There’s nothing more enjoyable than stumbling across an author who is new to you, and being blown away by what you find. As such, I owe a big “thank you” to PS Publishing for introducing me to the talented Sebastien Doubinsky and his upcoming novel, THE BABYLONIAN TRILOGY. 
The book is divided into three interconnected sections, each of them roughly the size of a long novella. The first section is entitled “The Birth of Television According to Buddha”, and deals with multiple themes ranging from a war in the Far East to over-the-top, sensationalist media coverage. The story is made up of little snippets (anywhere from one sentence to a couple pages in length) from multiple characters’ perspectives, all of which come together to form a mosaic. Doubinsky takes a small risk here in that the story isn’t a free-flowing narrative (which may sound off-putting to some), but his exceptional creativity and lyrical style bring the pieces together to form a very powerful work of fiction. There’s so much going on in this story – themes ripped from today’s headlines; tone that moves from dark satire and humor to horror and sadness; imagery that literally jumps off the page, from descriptions of colors to the sights and sounds of war. It truly is a testament to the quality of Doubinsky’s writing that he was able to pull it all off.
The second section, entitled “Yellow Bull”, tells the story of Police Commissioner Georg Ratner as he attempts to capture a serial killer. Doubinsky uses characterization quite well in this piece, describing Ratner’s life in detail so the reader gets to know more about the flawed-but-intelligent commissioner...and what his true motivations are.
The last section is “The Gardens of Babylon”, which again takes a multi-faceted view of the city and the people who live there. The story centers around three people who are battling inner demons in three distinct ways, and the lengths that each of them will go to in order to cut free from their plight. Like the aforementioned “The Birth of…”, this story is presented with snippets from each character’s perspective (albeit slightly longer than the snippets used in the first section). By the end of the story, characters from all three sections have crossed paths and formed one highly original novel.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As I stated earlier, the style may be hard for some people to come to grips with. But the reward is most certainly worth your reading time. THE BABYLONIAN TRILOGY gets 9.5 out of 10 in my book, losing a fraction of a point for the way a character was handled at the very end of the third section (which was quite different than I expected, and didn’t work as well as the rest of the novel).
THE BABYLONIAN TRILOGY is being released by PS Publishing, and will be available as a $30 trade hardcover and a $75 signed, slipcased hardcover.
The book is divided into three interconnected sections, each of them roughly the size of a long novella. The first section is entitled “The Birth of Television According to Buddha”, and deals with multiple themes ranging from a war in the Far East to over-the-top, sensationalist media coverage. The story is made up of little snippets (anywhere from one sentence to a couple pages in length) from multiple characters’ perspectives, all of which come together to form a mosaic. Doubinsky takes a small risk here in that the story isn’t a free-flowing narrative (which may sound off-putting to some), but his exceptional creativity and lyrical style bring the pieces together to form a very powerful work of fiction. There’s so much going on in this story – themes ripped from today’s headlines; tone that moves from dark satire and humor to horror and sadness; imagery that literally jumps off the page, from descriptions of colors to the sights and sounds of war. It truly is a testament to the quality of Doubinsky’s writing that he was able to pull it all off.
The second section, entitled “Yellow Bull”, tells the story of Police Commissioner Georg Ratner as he attempts to capture a serial killer. Doubinsky uses characterization quite well in this piece, describing Ratner’s life in detail so the reader gets to know more about the flawed-but-intelligent commissioner...and what his true motivations are.
The last section is “The Gardens of Babylon”, which again takes a multi-faceted view of the city and the people who live there. The story centers around three people who are battling inner demons in three distinct ways, and the lengths that each of them will go to in order to cut free from their plight. Like the aforementioned “The Birth of…”, this story is presented with snippets from each character’s perspective (albeit slightly longer than the snippets used in the first section). By the end of the story, characters from all three sections have crossed paths and formed one highly original novel.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As I stated earlier, the style may be hard for some people to come to grips with. But the reward is most certainly worth your reading time. THE BABYLONIAN TRILOGY gets 9.5 out of 10 in my book, losing a fraction of a point for the way a character was handled at the very end of the third section (which was quite different than I expected, and didn’t work as well as the rest of the novel).
THE BABYLONIAN TRILOGY is being released by PS Publishing, and will be available as a $30 trade hardcover and a $75 signed, slipcased hardcover.
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