Whores of Babylon

by Ian Watson, Lydia Wood (Editor)

Alex Winter and Deborah Tate arrive by hovercraft at the city of Babylon, lying on the river Euphrates in the Arizona desert. He is a sociology drop-out from the University of Oregon at Eugene who wants to become a Babylonian. She has a much stranger ambition. Their minds are babbling in the Greek that has been pumped into them via computer interface at the University of Heuristics. To them, English has yet to be invented and the young king Alexander lies dying in his palace. The city is dominated by the tower of Babel, its spiral roadway curling up towards the heavens and wide enough for several donkey carts. And women sit outside the Temple of Ishtar, waiting for some stranger to drop a coin in their laps. The prospect seems to fascinate Deborah. She wants to become one of the Whores of Babylon. Whores of Babylon was first published in 1988 and won the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel. Ian Watson has revised and updated the Immanion Press edition for a new century.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Kevin Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is, at heart a love story, albeit a love story that functions against a somewhat different set of mores than we may be used to. First published back in 1988 (which is the edition I read) it shows a very confident Ian Watson flexing his literary muscles to create a unique piece of storytelling set in a future society which gives certain individuals the chance to become part of a recreation of ancient Babylon. The story is beguiling and the characters compelling, and it kept me hooked throughout. There is no doubt that Watson is a highly intelligent (dare I say, intellectual) writer who puts in the research hours and it shows... the recreation of the ancient city feels flawless. There is also a huge imaginative scope to the novel, and I feel he has pulled off an extraordinary feat here, setting what is essentially a science fiction novel into what is a firmly historical context: to the extent that I found myself forgetting that I was reading SF, so immersed was I in the ancient historicity of the piece. I rarely give 5-star reviews, but this was something special. Well worth a read!

[Ilga Jēkabsone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beginning of the book was promising but it got boring at some point. I red it till end hoping that the ending would be good but was disappointed.

[Hadia Butari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trashy. Entertaining.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slightly inconsistent but overall a compelling novel, better than most of the things Watson wrote after the mid-1980s.

[Richard Balmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A profoundly strange, original novel about memory and reality that contains one of the most vivid depictions of an ancient city I've encountered.

[Ginevra Turiasó]

Estoy leyendo este libro solo porque el título suena TAN MAL que, pensé, "Dios, debo leerlo" KSJAKSJSKKAJS

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished this thing because it wasn't bad enough to put down. I was never able to figure out what it was or where it was going and then it just ended. it was a puzzlement. Alternate history, Matrix like SF, WTF?