Entika is a handmaiden of the goddess Inanna, working faithfully in her temple, serving the En, the goddess’ human consort. Our story opens as the old En is dying. He names Entika to be the next En, going against all tradition that Inanna’s consort be a man.
Within the walled city that surrounds the temple, the people live in the comfort of houses and live off the tributes of the farmers who live in tents outside the city. As the new En, Entika struggles to understand all the eddies and flows of power within the city and without but she has little time to do so.
A tribe has grown in power, ruled by the Lugal, which sees now as the time to strike and gain control of the city. When a fire starts outside the city walls, Lugal is suspiciously well prepared to help. And when the new En goes outside the walls to comfort the people, she is captured.
In this darkly sketched novel, ancient politics and suspicions play out. The art is pen and gouache, in muted colors that are almost not there. The drawings are sketches in character. Never are two lines drawn if one could do.
While the story is set five thousand years ago, people are people – they love and covet and hunger. These people are just as civilized as we are and just as barbaric. In a way, you could call this story “The Beginning of Politics.”
Appropriate for teens and up (bare breasts, stabbings, political machinations)
Inanna’s Tears
by Rob Volmar
Art by mpMann
ISBN: 978-193238679
Archia Entertainment, 2011
Publisher Age Rating: 13 and up
