Babylonia tells the story of Semiramis' rise from orphan to Queen of Assyria. Taken in by a shepherd, Semiramis grew up being beaten by her father and looked down upon by everyone in her village. When Onnes, a representative to the new Assyrian king comes to the village, she does everything in her power to make sure he takes notice of her. Onnes takes Semiramis as his wife and brings her back to the capitol where she meets Ninus, the king, and learns the ways of the court. Semiramis surrounds herself with slaves and spymasters who are impressed by her cleverness and her rise to power and who will serve her. As Semiramis continues to rise, there are those who wish to see her fall, such as Ninus' mother and his generals. This is a story full of bloody war, political intrigue, and devastating prophecies.

This was a fascinating story and one that I was not familiar with. I really loved all of the characters in this story and Casati did a great job giving them depth and allowing the reader the understand their motivations for the things that they did. The story is told from multiple perspectives over the years, so you really get to know the characters and see how they change over time. There are some brutal scenes, so you might want to skip this one if you don't like to read about violence, but the scenes make sense given the setting. My one complaint about this book is that it started out a bit slow, but once it got going it really held my interest. This will be a great one for fans of Madeline Miller or fans of retellings of legends.

I adore Costanza Casati and this was another hit for me. Her empowerment of women and the way she imbues the realities of the time with a sense of hope is masterful. I would highly recommend this book.

100% pure magic.

A woman in a time of men (although really, when hasn’t it been a time of men…) doing what she needs to, for her own survival, to become the Queen.

The writing made it very easy to visualize as I was reading and Ms Casati’s gorgeous and lyrical writing held me rapt, fully bringing me under its spell. All characters are well fleshed out and come across as utterly real, each adding their own stamp to the plot.

I’m so so glad I had the opportunity to read an early copy of this wholly engaging story. This was my first time reading the author, and I can’t wait to read more of her work!

Babylonia has a full recommendation from me.



Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the DRC

My overall rating is 3/5.

Characters 2/5
I wasn't a fan of the characters. I do appreciate her research and her character creation; however, I found none of them really relatable and while I didn't dislike them, I didn't like them either.

Worldbuilding 4/5
This book does a great job of depicting the world the characters live in. It is rich and covers the breadth of society taking the reader from a place where the characters have no power to where they rule.

Plot 3/5
It is the plot of a poor girl makes her way in the world despite obstacles.

Storytelling 4/5
The story is well told and if you like historical fiction I think you will really appreciate this book.

In 800 BCE, Assyria was known across the ancient world for its dazzling art and culture as well as its appalling brutality. Semiramis comes from one of the empire's farthest, dustiest reaches. Her future is dim, until her region is conquered by the Assyrians and a surprising opportunity flickers before her. and she is on her way to Kalhu, the empire's city. "When kings fall, queens rise" goes the Assyrian saying, and she will prove that true.

Costanza Casati creates the rich world of Kalhu, its beauty, its gleaming painted walls, its cruelty, its endless, gruesome wars. Every page dazzles and horrifies and drives the plot toward its inevitable conclusion. Casati has a gift for immersing readers in this world of gods Assur and Ishtar and their followers, lead by Semiramis and those around her.

Highly recommended for any readers of ancient history and lovers of the retelling of myths.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Costanza Casati has brought another ancient figure to life with this study of Semiramis, queen of Assyria. Based on the historical figure of Shammuramat, we follow Semiramis as she grows up orphaned but always with dreams of a better life. When Onnes, the new governor, stops by her home village of Mari, he finds himself captivated by her beauty and her determination (she frames her stepfather for a crime she committed after he beats her bloody) and marries her.

Once at court, Semiramis is looked at with wariness as the lowly foreigner she is, and king Ninus himself seems to despise her. We know there is more going on, and so does Semiramis, although she doesn't yet know everything that is going on. All three characters - Semiramis, Onnes, and Ninus - are fully fleshed, broken, mistrusting everyone they cross paths with, for many wish ill for them, and they can never turn their back on even their closest ones.

Just as with Clytemnestra, this book is filled with evocative prose and beautiful turns of prose as it details both the beauty and brutality of intrigue and war in the Assyrian empire. The considerable amount of research done is well seeded through the narrative without info-dumps or clumsy exposition - I will read whatever Costanza Casati writes.

There is a lot I could say about this book, but I will begin with Casati’s undeniable talent, both for crafting an interesting and truly compelling story and also for making characters whose personalities and driving forces seem so real I could almost touch them. Semiramis was such an intriguing lead, to me, because she truly was not heartless. She was driven by ambition and lust for power, but her heart was still broken by those things.
At times at the end of this book I felt as if the plot dragged a bit, especially because with the prophecies coming to a head, we already knew where the story was going. But it is worth noting that there is not another place the story could have gone. It felt predestined to us, the reader.
This book was sad in some ways, I think. And I think it was supposed to be.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for Babylonia by Costanza Casati! This is exactly what I needed to read this week.

Semiramis and Nisat are the powerful female characters everyone always wants to read about. Semiramis's mind, ambition, and character development are ummatched. She literally tamed a leopard and kept it as a pet to intimidate people! Both her and Nisat have to use their skills to move through a court designed against them and be the real guidance behind the decisions made by the kings. They are manipulative and cruel in a world where they have to be to survive. But, they are also fiercely protective of their partners, children, and allies.

The other characters were also well-written, complex, and incredibly flawed. The shifting power dynamics felt so real and this had the weirdest (but best) love (?) triangle I've read in a while. Every single character had hidden intentions. Almost all of the characters showed characteristics of PTSD to some extent. Although, I think we see it most clearly with Onnes. I did notice the author wrote in the acknowledgement that Ribat's character was originally unplanned and I'm so glad Casati chose to include him! I loved Ribat's character and his ending and I think he added another dimension to the book. My least favorite character was obviously Marduk and I'm glad he got what he deserved.

I think a lot of writers would struggle to cover this kind of dense, historically based plot and make it this approachable. It reminds me of the writing of Vaishnavi Patel (an author I love). I also loved Clytemnestra, so I'm immediately adding Casati to my list of must-buy author. Overall, 4 Stars!

Ancient civilizations rise and fall.

Too often, we fool ourselves believing that the cruelty of people and the machinations of politics is confined to the present day. Then you read a novel like this. And you are reminded that it’s not so new after all.

This book blew me away. Fast paced action from the start and the seamless execution of a woman’s story I knew nothing about. Initially, I was worried about the whole host of characters to remember. In this author’s hands, alternating POVs are told making the FMC’s story richer. This is a book that will stay with the reader long after the final page is turned.

This is my first read by this historical fiction novelist author. It was so good that I plan to read her prior novel, “Clytemnestra”.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark,via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Costanza Casati has sealed a new fan...again! I read Clytemnestra when it came out and LOVED it. Babylonia is the same fierce, fighting women, but a different background. This is a Greek myth with Assyrian roots. I loved the relationship between the three main characters. The love and grief is something felt deep within the beautiful prose that Casati uses. I have so many highlights in this book because the author can make you weep with one sentence.

Of course, I also love the strong women she writes about. Semiramis' story comes to life through the retelling by Casati. If you loved Clytemnestra, and let's be honest, who didn't? Then you will love Babylonia.

I will be anxiously awaiting my pre-order of this book to add to my collection and revisit whenever I want.

This is a fictional re-telling of the rise to power of Semiramis or Shammuramat, a legendary woman who was a queen of ancient Assyria (and later became to be mythologized to be born of a goddess).

Firstly, I love the setting of this book. While ancient Rome gets a lot of love with historical fiction, the ancient Middle East gets very little. I loved the multiple callbacks to the epic of Gilgamesh, and how that story reflected a lot in this story.

Semiramis is a captivating character. She's flawed, she's ambitious, and she claws her way up through this world both out of necessity and a need for power. The character of Onnes, and his relationship with Ninus, is mesmerizing. I also really loved the viewpoint of the slave Ribat and the context he provided.

That being said, the beginning does feel like a lot of information, and can feel a bit slow, but give it time and you'll be drawn in. These are not characters you'll always feel rooting for, but I personally enjoy that. The way to the top is not always pretty.

The book itself is written really well, I particularly loved the descriptions of all the sculptures and bas-reliefs. It makes the ancient world come alive.

As for negatives, I did feel like the last section was a bit rushed and there were some moments towards the end that I felt didn't quite have the gut punch I think the author thought they would. The epilogue I did not like at all (and I swear, epilogues rarely land with me) and the whole premise was unbelievable in my opinion.

Overall, a really solid read in an era not often portrayed.

The utterly Amazing story of the only woman to rule the Assyrian Empire and her rise from peasant to Queen. I want more!

Book review 📖

📜Babylonia
✍️Costanza Casati
📠Sourcebooks Landmark
📚Historical/Fantasy Fiction
🗓️Pub date: January 14, 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

✨Thank you @NetGalley and @bookmarked for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨Semiramis, an orphaned common woman, grows up on the outskirts of ancient Assyria. In an empire built of bloodshed and brutality, kings must kill in order to rule. Or to Semiramis, prophecy will hold her title as Queen.

✨ Semiramis, becoming the desired mark of the king’s and governor’s eye, she is caught in a battle of lust, power, desire, love, and betrayal. To the woman who will go on to rule, this will be a deadly game.

✨Babylonia is the embodiment of lust and power, which rules ancient history and empires in vicious politics between gods and men.

✨This is such a breathtaking book! I never realized how much I loved historical fiction until I read Costanza Casati’s debut, Clytemnestra, last year. However, I think Casati’s voice and her pen to the page has quite a bit of sway.
This book weaves fact and fiction into a powerful and beautiful dance, and I couldn’t put it down. A favorite and must-read!

✨Favorite quotes: “The hammer shatters glass but forges steel.”

“Remember that glory and danger often taste the same. All they leave behind is bitterness.”

#netgalley #babylonia #costanzacasati #sourcebookslandmark #historicalfiction #fantasyfiction #advancedreadercopy #arc #bookreview #bookstagrammer #winterreleases #readthisnow #breathtaking

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Wow, I loved this book. I didn't realize this was a retelling of a Mesopotamian legend, so it was interesting to learn about the myth through Casati's latest work before researching the legend afterwards.

Personally, I think Babylonia was beautifully done. The original myth and legend is there, but Costanza Casati put her own spin on it and turned it into something almost lyrical.

I'm super excited that a special edition hardcover will be releasing in the US this January. I can't wait to add it to my collection!

I was disappointed by this book. After absolutely loving Clytemnestra, I had high hopes for Babylonia, but it just didn’t measure up.

I had a hard time connecting with the characters, especially Semiramis, the protagonist. She started out as a complex and intriguing figure, but as the story progressed, she seemed to lose her depth and became, for lack of a better term, a “Mary Sue.” She could do no wrong, easily outmaneuvered her political rivals (mostly other women), and even the male characters—one of whom might be aro/ace—fall hopelessly in love with her without much effort. It was frustrating to see such a promising character lose her complexity.

The standout for me was Onnes, the king’s stoic governor, brother, and possibly lover. Unlike the other characters, Onnes was refreshingly complex and mysterious. Forget "morally gray"—he was borderline sociopathic. However, of course, Semiramis comes along and melts his cold, dark heart. I won’t spoil anything, but the conclusion to his arc felt unfulfilling, even though it’s myth-accurate. I always find it disappointing when characters with trauma are reduced to mere plot devices.

On a more positive note, I really enjoyed the love triangle in the book, mostly because it was an actual triangle! The queer representation was a welcome surprise, and I found that dynamic to be the most engaging part of the story. However, I do wish Casati had explored the relationship between Onnes and Ninus more deeply—what we got felt like crumbs, but I’ll take what I can get.

That said, I did enjoy Babylonia (at least the first half). I learned a lot about mythology and really appreciated the historical context Casati provided at the end. You can tell she’s passionate about these subjects and cares about portraying them accurately. I’ll definitely be reading whatever she writes next, but I don’t think I’ll be revisiting Babylonia anytime soon.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC!

Personally, I think this book was very slow-paced (in a negative way), dragged on, the synopsis was inaccurate to the story, and bland leaving me feeling mostly detached from the novel. This was a very good overview of who Semiramis was, and the beginning had a lot of potential for it to be a thrilling and powerful retelling but it fell flat in a few different ways. I was expecting to read about a powerful, bloodthirsty woman who clawed her way to power, relentless in her pursuit of the crown and Assyrian Empire. But that’s not what I got. Semiramis came from “nothing” (even though her foster father was a governor or something like that), and married her way to power. She wasn’t destined to take the power but instead, the crown happened to land in her lap. There wasn’t much of any court intrigue, and it was filled mostly with Semiramis seducing and falling for men, becoming their wives, and then moving on to the next husband. While I can understand that a woman of that age and period couldn’t do much, this story just wasn’t what I was expecting. It was good and kind of informative, but I felt detached from everything going on. Semiramis at the beginning of the novel was my favorite, but her character kind of died out. The ending was anti-climactic, and there was a lot of “foreshadowing” that made everything seem so obvious and plain. There were a few moments and scenes that I enjoyed, however, the majority of the book was kind of disappointing. Again, it was a good novel but mostly for the sake of taking in the information.

I want to thank NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

It is reassuring to know that strong women have existed in a man’s world for centuries. This novel begins with a baby left on a rock by a river while her mother drowns herself. She is found and raised by a cruel stepfather. There begins the story of survival and the quest for security, love, and power. Semiramis has learned that to belong in a male-dominated society, she has to think and fight like a man.

The author has done a great deal of research and based this story on as much fact as she could. That a woman could be accepted as a ruler in ancient Assyria and achieve what no woman before her had makes a great read. The descriptions are vivid and characters memorable.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC to read and review.

Graphic battles, deadly power struggles, unhappy love triangles, a pet leopard. Babylonia.

This was a thrilling look at the legendary queen Sammuramat of the Assyrian empire and her rise to power. I'd classify this as more of a historical romance. I wasn't expecting almost 80% of this book to be a love triangle between Semiramus, her husband, and his half-brother (maybe?? parentage in question, incest debatable). I was looking forward to more of her as conquering queen and less of her in a twisty sibling romance, but she only became ruler at 92% through the book. Prior to reading, I assumed the climax here would be Semiramis's failed fake-elephant gambit in India, but the book ends before that part of her reign begins. It's more like a prequel.

I loved how a lot of this read like a meditation on death: how our parents die, how we die, how we're remembered. The main characters all react to this in distinct (and usually troubling) ways.

The characters were all well developed and flipped between unlikable and sympathetic throughout the book. But when, exactly, did the king Ninus fall in love with Semiramus, after pining over his own brother for his entire life? I did love the Gilgamesh-Enkidu parallels between the two men, but I thought the fresh take here would be a polyamorous relationship between the three of them, and no, that was not it.

I'm also going to make a HORRIBLY uncharitable and not completely accurate comparison... and say that Semiramus here reminded me of a little of Dagney Taggart from Atlas Shrugged. She's super smart and competent, and several important men in the book are hot for her in some way. Never thought I'd willingly bring up Atlas Shrugged in anything ever (particularly in a review of an exceptionally well-written Semiramis retelling), but here we are. Tastes bad.

I cannot in good conscience end a review with Atlas Shrugged, so I will reiterate that this was very entertaining and felt like a 200 page read with how fast I tore through it. It wasn't a happy book and I leave it feeling unsettled, but it was a dazzling and brutal take on a legendary figure. One of the better historical fictions I've read.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for this ARC. I’m so excited to read Babylonia, I adore historical fiction and this looks absolutely up my alley. Will update with a full review promptly.

One of my favorite reads last year was the debut novel by Constanza Casati, Clytemnestra. So, when I heard she was writing another feminist femme fatale retelling, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

And she did not disappoint.

𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘚𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘢, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘦.

One of the things I love about Casati’s work is her ability to blend meticulous research with her exceptional writing skills, creating a world that fully immerses the reader. This book feels like a journey through time, offering deep insights into a a complicated culture that is equal parts cruelty and beauty.

What truly makes this book stand out, though, is the characters. Told from multiple points of view, each character is richly developed, adding layers of complexity to the story.

I especially admired Casati’s portrayal of Semiramis. She is morally grey, caught between survival and her conscience. Though she won’t hesitate to hurt those who wrong her, she is not cruel by nature. Instead, she is a person forced into impossible situations, doing whatever she must to survive.

Another highlight of the novel is its sensitive treatment of mental health. In her afterward, Casati explains that historical accounts often described kings returning from war changed. Recognizing this as signs of PTSD, she wrote this into her story, including the emotional toll war takes with empathy and care. It was so well done and powerful, several times it almost brought me to tears.

This book has cemented Casati as an “if she writes it I’ll read it” author. I am so impressed with her storytelling ability and cannot wait to see which wronged woman from history she gives a voice to next. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pub Date: January 14, 2024

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for my advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.