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Babylonia

A Novel

ebook
0 of 1 copy available
0 of 1 copy available

DELUXE HARDCOVER EDITION—featuring stunning printed edges, luxe gold foil, and full color endpapers giving you a peek into the gripping world of Ancient Assyria!

From the author of the bestselling Clytemnestra comes another intoxicating excursion into ancient history, painting the brutal and captivating empire of gods and men, and the one queen destined to rule them all.

A common woman. The governor she married. The king who loved them both.

Babylonia across the centuries has become the embodiment of lust, excess, and dissolute power that ruled Ancient Assyria. In this world you had to kill to be king. Or, in the case of Semiramis, an orphan raised on the outskirts of an empire: 

Queen.

Nothing about Semiramis's upbringing could have foretold her legacy. But when she meets a young representative of the new Assyrian king, a prophecy unfolds before her, one that puts her in the center of a brutal world and in the hearts of two men - one who happens to be king.

Now a risen lady in a court of vipers, Semiramis becomes caught in the politics and viciousness of ancient Assyria. Instead of bartering with fate, Semiramis trains in war and diplomacy. And with each move, she rises in rank, embroiled in a game of power, desire, love, and betrayal, until she can ascend to the only position that will ever keep her safe.

In her second novel, Costanza Casati brilliantly weaves myth and ancient history together to give Semiramis, the only female ruler of the Assyrian Empire, a voice, charting her captivating ascent to a throne no one promised her.

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    • Library Journal

      August 1, 2024

      The author of the Indie Next and LibraryReads pick Clytemnestra returns with another retelling set in the world of ancient Assyria. Following the love triangle/power struggle story of Semiramis, Casati explores how a woman without power rose to become the only the queen ever to rule her nation. Expect painted edges and more in a specially designed package. Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from October 7, 2024
      Casati (Clytemnestra) chronicles the ruthless rise of Assyrian queen Semiramis in this masterful saga. In 823 BCE, the Assyrian empire is in the midst of a civil war between Assur and Ninus, two opposing sons of the late King Shalmaneser. The conflict extends to Eber-Nari, the western province where Semiramis was raised by Simmas, a shepherd, after she was abandoned as an infant by her mother, who then died by suicide. The fearless and resourceful Semiramis views Shalmaneser’s illegitimate son, Onnes, as a way out of her harsh life, and after framing the abusive Simmas for theft, she persuades Onnes to take her as his wife to the capital city of Kalhu. There, Semiramis continues to challenge norms, training in combat and navigating palace intrigue fomented by Ninus’s mother and by a rival for power who commands the Assyrian army. Five years after Semiramis leaves Eber-Nari, the Assyrians come under threat from Babylonia, and her machinations culminate in her becoming Assyria’s leader. Casati excels at depicting the stark brutality of the period, contrasting matter-of-fact descriptions of impalings and mutilations with Semiramis’s determination to survive: “To die is to travel to the land of no return. She has seen that land from afar: it waits for her every time her father strikes her.” No matter how much cruelty Semiramis dispenses, Casati never loses sight of what drives her heroine to achieve a status where she need not obey anyone else. Admirers of Robert Graves’s Claudius novels will be riveted.

    • Booklist

      December 1, 2024
      Casati's follow-up to her powerful debut, Clytemnestra (2023), is a similarly piercing exploration of an equally complicated woman, Semiramis, an orphaned girl who transformed herself into a powerful Assyrian queen in the eighth century BCE. Raised in a modest village by a shepherd, Semiramis is plotting her escape as a teenager when the arrival of a handsome new governor, Onnes, provides the opportunity she's seeking. As secretive and emotionally scarred as she is, Onnes is a perfect match for Semiramis, and he brings her back to the capital of Kalhu to wed. Complicating matters is the king, Ninus, Onnes' best friend, who is harboring feelings for him that go beyond platonic comradeship. But when Semiramis joins the Assyrian army in battle, she and Ninus find themselves drawn to each other romantically. Casati renders the ancient world Semiramis inhabits in vivid detail, bringing in the perspective of a slave in her household, and together, the pair illustrates the influence even the most unlikely actors can have on history. Casati's compelling second outing portraying the Assyrian empire's only queen, is another triumph.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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