An EPIC tale of ancient Mesopotamia revealing history that not many of us know about. We follow the story of a common orphan and her ascension to power and royalty. This is also an exploration of grief and loyalty, and how they interplay with ambition and desire.
While I can tell that this was heavily researched and historically accurate, it felt a little long and the writing fell a little flat. I loved this author’s novel Clytemnestra and will continue to reach her rich, feminine, ambitious novels!

This books is such a gem. I enjoyed every single page of it. It tells the story of Semiramis, the only woman who ruled Assyria. From orphan to powerful queen, this reimagined story of real life Sammuramat is not only well researched, the writing is flawless and the pace is perfect. It also delves into the Epic of Gilgamesh and the relationship between two brothers and all that happens when one of them (Enkidu) dies. Both stories intertwined impeccably.

Babylonia
By Costanza Casati

This is a novel based on records of ancient history. It takes place in Assyria, located in what is today Iraq. The time period was one of wars and slavery and cruelty, and the Assyrians stood out, especially when it came to barbaric deeds done on friends and foe alike.

It was a time of empire building. Kings exercised unfettered power and their brutality was considered a sign of strength. Within royal families, plotting and jockeying for position were expected.

But what wasn't recognized was the emergence of women in positions of power, even as queens. Not having brute strength, these women resorted to using beauty and brains to survive and get ahead in a man's world.

While a fascinating story in itself, the most interesting thing about this book is the parallels that still exist in the modern world.

I’ve been trying to articulate my thoughts on this book for the past two weeks, but honestly what’s the point - I just need EVERYONE to read this.

Babylonia is a historical fantasy of epic proportions, telling the tale of deeply complex characters in a persistently evolving world. There’s an empire with a new king on the throne, a love triangle between the most unlikely three, and obviously, a girlboss MC. The books follows Semiramis’ journey from commoner woman to queen, and let me be the first to tell you that it’s QUITE the journey.

What I love about Semiramis is that she is utterly human. She is a woman that dreams, and she won’t let anyone take that away from her. She knows she’s meant for more than a life as an orphaned village girl, and she will do anything attain the future she’s meant to achieve. She grabs her fate by the throat and refuses to submit, neither to the gods nor to men. But when she loves, she loves with her whole heart. She’s incredibly strong in some ways yet vulnerable in others, and this is what makes her such a compelling character.

A lot of the story involves discourse on what true power is and who it is that wields it. There’s also a constant struggle between the pursuit of life & immortality vs being claimed by death. These are themes that are prevalent given the historical and cultural context of the story, which made the reading experience all the more emotional and thought-provoking.

I don’t have enough space to get into Ninus’ and Onnes’ characters but know that I have so much love for them. There was only one extremely minor critique I had for Babylonia, and it was that there was a section in the second half where I wish there was more focus on Onnes given what he was going through. However, considering where the plot was going at that point, I also understand the reason he may have been needed to be removed from the spotlight for a while.

tl;dr PLEASE read this book 🥺 The character and world development was incredible and the writing was simply STUNNING ❤️ When I started reading my eARC, I knew I’d have to get my hands on a physical copy to annotate (and I did just that when I saw it was one of the January picks for BOTM 😅). I truly loved this book so much and I’m so glad it was one of my first reads of 2025. This was my first Constanza Casati read, and I’ll definitely be picking up her other books.

DNF at 45%

Babylonia is written with extravagant, vivid details that leap off the page. Despite these strengths, the novel just isn’t for me. At 45% of the way through, I still don’t feel a strong connection to Semiramis or a clear understanding of her ambitions and motivations. While I wanted to enjoy this story, reading it has started to feel more like a school assignment than a personal escape.

That said, readers who love richly detailed historical fiction inspired by ancient myths may find much to appreciate here.

When kings fall, queens rise.
Costanza Casati, the author of the bestselling Clytemnestra, brings us another story from history, this time about the only woman who ascended to the throne of Assyria: Semiramis, a woman who, being an orphan from an insignificant and remote village, would become the first and only one to occupy the throne of Hammurabi.
A very detailed and excellently documented book, with vivid scenes, historical characters brought to the 21st century, once again demonstrates the quality of Casati's work.
If you like classic history, this book is for you.
I thank the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.
The opinion I have expressed above is based solely on what I think and feel about this book.

Babylonia by Costanza Casati ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I waited for my hardcover copy to arrive before sharing my review because look 👏 at 👏 this 👏 book. The cover is gorgeous and the sprayed edges are everything.

If you haven’t read Casati, here’s your encouragement. I fell in love with her writing after Clytemnestra, and this one was a fantastic follow up.

Babylonia was about fear, rage, and power. Again, a strong female character stole the show, and I loved everything about her journey. This book spanned a lifetime, and the character journey within that exuded strength and strategy.

If you’re looking for a book that has a descriptive setting, cunning characters, and represents female power and strategy, check this one out. If you’re just looking for a beautifully written story that can transport you to a different time and place, this one also fits that description. Basically, just read it. 🐆

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for an ARC of Babylonia in exchange for my honest review. (I meant to have this out before publication day, but as luck would have it I had jury duty. 🥴)

"When kings fall, queens rise."

Babylonia tells the story of Semiramis, the legendary queen of the ruthless Assyrian empire. Casati is a masterful weaver when it comes to mythological storytelling, and details Semiramis rise from extremely humble beginnings to the throne itself.

I love mythology, but had no knowledge of any Mesopotamian mythology. I've heard the name Gilgamesh before, but certainly never Semiramis. The character was well written, and I enjoyed her feministic views, especially in a brutal, patriarchal society.

Overall, I didn't love this novel. Some parts were excellent, while others dragged on or were repetitive. However, I absolutely adore Clytemnestra by Casati, so I'll definitely be picking up anything she writes in the future.

3⭐️

Never have I ever thought about the Assyrian empire, the queen of it or anything at all about the 900-800 BC era. Yet I still applied for an arc of this, due to the intriguing blurb. And god, I fell in love. The prose in this book is beautiful and lyrical, drawing you in. The characters are even more intriguing. Nisat, a woman who wed two kings, mother of a king, conniving, scheming, daughter of a cupbearer, intrigued me. All she did for power and to ascend was heartbreaking and dangerous. Onnes and Ninus, lovers, brothers, allies, friends, betrayal— they were the most intriguing. The relationship between Onnes, Ninus and Semiramis was like Challengers but BC Assyrian empire. Ribat was the most profound voice. He stood out. His act of vengeance for his mother by allowing Ninus to die and sacrificing his love for Semiramis to do so was beautiful. He was loyal to her and to his mother, and he chose family first. The end of him becoming the one to put her down in history was such a creative ending. And finally, the star of the show, the queen herself— Semiramis. Calculating, kind, wise, clever. She made the world her own. Born to a mother who killed herself and a father who abandoned her, raised by a cruel shepherd and spending her youth proving herself, tricking and lying and framing her father to gain a governor’s attention and hand in marriage, helping to capture a kingdom, falling in love with a king, watching her husband kill himself and wedding a king, watching her husband fall and becoming the ruler of the strongest empire on the planet. I adored this and I need to read Clytemnestra as soon as possible.

A smash hit. Epic in scope and impossible to put down, Casati writes another dazzling female character from ancient history into legend. Sharp, and unyielding, her writing transports us to an ancient civilization with a taste for brutality and conquest. Focusing on a common woman with little to lose, Semiramis is willing to do anything to make her destiny come true. She's brilliantly written and her story unfolds as fascinatingly as Casati's Clytemnestra.

Casati is an author not to be missed!

Go purchase this gorgeous book (I mean look at those sprayed edges)!

This was an incredible book, I haven’t read anything like it! Semiramis was such a strong FMC and all her scheming with as frustrating as it was addictive to watch unfold. I love how the author write about a strong woman without making you hate them.

This was an extremely fascinating book. There were several points in time where I completely forgot it was based on a true story because the story line was so interesting. I love historical fiction, and this was a completely different point in history than any book I had ever read. I would definitely recommend to any lovers of history and strong female leads.

Thanks to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for the ARC.

I just love this authors writing, this was a really interesting story that takes place in Mesopotamia. To be honest I was hoping for another Greek Mythology retelling but I’m not mad about this

In her newly-published novel Babylonia, the author Constanza Casati chronicles a world in which the Epic of Gilgamesh’s date of composition lay far closer to the present than today. She writes about the Assyrian Empire, and, in particular, the legendary Queen Semiramis.
Casati nimbly weaves the story of Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu into the novel, both through quotations from characters and through her carefully drawn portrait of the friendship between the cold-hearted general Onnes and the idealistic King Ninus. That friendship is first threatened, then, briefly, expanded when Onnes marries Semiramis—here depicted as an impoverished-yet-ambitious orphan with a flinty courage, a quick mind, and a kind heart to boot. At her most skillful, Casati manages to provoke genuine questions through these three characters about what it means to love someone else in a world where love is seen as a weakness.
Alas, Casati never quite breaches the full consequences of that question, a failure most obvious with regards to her protagonist. Casati seems determined to present Semiramis as likable even when the plot makes that questionable. A story arc in the latter half of the novel, which sets Onnes and Ninus at odds for Semiramis’ affections, is presented as a fight over true love—rather than what seems more probable from the outside, and would frankly be more interesting: namely, a ruthless attempt by Semiramis to grab power even at the cost of shattering the brief, beautiful companionship the three have formed prior to that point.
Framed by the glossy ornateness of Semiramis’ perfection, Babylonia is an enjoyable read—but unlike the ancient epic which recurs in its pages, it is regrettably a forgettable tale.

4.15!

"Madness breeds Madness."

I literally have no idea how to feel about this. It was a really enjoyable book but I think I'm gonna settle with this rating for a while because I actually enjoyed this book and the unpredictable nature of this book because like you would read the scene look at your screen and be like ??? but then it would start to make sense and you would actually start seeing it through. The main conflicting part of the book was the writing style...like I actually don't know if I liked it or not but it sure as hell made this book interesting and enjoyable. It read like a coming of age story and I love those so I really enjoyed this and I think it was done very well.

"Immortality doesn't mean living for ever. It means surviving even after your heart stops beating and your body is burned. It means living in myth, in stories."

The characters were very well written and when I read mythologies I expect characters to be like this so I was prepared for it in advance and it helped. The book itself though was so interesting!! like I loved the concept and how everything was executed. Honestly, it that kind of a book where you dont know if you love it or hate it until you sleep on it for a bit.

I think that to take one's darkness inside yourself can be dangerous. If you have to suffer, at least let it be because of your own shadows."

The characters while interesting were so frustrating. Our main character Semiramis absolutely ate. Like she knew what she wanted to be and she became that person like she was so clever and cunning and the way she thought and crafted her plans and was always ahead was so good like honestly it was so mind-blowing at times and like when you read the final chapters and look back at her characters decisions throughout the book everything hits so much better. Ninus and Onnes Ahahahaha these two were the messiest characters in this book like I would love them for a minute and hate them the other like honestly I had no idea what to make for them but I just know that they would've worked best as a throuple!! Onnes was such a complex character with his dark past and self sabotaging guilt , he was doomed from the start and Ninus manipulated from the start, his life was literally a lie so they both were broken and it worked perfectly for Semiramis lmaoo

"Power is a game that is played in palaces in only," she said "Do not fear Spymaster, I know how to play too."

The romance was the messiest, toxicest shit that I have ever read like what the fuck was that I dont even think I can talk about it because I think it would be spoilery but I shipped her with whoever she ended up with whenever she was with the person like Casati just made it work somehow??? It was amazing and concerning at the same time...also the whole relationship and marriage for power thing in here disgusts me so bad at time like wdym Ninus's mother married her son after her husband died?? ewwwww. Thank god this was not the case for the main love interest. Say what you want the romance was quite literally a tragedy in the making because of how it was everyone was just so twisted and broken and messed up. I dont think anything would've worked maybe one of them under bettcer circumstances or all of them together lol

The ending though was perfect like I really, really, liked the ending of this book and it made the whole experience worth it!!

Overall, I do think that this book isn't for everyone but I would definitely recommend it!!

In Babylonia we follow the life of the legendary Assyrian queen, Semiramis -inspired by Akkadian queen Shammuramat-, from early years a an orphan of Eber-Nari cared for by a man who wishes to eventually pocket the money from marrying her of, her marriage to the province governor, Onnes,and life in the capital of the empire, as she balances her marriage with Onnes, deeply troubled and seeking to forget his sorrows in poppy seeds, her growing proximity with Ninus, and her encounters with other members of royalty from Assyrian and neighboring empires.

This story is all I am seeking when I read something from this seemingly emerging sub genre of retelling stories about feminine characters in history or mythology: it feels realistic in a lot of ways as to what the gender expectations -or what we think those may be based on archaeological and written records-, which seems obvious, but many of them just tend to lean too strongly on having a female character that behaves in a way that makes sense to modern perspectives and ideas of gender, even in their defiance of our current model of patriarchy. Similarly, the prose is so delightful, poetically crafted. This was a favorite book definitely.

Casati’s previous novel Clytemnestra was one of my favorite books of 2023 so I was really looking forward to this one but I DNF’d at 30%. I was bored and found myself questioning if this was even the same writer.

Semiramis was orphaned as a baby and grew up in Mari, a village located in Eber-Nari. Her upbringing was wrought with abuse by her adopted- father who shepherd of the village-and the boys of the town. She longed to escape the cruelty of life she was given. When she is at a marriageable age, she has a chance of escape when Onnes- the new governor- of Eber-Nari arrives to her village. Onnes notices something in Semiramis that has captivated him and he wants her to become his wife. He takes her to the capital of the Assyrian empire-Kalhu-and she soon discovers her life in the capitol will not be as easy to say the least.

Semiramis’s ascent to a throne was extraordinary told and when she becomes entangled in a love triangle of two powerful men-her husband and the King-and experiences war, politics and betrayal, she must fight for very survival.

Casati leads the reader through the tragic events unfolding and to the rise of power Assyria’s one and only female ruler. The blend of mythology and the ancient world of Assyria empire and the interactions with other kingdoms including the Babylonians is stunningly and beautifully told. The reader is transported to time and place and your senses are heightened by the sights and sounds of the characters daily lives, past experiences and the wars they wage on each other. You feel the character’s depth in their journey of life, love and conflicts with each other.

My only problem with the story is that I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to read about Semiramis’s time as ruler. I rated this this story five stars.

I highly recommend the reader to read the author’s notes at the end. I will most assuredly be adding a physical copy to my book stacks.

Wow, I love this book.

If you look up information about Semiramis, most online results tend to depict her as a seductress who achieved her status through the art of seduction. In Babylonia, Constanza Casati paints Semiramis as an unstoppable, fierce warrior.

While Babylonia revolves around Semiramis, every character in this book is different and fascinating in their own way - the King who everyone thought was weak because he was kind, the King's mother who was capable of so many things to keep her power, and many others. With every new page, something new always unfolds. I enjoy every part of the story, from its brutal violence and complex political schemes to the tragic love triangle.

Aside from the story itself, Casati also had an impressive writing style and wonderful world-building. I am definitely considering picking up her other book, Clytemnestra.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Perfect. Stellar. Phenomenal. I honestly don’t know what else I can say. No notes. I probably should allow more time for this to digest before attempting to write this.