A rip-roaring beach read, if your idea of a beach includes two moons and the hum and shimmer of an interplanary portal overhead. This first novel by British author Gaie Sebold follows the swashbuckling trail of the titular Babylon, madam of the finest brothel in the city of Scalentine, as she attempts to track down a missing girl in order to avert a political disaster. Oh, and did we mention she was once an avatar of the goddess of love and war? And that her former fellow avatars have

—Petra Mayer