WOW Costanza Casati could sell me anything and I would buy it :D

When I read the topic of the book I wasn't convinced at all about the story and then when I heard there were two love interests I was even less convinced, but somehow she makes it work and you totally buy it. I wish the Semiramis - the main character - could stay with both romantic interests. As far as I am concerned, this is the REAL story of Semiramis and no wikipedia page can tell me otherwise.

Loved the story and the plotting. The setting was amazing and I loved the different character perspectives.

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and the author for providing me with an eARC for review. I gave it 3.75 stars (rounded to 4 on Goodreads).

Babylonia by Costanza Casati was a surprising read for me, as historical fiction isn’t usually my go-to, but I found myself drawn into Semiramis’s journey. Casati’s embellishment of legend over strict history kept me engaged.

I’d definitely be interested in reading more from Casati in the future.

This lyrical story is my first foray into Constanza’s writing and it won’t be my last. I’m not as familiar with Assyrian mythology as I am other but after reading this I will be rectifying this oversight because wow. Ancient woman being badass things is really amazing.

Anyone who likes books by Madeline Miller or Natalie Haynes(a personal favorite of mine) will love this book. Watching Samiramis go from a commoner with an adopted father to craving her own path and destiny, just absolutely badass. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard her story before and I’m so thankful Constance brought her story to life.

What a fascinating book about a period of history I knew exactly nothing about before picking this up.

Brilliantly crafted, so beautifully written, packed full of the most convoluted character dynamics that had me absolutely riveted page after page, with a strong, complicated female main character who is the epitome of a rags-to-riches antihero.

And yet, at the same time, I felt like I was looking at the story through a trick mirror, an interrogation glass, where I could see everything happening but it was all an arm’s length away.

I LOVED the prose, I was eternally intrigued, it was so easy to keep reading – but I didn’t FEEL much at all about any of the characters’ plights. But I also kind of loved every single moment? It’s a weird feeling, I will admit. While an incredible feat of historical fiction that I will definitely be recommending, this book didn’t hit as hard as Casati’s Clytemnestra did – but I was super familiar with that source material and this was a brand new subject for me. But Costanza Casati has cemented herself as an auto-read author for any future books!

Babylonia is a mythology retelling following Semiramis throughout her rise to power. Costanza Casati did an amazing job creating multidimensional characters, and I love that many characters/plot elements are based on history. Narration performed by Ayesha Antoine is perfection.

I received an ARC and ALC from Sourcebooks Landmark and RBmedia | Recorded Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful tempest of love, betrayal and ambition. The story follows the enigmatic and driven Semiramis, who escapes her village life and abusive adoptive father by marring the new governor of Eber-Nari. In the capital she transforms into a political savy player on the king's council. Her need for security, to never be a nobody again threatens to implode more than just her relationships, but kingdoms.

There is so much to say about this beautifully written novel, but I don't want to spoil it! The story unfolds slowly, and windingly, but the journey is more important than the destination. I loved Onnes, Semiramis's husband and his reaction to the brutality of the Assyrian Empire. It certainly is not for the faint of heart. The cast of characters, including the King's mother, Ribat, and Sasi, are wonderful and really add to the atmosphere of intrigue.

I recommend to anyone who loves stories from the ancient world, who love literary reading, and who just loves a woman on a mission for power. No apologies requested!

BABYLONIA by Costanza Casati is a bold, imaginative take on ancient history that reads like myth, memory, and prophecy all at once. Casati blends fact and fiction so seamlessly that the world feels both distant and eerily present. It’s speculative historical fiction at its best, grounded in the past, but not bound by it.

The storytelling is immersive, the atmosphere thick with heat and tension, and the characters: especially the women, are written with depth and fury. She asks what power looks like, who gets to wield it, and what it costs.

If you like your historical fiction with sharp edges, vivid worldbuilding, and a touch of the uncanny, Babylonia is one worth sinking into. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“There’s something about ancient worlds that still manage to haunt you. The stories of civilizations long past - full of triumph, tragedy, and everything in between - have a way of pulling you in.”

Thank you, Casati, for weaving a story so rich and immersive. The ancient world has never felt so alive, so relevant.

Synopsis: This story takes place in the heart of ancient Babylon, where intrigue, politics, and secrets are layered with the echoes of a fading empire. It’s a journey through time, but also through the human condition - how little we change over centuries.

Review: The world-building in Babylonia is mesmerizing. Casati pulls you into the heart of the ancient city, its opulent palaces, sprawling markets, and shadowed temples. The characters are complex and human - imperfect in compelling ways. The plot was a slow burn.

🎧
Audiobook length: 12 hours
Narrators: Andrea P. Lavoisier & James F. Howard

🔥 Spice: None. This is a historical fiction that focuses more on the intricacies of power and society, not romance or explicit scenes.

Read if you enjoy:
🌍 richly detailed historical fiction
🛕 deep, complex characters
👑 political intrigue and empire-building
🌿 stories about the rise and fall of civilizations
🎧 immersive audiobooks with fantastic narration

The setting of this book was intriguing and I think it will be a great fit for many readers. I just don’t think this book was a good fit for me!

I will never skip a book by Costanza Casati. She takes the hidden gems of mythology and allows us to learn more about them even through a fictional lens. I absolutely love her writing.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this novel!

Semiramis is one of those characters that you can't help but root for despite her being deeply flawed. She is ruthless and determined to get what she wants, sometimes no matter the cost. This coupled with the intense power dynamics of Ancient Assyria made the novel so compelling and mysterious. This was a fast paced novel with a beautiful prose that transported you back into the ancient times of old while still keeping some of the mythicism alive. My only complaint is that it ended fifty pages to soon and I would have loved to read more of Semiramis's life.

This was my first novel by Costanza Casati and I cannot wait to read her other novel!

Now this is what I’m talking about! This story is a wonderful mythology retelling. When the fmc is such a strong and badass character I am here for it! I loved watching the fmc’s growth and struggles and showing what it’s like when a woman rules. This book was beautiful and encapsulated the ambition of a woman and her resilience to get her where she needs to be.

This book was a fantastic character study. Semiramis is complex, ambitious, and not always likeable but always understandable. Learning about the Assyrian empire was equally fascinating. I finished the book deeply glad I did not live at that time in history.
Constanza Casati's writing drew me in from beginning to end. I need to check out more from her.

Babylonia by Costanza Casati is an exquisite, sweeping novel that completely captivated me from the first page. Casati’s storytelling is lush and immersive, pulling readers into a vivid ancient world filled with power, ambition, and fierce, unforgettable women. Her prose is both lyrical and razor-sharp, making every scene pulse with life and urgency.

The characters are richly drawn, especially the complex, determined heroine whose strength and vulnerability felt so real. Casati masterfully weaves history, mythology, and emotion together, creating a story that feels both timeless and urgently relevant.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this stunning novel.

I really enjoyed this mythology retelling! I absolutely adored Clytemnestra by this author, so I was extremely excited for this book! It did not let me down. Casati's writing is beautiful and lyrical, and she creates her characters and setting wonderfully. I loved this book so much! This is definitely one of my top three mythology retelling books, and I cannot wait to see what Costanza Casati writes next!

I received this advance readers copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. An interesting novel, but nowhere near as compelling as Casati's debut, "Clytemestra". I felt the writing was slow and the plot revealed very incrementally. In Clytemestra, the character's emotional turmoil drove a large portion of the story, but in Babylonia the emotional development and plot lines felt partially obscured and hard to remain interested in. But overall, I'm looking forward to Casati's next publication.

I had heard a lot of great buzz about "Clytemnestra" so when I saw an ARC for this book by the same author, I jumped at the chance to read it, although I did go into it blind, knowing nothing about the storyline or the main characters or even the setting/time period. It started off incredibly strong and drew me in quickly, cheering for Semiramis to succeed and wanting to know what happened next for her. She was so strong-willed and powerful and determined and had been dealt a hard start in life, so I couldn't wait to see where she rose to. I was also cheering for her relationship with Onnes. Then the incestual/brothers/same-sex relationship played into everything and was a huge part of the story and then there was the mess of relationships between Semiramis, Ninus, and Onnes, with the incestual/brothers/same-sex thing. There was also just SO MUCH going on with war and bloodshed and hate and the (yes, I'm mentioning it again, but it was everywhere in this book) triangle/incestual/brothers/same-sex relationships without anything to redeem any of the characters, just nothing. No happiness. Just drive and ambition and hate and nothing redeeming in their character qualities. Even the politics had potential for building all the characters and even the storyline, including the wars, but even that also fell flat. This could have been so much stronger, and the strong writing and descriptions were there, just not enough to compensate for the poor characters and lack of intriguing storyline. The characters and this setting just were not for me, and they could have been with different execution. It could have been very powerful and strong, especially after the strong beginning, but then it just went in a completely confusing direction. Apparently, the main characters are real ancient historical figures in Assyria and Babylon, so there is *some, minimal* basis for them, but everything else appears to be *strong* artistic literary license that just took the storyline in a confusing direction with a depressing ending. Unfortunately, I wanted more from the storyline and the history woven into that and focusing more on that time period and strengthening those characters and none of the incest. I tried to like it more and to see what other reviewers were raving about, but in the end it just wasn't for me and I did find more reviews that felt the same. This looks like it will work for some and not for others. I will still probably try to read "Clytemnestra" at some point, though.

Content/Triggers: F bombs (so unnecessary--usually I can ignore these, but these felt added simply and only for effect), war and bloodshed (some graphic descriptions, some not), suicide (multiple), same-sex incest (I'm probably missing a few)

So much happened here. It was super interesting to read about Assyrian history - something I know nothing about outside of the Bible. And was made all the better by kick butt female leaders and warriors. Semiramis, was the only (known) female ruler of the Assyrian empire and we follow her story from a commoner to a leader of the empire. Unfortunately, reading this book took way more mental power than I was ready for and the beginning chapters I had to both read and listened to on audiobook because I just had no idea what was happening. While I guess on some level this book could be described as having romance, it also definitely did not have romance - just a woman doing whatever it took to get power, which I think I loved even more. Overall, the cover is stunning, the ending was fantastic, and I learned something but I wish I had been in a different brain space when I read it. Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the arc!

I did not know much about ancient Assyria before reading this book, but now I find myself wanting to know more! The only female ruler of this empire is the focus of this story. This was a great reimagining of her story! A very powerful read.