Fantasy books inspired by ancient Mesopotamia
This is a curated, but not ranked, collection of fantasy books with secondary-world settings inspired by ancient Mesopotamia. If you’re looking for historical fantasy set in a more explicitly Mesopotamian setting, try this list instead.
Some of it was published recently, and some more than a century ago. Some is traditionally published; some is independently published.
Please note that some of these titles are part of a series. The title listed will always be the first volume.
Like all ancient-world fiction lists on this site, this one is a living document that I’ll expand over time as I discover new titles. If you’d like to suggest a book for consideration, please submit it via the form at the bottom of the page.
Whether or not each book is right for you is a decision between you and Goodreads. A book’s inclusion on this list should not be taken as a personal recommendation from me. I’ve read some but not all of these titles. I have, however, researched all of them to minimise the chances of AI-generated or otherwise very low-quality fiction appearing on the list. Different readers have different tastes, and my goal is to spread the word about ancient-world fiction, not review it.
Related lists:
Novels set in ancient Mesopotamia
Priestess of Ishana
By Judith Starkston. Published in 2018. This epic fantasy with a mystery plot draws on the life of Bronze Age Hittite queen Puduhepa.
Pale Queen’s Courtyard
By Marcin Wrona. Published in 2011. In a Mesopotamia-inspired fantasy world, a soldier and sorcerer-thief protect a high priest’s young daughter as she’s hunted down for politics.
Between the Rivers
By Harry Turtledove. Published in 1998. The gods get worried when the mortals of one city-state, due to its patron god’s laziness, develop the habit of thinking for themselves. Takes place in ‘the morning of the world’.
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach
By Kelly Robson. Published in 2018. In 2267, Earth is beginning to recover from ecological disasters, and time travel has recently been invented. The main character travels to 2000 BCE Mesopotamia to survey the Tigris and Euphrates for her river restoration project. This novella is described as a ‘shifting history of adventure as humanity clashes over whether to repair their ruined planet or luxuriate in a less tainted past.’
The King & Kishar
By Timothy S. Currey. Published in 2021. A king cursed with memories finds himself in a race against time to restore his memories before his city falls apart. But as he learns more about the cold tyrant he was, he’s not sure he wants his old life back.
Pyrebound
By Brayton Cole. Published in 2022. In a Bronze Age river valley, ‘life only survives around magical fires, precious lights kindled by the deaths of priests. But there are only so many, only so much space around them, and the human race multiplies. What happens to a man who loses his place beside the fire?’
