Published By: Michael Joseph
Pages: 400
Released On: 04/07/2024
You are SEMIRAMIS.
You are orphaned and raised on the outskirts of an empire, born into a life of toil and anonymity. But dreams of power and potential course through your veins.
You’re strong, cunning and quick… and hungry for more.
If you want the world to know your name, you will have to chart your path from your village of shadows and dust to the hallowed halls your emperors walk.
Legend has it you will rise from nothing to rule kingdoms and command armies.
But how far will you go to claim a throne no one promised you?
And what are you prepared to sacrifice along the way?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
When I said I loved Costanza’s debut book Clytemnestra, believe me when I say I LOVED it, and I’ve been looking out for her name ever since, and so there was an audible squealing when I got sent an early digital copy of Babylonia.
I don’t know much, if anything really, about Babylonia, and so I came into this book completely fresh. It wasn’t a retelling for me, as I knew nothing to be retold. And I think that’s maybe why I felt closer to Clytemnestra because I already knew something about it. Not to say I didn’t gel with this, don’t get me wrong, it’s equally as fabulous, it just took me a little longer to feel comfortable in its reading.
I don’t know why I keep insisting I don’t like mythological retellings when that’s clearly not true! I am on such a roll with reading them and they just get better and better.
There are Greek retellings here, there, and everywhere, and whilst I enjoy them, it’s refreshing to see a retelling of a different part of the world. Especially a part of the world I know little about and often gets a bad press nowadays. I know there are Greek myth elements to this, but it is definitely broader than that.
There are many characters, the main ones being, obviously, Semiramis, the Governor Onnes, and King Ninus. There are too many others to get into but I loved the dynamic between these three. They work wonderfully off each other, off all three, one or the other of them, and by themselves. They were fascinating to read individually, but also as a trio. I also want to mention the slave Ribat; he is obviously a very different character to the King and Governor and whatnot, but he shone equally as bright.
I love Costanza’s ability to write strong women during a time where women were there to marry, keep a house, and have babies. They didn’t speak up. They didn’t fight. They knew their place and they stayed there. But Semiramis (much like Clytemnestra) doesn’t accept this, and that’s really powerful to read.
I have absolutely no idea how to pronounce Semiramis, and so spent the majority of the book with my brain replacing it with “sbdimebge” or some other nonsense. And yet, by the end of it, I was reading her name as if it was the most natural thing.
It is incredibly detailed, so many layers, so much history of the characters, the immediate settings and wider worlds, the wars, the emotions, the weather – it is so detailed and so full on, that in less talented hands it would definitely have felt too much and too difficult to read and keep on top of. But the way Costanza writes…it is just so fluid and seamless that you just absorb all the background details which helps you concentrate on the story.
Babylonia has another beautiful eye-catching cover. I read a digital copy of this but I might just have to buy myself a physical copy just to have it shine on my shelf.
With the same as her first book, Costanza has this wonderful ability to show the brutality of everything, the wars, the murders, the abuse, but alongside the beauty of power and strength, She isn’t hiding the bad things, she doesn’t sugar coat things, but then that’s what makes the beautiful bits even more beautiful, as you can see how difficult it has been to get there.
What I really like about her writing is it is so visual that you can – or at least I can – visualise everything in my head. I can see Semiramis walking, I can see the fire pits, the ashes burning. It plays out almost like a movie, it’s so clear, and yet holds a lot of suggestions which allows the reader to make their own decisions about certain aspects.
It’s a far more complicated story than I was expecting. Lots of characters, different locations, histories, love affairs, complex relationships. There is a lot in this book, a lot! You are not short changed. It often felt far longer than 400 pages, not because it was slow or or boring but the opposite. There is SO much in it that you feel it must be longer to fit it all in.
Whilst I enjoyed it all, I definitely enjoyed it more the further I got into it, with the battles and fighting and whatnot. It really sped along then.
There is a lot of fantastic stuff in this book. Costanza is a beautiful storyteller, has such a talent for picking the right words for the right situations. Nothing falls flat. Her characters are multi-layered and well written, her settings beautiful, her peril frightening. I admit that I preferred Clytemnestra, but only marginally, and i fact I can’t give you a reason why, because there’s nothing wrong with this one at all. It’s just a gut feeing. This is still utterly fabulous and I will recommend it to everyone and Costanza has definitely cemented her place on my list of go-to readers.
But taking everything I’ve said into account, this is no less than a 5 star read. Phenomenal storytelling and characterisation, and I will continue to long for the next thing she writes.
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