Overall thoughts on the book:
I’ve never known much about Sumerian Mythology. I had heard about the Epic of Gilgamesh, but I’ve never read the original. The story is a few thousand years old, almost prehistoric. This trilogy is called a retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh. As of yet, I’ve only read the first of the three books (Inanna). I’ve gotten the second book, but the third hasn’t been published yet. I’ll plan to read all three.
It’s a very strange story, which makes sense as it is so old. It’s written in a very dark style. I didn’t love the way that Gilgamesh’s “friend” Enkidu died. I don’t think that is accurate to the original, but I haven’t read the original so maybe it is. The story is very interesting.
More details on the book and lots of spoilers:
This book in The Sumerians Trilogy is a telling of the story of Inanna. Inanna is thought of as being the inspiration for the Greek Athena and the Roman Venus. She is the goddess of love and war.
In this story, Inanna is born into a powerful family. This family has magic that seems to come from another world. There are physical objects that the family uses to retain its power.
Inanna’s power is suppressed at the beginning of the story because the ancient people don’t want her to know that she will be the most powerful of all. The books starts with her as a child with a mortal friend. Her parents are hesitant to allow her to have a friend who will die. But she wants a friend. Her parents care about her but know that the world will not be kind to her.
This book contains lots of gory scenes. And many scenes that we would view as sexual assault. Some of the book is a hard read. Many people are beaten and senselessly killed.
This story shows how Inanna learned of her true power. And how Gilgamesh was able to give her the confidence she needed to meet her potential.
We also get to read about the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. The second book in the trilogy is called “Gilgamesh”, as such, I hope we will get to read more about that story in the second book. I was disappointed by how short lived their relationship was. I’d like to know more about it.
I also hope that we will learn more about Erishkigal, Inanna’s older sister. She lived such a horrible life in the first book. I want to see what happens with her in the second book.
Erishkigal chose to live in the underworld for years and write her family’s history. She seems to lose her mind underground. And we learn that she has realized that many of the stories that her powerful family has told the people have been lies meant only to control people.
Final thoughts:
I enjoyed this book but I don’t know that I would recommend it to just anyone. It is very dark and is not the easiest read, but I am planning to finish the trilogy.
Bayous and Books 