There’s nothing I love more than a historical fiction set in an ancient world.

The world Casati built was vibrant and so real. It was a beautiful mythological retelling of 9th century Assyria. You could tell that she certainly did her research. I felt very much a part of the story.

I was captivated by the story of Semiramis of ancient Mesopotamia. She was a resilient, fierce woman who sought a better life, ultimately rising higher than any other woman in her society.

Casati’s writing was so beautiful; such incredible prose. She has such a command with storytelling and writing as a whole.

I truly hope that Casati takes on other non-Greek mythological retellings because I would absolutely eat it up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy.

If you love historical fiction with strong female characters, you’ll love ‘Babylonia’ by Contanza Casati. Narrated by Ayesha Antoine, the story is brought to life with perfect timing and inflections. This is my first time reading by this author, and I’m blown away by the incredible tale. The narration is equally impressive, with the voice actor’s performance bringing the characters’ emotions to life.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. I went into this book blind and did not know what would happen. While there are a lot of characters the author does a good job of reminding you how they are related to who throughout. Because of this I was able to listen at a fast 2.5 speed. It is a story that will stay with me for a long time.

A captivating historical fiction which examines the fall of powerful men and the rise of those from humble origins. Drawing on historical sources, Casati breathes life into ancient Mesopotamia and gives voice to many aspects of life then and there.

This story of Semiramis is an entertaining blend of historical fiction and myth. While the Assyrian queen actually existed in ancient history, the author did a great job of embellishing her story and demonstrating how this character could have played a larger than life role in historical accounts. I really enjoy this type of myth or embellished historical stories about strong women who pursued power and were able to rule in ways that the men could not. The character development in this novel was well done and the story was engaging and unpredictable. Semiramis overcame challenge after challenge and escaped execution or accidental death numerous times. Although she was a warrior, she is also depicted in the story as also being very feminine and very caring towards those she loved. I always appreciate the author’s notes around their research and found the history included after the book to be very interesting. I did get bogged down in the story at times and thought the book was a bit too long but enjoyed it overall.
I listened to the audio version of this book and the narrator was very good. Her voice inflections and portrayal of the different characters was well done.

‘Immortality doesn’t mean living forever. It means surviving even after your heart stops beating and your body is burned; It means living in myth, in stories’. —Costanza Casati, Babylonia.

Story: 5 Stars
Audio: 5 Stars
Narrator: Ayesha Antoine

I read Casati’s novel, Clytemnestra, last year and loved it. I was thrilled to see that her new novel was available on Netgalley for review… yes, please. I am so happy to report that it lived up to my expectations. I liked the multiple POV’s and thought it worked well in moving the story along. A fascinating time period that gets explored rarely in fiction. Highly recommend.

Available on Libby. Listened at 1.25 speed through Netgalley.

***ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book was a breath-taking ride.
Set in ancient Assyria, this story is based on mythology, but doesn't have the fantasy/gods aspects that we see in many of the recent Greek myth retellings. Semiramis rises from a nobody to a powerful queen and there are political manoeuvrings to rival Game of Thrones.
I was actually considering abandoning this book about 25% in. I was confused by the characters and didn't know what was going on. But by 50% I was absolutely hooked and did not want to stop reading. I was captivated by the politics and the court relationships. And even though I'm not usually a romance reader, the love triangle in this story was HOT! I found Semiramis fake at the beginning, but I really warmed to her and was fully behind her in her rise to power.
Content warning - there is a lot of graphic violence in this book.

In this richly woven historical novel, the author brings to life the fascinating and often tumultuous story of Semiramis, the only female ruler of the Assyrian Empire. With meticulous attention to detail, the book delves into Semiramis’s rise to power, against a backdrop of intricate political maneuvering and a deeply flawed romance.

Semiramis is a complex character—flawed yet determined, fiercely ambitious yet capable of deep vulnerability. Her relentless pursuit of a life beyond the humble beginnings she was born into makes her journey compelling to read. Watching her grow from a young woman desperate to escape her circumstances into a powerful ruler is both fascinating and, at times, tragic.

I didn’t know much about Assyrian history prior to reading this book, but it makes me want to learn more about it.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narration was well done.

I have had Costanza Casati’s other novel, Clytemnestra, on my TBR for a while and after reading this one it is getting bumped up. Casati does a fantastic job transporting us to an ancient world. She doesn’t shy away from the brutal but still brings humanity to all the characters. I really enjoyed every minute.

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebook Publishers and RB media for an ARC/ALC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I’d like to start by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed Casati’s previous book CLYTEMNESTRA. It felt like a true reimagining in that a much maligned queen was given her rightful due and then some. I really appreciated the work the author put in to reframe her story.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel quite as complimentary about BABYLONIA. For the record, narrator Ayesha Antoine is brilliant - her speech is crisp and engaging. And yet I constantly had to pull my mind back from drifting far, far away. I had to admit that I wasn’t compelled by the book, and I DNFed it a third of the way through.

It’s just that - nothing was really happening. There were a few bursts of action, but generally the story unhurriedly drifted along. Casati provides episodic glimpses into the characters, weaving little vignettes here and there. But the effect is rather disjointed as the parts weren’t coalescing into a coherent, flowing whole. For me, it felt akin to observing a pointillist painting - a collection of lots of little dots that clearly took care and precision to execute, but taken together felt static and dull.

“This is the trouble with history. You can't see what's not there. You can look at an empty space and see that something's missing, but there's no way to know what it was.” Naomi Alderman, The Power

My passion/side project is studying history, culture, and religions. Specifically ones that have been suppressed. More specifically ones about women. Babylonia is the story of Semiramis, though her real name was Shammuramat. She was a prominent queen of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, but as we know, men like to suppress the stories of powerful women. Her story was turned into mythology and passed through the centuries as fiction. Costanza Casati mixes fact with fiction in an attempt to piece together the story which has been lost.

“There is nothing for you here, for you are a woman. You already know your fate.” She feels a pang of anger, followed by hopelessness. It is an ancient feeling, that no matter what power she might achieve, it will never be enough.”I sit with the king's council in the North-West Palace”, she says sharply.
“My husband is the governor of Eber Nari and closest advisor to the king”.
“But you are a woman, still”.
“Are all womens destinies doomed to be the same?”
“You know they are”.
You are wrong, she thinks.


When it comes to what we can uncover from history, sometimes we have to take artistic license and read-between-the-lines. History is not fact, it is the study of the past. When examining the past, sometimes we have to look beyond what we see. Casati seamlessly combines the myth of Semiramis with the very real Shammuramat. She also compares Onnis and Ninus with the epic of Enkidu and Gilgamesh.

'What is love? Now, years later, he understands.
Love is the willingness to lose oneself, to enter a dark room without knowing what dangers lie inside, to be held by someone even if she could slit your throat.'


As someone who is demisexual myself, I loved to see the demisexual representation in the character Ninus. And as a romantic at heart/chronic romance reader, I was really hoping the three of them would come to an arrangement.

'The wind follows her, the spirits of the dead whispering. She doesn't fear them
She knows that they will meet again in the house of dust:
The common woman who became queen,
The governor she married,
And the king who loved them both.'


I want to start deep diving into the world of ancient Mesopotamia and the women the world forgot. If you finish this book, feeling the same way I do, you should read; When God Was a Woman, Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, and of course The Power!

"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."


Huge thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

“The poets say that men are made for glory, but gods want glory for themselves. So, to make men vulnerable, they gave them the gift of love.”

Another mythological banger from Costanza Casati.

Babylonia tells the tale of Assyria’s only female ruler, Semiramis. Orphaned and adopted by a commoner, Semiramis uses her ambition, cunning, and genuine kindness to rise to positions no one would have expected. The characters are all so complex and I loved all the different viewpoints. The story is dramatic and entertaining and I had such a good time with it.

I read and loved Clytemnestra last year and was so excited to see a new novel from this author who is quickly becoming an auto-buy author for me. While this one didn’t have quite as much of an impact on me that Clytemnestra had, I still really adored it and highly recommend to those that love mythology retellings.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBMedia for an ALC!

This book had me hooked from the start. It follows the story of Semiramis, an orphan adopted by an abusive shepherd. Desperate to escape her bleak life, Semiramis catches the eye of a visiting governor, Onnes, who sees himself in her and takes her back to his kingdom.

Semiramis goes on to become the first ancient queen to rule Assyria. While she remains humble throughout her rise to power, I felt she could have been more strategic at times. I enjoyed getting the perspectives of other complex characters like Ninus, Onnes, and Ribat, even though their relationships were pretty toxic.

Overall, I loved being immersed in the world of ancient Assyria, though the pacing dragged at points. The author did a great job bringing this historical figure to life in an engaging way. The audiobook was also very well done, with a fantastic narrator.

Thank you Netgalley and RBmedia for the audiobook ARC of Babylonia.

i am so honored to have gotten this ALC. first off the narrator did such an incredible job bringing us to this time period and truly immersing the listener! secondly i am a HUGE fan of costanza, i hope in the future i am accepted for ever ARC she releases bc her stories truly speak to my soul.
this is so much more than i thought and i know this story of revenge, love, feminine rage will liinger for such a long time.
A MUST PICK!

Wow this is a lot. It is beautiful! The narration is perfection. I love the political intrigue and all the characters. There is a lot to this story. Toxic romance and murder and deception and I love all of it. I have to sit and feel this book for a while.

This is one of the best books I've ever read.

Babylonia follows the life of Semiramis and journey through love and power - through whatever means necessary. This sliding scale of brutality to
humanity was so well depicted by both the barbaric system of ancient politics and Semiramis herself. Her character in this book is so real and raw that I felt like I could reach out and touch it. Her ascent to the throne from a orphaned commoner was truly a immersive and emotional tale. The way that love, heartbreak, tenderness, betrayal, and intimacy was written in this book was so beautiful. I felt like I was going through the same trials and tribulations. I felt hope, joy, loss, and power alongside Semiramis.

I cried for Onnes. I cried for Ninus. For the lives that they could have lived. For the mistakes that were never forgiven. For the happiness they both deserved. For the peace that I hope they found. I'm honestly crying now writing this.

I originally picked this book because of its ties to greek mythology but who would have thought that a ancient historical fiction book would bring me to this? It made me feel in a way that I haven't in a while. It made me look at life differently. I have struggled with other greek inspired authors like Madeline Miller but now I know that I must read every book that Casati releases. I truly believe that I will think about this book everyday for the rest of my life.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and RB Media for this audiobook arc.

* “She is a woman who allows herself to dream, the world will always try to crush her.”

* “I do not want to live in the service to men, I do not want my fate to depend on anyone but myself.”

I absolutely loved this reimagining of the story of Semiramis, the only woman to rule the Assyrian empire.

I love that Casati gives depth to her story that isn’t centered around her being a seductress. So much of women’s stories in mythology and history are focused on women’s sexuality or “duty” to their husbands, this was a refreshing take!!

I am excited to see what books she has in the works ❤️

The narrator of the audiobook was amazing!

Thank you NetGalley, RB Media and Constanza Casati for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I'm so glad I got this on audio because I know I would have pronounced all the names wrong. This was a fun story that I wanted to keep listening to.

Babylonia by Costanza Casati is an enthralling journey into a richly imagined ancient world filled with passion, power, and peril. Through evocative prose, Casati brings her protagonist’s struggles and triumphs to life, weaving a story of resilience and defiance against a backdrop of myth, politics, and betrayal. With its atmospheric setting and emotionally charged narrative, Babylonia is a compelling read for fans of historical fiction and epic tales of survival and strength.

With Babylonia, Costanza Casati has once again conjured to life an ancient queen and the empire she ruled, Assyria. She’s taken the bare bones of history and myth and fleshed them out. Semiramis was an orphan living in an outpost of the kingdom, raised by a shepherd. She attracts the attention of Onnes, a general and half-brother to the king and marries him. Through sheer force of will, intelligence and bravery, she rises to the ultimate seat of power.
Casati excels at world making. I felt I got a real sense of historical Assyria in 9th Century BC. It’s a graphic story, and not just the battle scenes. The story focuses on Semiramis, Onnes and the king, Ninus. All three main characters are fascinating. Complex, by turns ruthless and caring. Their relationships to each other kept shape shifting, which kept me engrossed. Even the secondary characters were well defined and I liked how Casati mixes historical figures with fictional ones.
I listened to this and Ayesha Antoine’s voice had the perfect tone, almost majestic in her telling.
My thanks to Netgalley and RBMedia for an advance copy of this audiobook.