This... wasn't for me...

To be fair, the author did give a warning in the introduction that this book might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Unfortunately, I was one of those people that didn't 'vibe' with this book.

I'm sure there are many people that would enjoy this book... just not for me.

I was messaged to stop reading this one. I hadn't got to far into it and had been quite dense to approach. I would be open to reading it in the future.

Judging by the feedback already given here, it'll come as no surprise that I'm marking this as a DNF.

I tried reading it back when I'd first received it. I didn't get far, and honestly forgot about it. In my year-end attempt to catch up on all my backlist books, I came across this one and tried again. It's worse than I remembered.

Since I'm not finishing this book, I won't be leaving a review anywhere.

The premise to the story sounded interesting because it was about the first author in the world. However, there were many graphic scenes that made me uncomfortable while reading. These scenes were disturbing. Still, the best part was the setting. The author did a great job in bringing ancient Babylon to life. This just was not for me.

So. I was messaged by the author to not read this book, for some reason (changes being made I think was what was cited) but I'd already tried to read the book several times and quite honestly, I couldn't.
I don't normally DNF, but as the author requested it (as another reviewer mentioned it, I checked and sure enough it was in there, and I've got a note saying 'wait to see if there's an update. There's not), so I'm not reviewing anything bar what I read, which was the first third.
Lots of issues, lots of terrible people, not a great book. I hope the author has made changes to fix this, but I'll stop waiting now.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

The author begins by preemptively apologizing for potentially offending any readers' religious beliefs. The author should have apologized for offending the reader's sensibilities by making them read this horrible book. The book is full of despicable characters, doing despicable things for no other reason than they felt like it. There were a couple of characters that were interesting and sympathetic, but the author killed them all off as soon as the reader began to get interested in them.

The story was long, unending and boring I started to dislike it immediately, but only my devotion to reviewing my books for NetGalley kept me at it. Needless to say, I will never get the time I spent reading this awful book back.

I really did not understand the point of the book, other than to horrify people. I wish that I could give it Zero stars.

Giving a neutral 3-stars because a star rating is required to submit a review. but I have not read this. I was messaged by the author and asked not to read/review this version because extreme changes were being made to the manuscript.

I didn’t like this one. Too much sex, sexual violence, and sadism. And too much cussing. It was cumbersome and didn’t grab my attention at all.I couldn’t finish it.

Ugh. Sadly, I am leaving this eARC review unrated. I really struggled with this one.

As an educator, I definitely dig through and try to find some great texts to teach history and engage students in independent reading. I just didn't find the writing engaging, I found the characters flat...and I am so sorry, in general I found it boring.

I ended up DNFing the novel at about 53% because I have limited time as a teacher, so hence why I am going to leave the novel unrated on Goodreads. Unfortunately, this was an exciting book on paper, interesting premise, with little delivery.

NetGalley provided me with a digital version of this book for an honest review

I was excited to read this book. Being an Ancient History minor in college, this book immediately caught my attention. The premise of the story sounded very promising. All of this to say, I was completely disappointed. There was so much going on, it was very difficult to keep up with character arcs, side stories, so many details that seemed unnecessary. The religious aspect that is thrown in there was completely belittling and I am unsure of the reason behind that as well.

Overall, utterly confused and highly disappointed.

i appreciated that the end had historical notes, it really helped me figure out what I was reading. I enjoyed the characters and the story.

This book is interesting in that it intertwines the stories of old gods of the Middle East with biblical figures of the old testament. The tales of Gilgamesh, AnuT, Ishtar, Zuizudra, Ibrahem and Isaa for example remind the reader of stories of Noah and the arc and Abraham being ordered by Yahweh to sacrifice his son, Isaac. The author did a lot of research on this book and it shows. The story lines are interesting and the writing is sufficiently good to keep the reader interested.

The negatives are twofold: the "F" word is used way too much by all characters; and the book is just too long. Each individual thread of the story goes on so long that the reader loses track of all the characters and situations. This would have been a much better book if it was quite a bit shorter.

We were instructed by the author to discard the original edition of this book, as she is in the process of making major revisions. Hope to receive a copy of the revised version, as this title and synopsis were intriguing.

I received a free ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I could not finish this book. It was cumbersome and just did not grab my attention. When I received an email from the author indicating that the book was going to be edited for length and content prior to being published, I opted to quit reading as I was not sure if the edited version of the book was going to be provided, and the email asked that a review not be made off the earlier version of the story. That email was a relief to me as it gave me a good reason to quit the book.

***Disclaimer***
Despite the fact that we received an email from the author to disregard this edition and they are working on a shorter version, I have to admit, I really liked the long version. Surely, at some points the interest may be jeopardized due to length, however, the length of the text at any point didn't feel absolutely excessive.

Historical references: Five Stars: the author is giving references and some insights at the end of the book, which was extremely helpful ( please keep in future editions), and names, events are very much referenced perfectly and give the reader the atmosphere of Ancient Mesopotamia, with people and ethnic characters and expectations.
Language: Four stars: I wish we had a bit more from the national language, even some words or references ( other than royals and people's names which represent the era). Also, sorry, as always, any use of F-word is a red flag for me, I am still sure masterpiece can be made without the use of jargon.
Idea: three and a half stars, I was hoping for a bit more uniqueness, however, only the persona of the merchant of words was so unique and I hope this character was more engaged.
Interest keeping: Three and a half stars, at some points I was catching myself disliking from the text, I believe a bit more enviornemtnal and cultural references would make this even more fascinating read.

I was sent an email from the publisher/author asking to not review this copy - from the snippet that I have read the author has a very clear writing style that showcases her potential. Wishing her the best with revisions and hopefully I'll be able to give this another try in the future! Giving it a 3 stars because there were clear trigger warnings provided before starting and there was communication between reader/publisher.

This book was just not for me, it took me out of my comfort zone and was a challenge read for me. But it was well written and it was not a bad book just not something I would care to read again

IT DIDN'T TAKE MY LONG TO FIND OUT THAT THIS WAS DEFINITELY NOT FOR ME

DNF at 10%

Even though the prologue got me pretty excited for the actual book, everything that came after it was a huge let down. I was only about 10 pages into the first chapter when I started to want to quit it. I knew I was never going to like it and dragging it over over the monstrous length of this book wasn't going to make me like it any more. Much the contrary, in fact. So I decided to call it quits. The following is, therefore, perhaps not a review, but more a compilation of the reasons why I couldn't get into or finish this.

👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎

Writing: Honestly, I don't often comment on an authors writing, mainly because it is often just a vehicle for the story in my opinion. But here, I have to comment because the writing was actually the first thing that turned me off. It had absolutely no flow. It was lumpy and jumpy - and when you are reading a book of this length, you need the writing to flow else you have to start and stop too often to make the story flow naturally.

Length: After 10% of this book it was apparent to me, that the length of this book did not match the contents. It went in way too many unecessary directions, making it seem like it was going nowhere at all. And with a book of this length, there needs to be some sort of direction. You need to have an idea og where this is going to end up to make you want to keep reading. I had absolutely no sense of it and felt like it wasn't going to happen anytime soon either.

Characters: Again, way too many characters that are just lobbed in there with seemingly no thought or consequence. They take up too much space and weigh the story down even further, making it seem much longer yet again. You don't need that many characters, especially not right at the beginning of a book, where you're still setting the stage for what's to come.

Unfortunately just when I was about to start reading this book I received an email. The email was requesting to not read and review the book because there will be changes made. I think it’s great that the publisher and author seemed to have listened to the reviews. But, to be fair, there was a note of warning for readers.
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Please note, I have not read the book. I’m only giving this a one star because I have to give it a star rating.
I wish the author all the best.

Author is revising book and requested we not review or submit feedback on this novel. What I’ve read so far has been great and I’m excited to see how the book changes and what this author puts out. The writing definitely draws you and and keeps you immersed in the story.