ringdoms is incomprehensible. Thomas Senlin has picked up a few freinds along the way and now goes by the name of Tom Mud a wanted man and now Captain to an airship the Stone Cloud. His First mate Edith and crew Iren, Voleta and Adam have vowed to help him in his search after helping them to escape their own nightmares from the Tower. The higher they go the more stranger and darker the ringdoms get with the weird and odd characters like the Mythical Sphinx, The Antlered Byron and the Hods. All the main characters are dealing with their own demons and conflicting desires, while trying to manage their various flaws and to stay alive in this mad world that they find themselves in. The series continues to be very exciting, amazing and highly inventive, for any fantasy fan looking for something new, different and totally awesome look no further than this master piece. I very highly recommend....😁🔥💥💙

Just Truly Amazing Literature

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Although the first book was ok, with the ending of the previous encouraging me to continue into the second, this book is a vast improvement. Thoroughly enjoyable and can't wait for the third.

much better than the first book

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Best read of the year. Loved every second of it and the Narrator is phenomenal!

Read this book!

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Fantastic. This really was as unique and intriguing as the first book. Colourful characters and settings, wonderful twists and turns.

As unique & intriguing as the 1st

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There’s a lot more friendship in book 2 and it was wonderful. Wat an enjoyable experience. Great story, interesting characters, want to know even more about their adventures.

A great adventure

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This book follows on nicely from the first book. I have enjoyed both books and I am looking forward to listening to the third. This trilogy is well worth indulging in and loosing your self.
Don’t miss it

Another gem

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Loved it! New characters and a developing story line! Can’t wait for the next book.

As engaging as the first!

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The book gets high marks for characters, plot, story, world building and pacing. It’s all set in a world full of steampunk technology where mysterious pseudo scientists manufacturer steam powered airships and chimera / cyborg like automatons integrated with humans and animals. The story and characters are similar to those in The Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve, except rather than the action moving from mobile city to city, it all happens around a tower that is as tall as Mount Everest and divided into 64 county / city sized floors / levels. If you liked The Mortal Engines series or the Abhorsen series by Garth Nyx (Sabriel, Lirael) then you will definitely like the three books of the Tower of Babel series. The narrator was pleasant to listen to but I did set the speed to 1.25x for a more enjoyable listen.

The epic adventure up the tower continues!

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Better than the first book. Much more compact in the story plots and character development. Wonderful. And by the way, the ending was unexpected and delicious, leading the reader on to the next chapter.

Looking forward to the third book.

Entertaining and intelligent

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Wanted to try at least the sequel, and decided to go for the audiobook this time to see if 1) I enjoy it more and 2) I can get through it faster... And oh, I wish I could love this series but I think I need to cut my loses and leave it here. I did get thought it faster, but I enjoyed it worse that my first foray.

I don't really see what all the hype is for. I found this book to be incredibly tedious and I just didn't care about the plot or the characters. Senlin seemed to not really focus on his main task of finding his wife, and went on futher convulted adventures that didn't really set that exciting spark for me.

Excellent voice actor! Banks really made this for me. The range of voices he brought to this reading almost made it feel like a full cast and made the story a little more bearable. I will be keeping an eye out for my of his narrations.

Given this series a go, but not for me

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