Book Review: Lilith

Lilith by Nikki Marmery. Crooked Lane Books, Alcove Press, 2023.

Lilith by Nikki Marmery as seen on StoryGraph (because I only read an ebook galley)

Thank you, Crooked Lane Books and LibraryThing, for this ebook galley.

When I was about to begin reading this book, I thought with dread that it might be from a patriarchal monotheistic perspective. But fortunately, Lilith brings up the Mother Goddess early in the book.

Yay, this book uses “The Holy Mother” and the name of a Hebrew goddess, “Asherah” (and eventually other goddess names). I forget where I’ve come across Asherah before.

I like that this book shows them as I picture them: the psycho male deity, the power-tripping angels who are thugs. Fuck you, Sansenoy, and the wings you flew on!

I also like that it turns out there are lots of other people, not just two — this contradicts the myth. And all these different people have different deities, proving Yahweh is a liar in addition to a manipulative control freak. Meanwhile, Lilith flies over Adam and sees that he’s still in that garden, believing there are only two people when there are many. This is wonderful — Christofascists will hate this book!

I love how this novel exposes the utter absurdity of patriarchal monotheism.

The wicked fun irreverence reminds me of Margaret Atwood. So does the depressing and infuriating patriarchal crap.