The Leviathan of Babylon
#5313.75 adjusted 3.92 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 2006–2017 Reading commitment Low Hagar Yanai Last reviewed 2026-08-31
Overview
The Leviathan of Babylon is a complete three-book Hebrew fantasy trilogy by Hagar Yanai, a genuinely new author to this canon. Siblings Jonathan and Ella Margolis are drawn into a parallel Empire of Babylon ruled by a guild of magic-workers, in a setting built from Jewish, Babylonian, and wider Middle Eastern mythology. The trilogy -- The Leviathan of Babylon (2006), The Water Between the Worlds (2008), and The Journey to the Heart of the Abyss (2017) -- unfolds over more than a decade of publication, following the siblings as they move between their own world and the parallel Babylon, whose magic-workers guild governs power in ways closely tied to the setting's Babylonian-mythological framework. Yanai's trilogy is among the more prominent Hebrew-language epic fantasy works to draw so directly on Jewish and Mesopotamian mythological traditions rather than the Western European conventions more common to the genre.
Mythic fantasy, Portal fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
The Leviathan of Babylon Hagar Yanai
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Leviathan of Babylon | 2006 | 1 | core | 3.68 (168 ratings) |
 | The Water Between the Worlds | 2008 | 2 | core | 4.07 (60 ratings) |
| The Journey to the Heart of the Abyss | 2017 | 3 | core | 3.51 (35 ratings) |
A complete Hebrew-language fantasy trilogy following siblings Jonathan and Ella Margolis into a parallel Empire of Babylon ruled by a magical guild, drawing on Jewish, Babylonian, and wider Middle Eastern mythology; every volume won the Geffen Award for Best Original Hebrew Fantasy.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Leviathan of Babylon? The Leviathan of Babylon's Core Canon is 3 books.
- What is the reading order for The Leviathan of Babylon? Publication order, starting with The Leviathan of Babylon. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Leviathan of Babylon finished? Complete (2006–2017).
- How much reading does The Leviathan of Babylon take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books · ~983 pages).
- How is The Leviathan of Babylon ranked? #531 in this site's official ranking, based on 263 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #531?
Ranked #531 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.75 across 3 core books.
- A smaller readership (263 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.51 to 4.07.
- 0.17 behind #530, Sun Wolf and Starhawk.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 3 books · Complete · 263 ratings · Ranks #531 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment mythic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- The Leviathan of Babylon (2006)
- The Water Between the Worlds (2008)
- The Journey to the Heart of the Abyss (2017)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- Geffen Award (Best Original Hebrew Fantasy), 2007: won: The Leviathan of Babylon; Won for The Leviathan of Babylon.
- Geffen Award (Best Original Hebrew Fantasy), 2008: won: The Water Between the Worlds; Won for The Water Between the Worlds.
- Geffen Award (Best Original Hebrew Fantasy), 2018: won: The Journey to the Heart of the Abyss; Won for The Journey to the Heart of the Abyss.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.75 across 263 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit The Leviathan of Babylon (Hagar Yanai) accepted 2026-08-31
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: Hagar Yanai Tier 2
- Simania catalog record: The Leviathan of Babylon, book 1 Tier 3
- Simania catalog record: The Leviathan of Babylon, book 3 Tier 3
Last reviewed: 2026-08-31
Rule: Core Canon is the complete three-book sequence: The Leviathan of Babylon (2006), The Water Between the Worlds (2008), and The Journey to the Heart of the Abyss (2017), all published in Israel. No English translation exists to date.