Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Katabasis

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

17 reviews

booksbeforebs's review against another edition

3.0

dark funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

‘Katabasis’ was easily one of my most anticipated books of 2025, thanks to the huge amount of hype surrounding it. Unfortunately, for me, it didn’t live up to the hype, though it was still a fairly enjoyable read.

It starts out reasonably strong, being dark and funny—just how I like my books—and smart without being pretentious. However, it is remarkably similar to the TV adaptation of ‘The Magicians’, both in terms of tone and content, and it reads just like fanfiction, so much so that it feels like when someone takes an actual fanfic and changes a few details in order to pass it off as an original work. That isn’t to say it isn’t well-written or enjoyable, and I love ‘The Magicians’ and will happily spend my time in that universe, but it lacks originality, and while I’m okay with the derivativity in fanfiction, I expect more from a published novel, especially one written by someone with Kuang’s clout.

As the story goes on, inconsistencies start to creep in, especially in the characterisation. For example, all along Alice has informed us that Peter is perfect and doesn’t have a malicious or misogynistic bone in his body, but then, when it becomes necessary for the plot, Alice is suddenly telling us that actually Peter can be malicious and misogynistic and indeed was badly so in a specific incident. This discrepancy is never explained. Similarly, there are many early details that don’t make sense after the reveal re Alice’s memory. In all cases, it feels like the author needed to change things in order to move the plot forward, but failed to go back and apply those changes to the story before that point.

By the 70% mark, the story really starts to drag, and frankly, it gets weird. It no longer feels like the same book, and it certainly was no longer a book that I wanted to read. A case of the author losing her way and, after trudging through the mud for a while, throwing anything down on the page? Possibly. The book certainly could have done with being a good 180 pages lighter.

Kuang pulls it back at the end—at least in terms of weirdness. However, the ending is very predictable, to the point of feeling pat. I was left with the sense that it was an okay enough read, but nowhere near as good as I was expecting and nowhere near as good as it should have been. I think I would have preferred to have spent my time reading ‘The Magicians’ fanfiction—(undisguised ‘The Magicians’ fanfiction).

Many thanks to NetGalley, R.F. Kuang and HarperCollins UK for the ARC.

Content Warnings

cosy_crow's review against another edition

I will eventually come back to this book, but having got over half way through with little to no investment with the character or the story is making me struggle. I find that the concepts of the story are well done and yet the execution is not enjoyable, it feels like a repeat of babbel, it feels like the characters could be swapped around and the story would remain the same.
because of this, it will be a dnf for now.
until i feel like i have to come back and finish

Content Warnings

lilyc4's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

lian's review against another edition

3.5

After brilliantly tackling the topic of colonialism in a fantasy novel in 'Babel', R.F. Kuang is back to tackle academia in 'Katabasis'.
My expectations were high, and I applaud the objective of this book. It's original, funny, and clever, and she creatively shines a light on the toxicity of academic spaces.
However, I found it a bit too long, it started to feel a bit drawn out. There were some plotholes that left me feeling a bit disappointed. A good read, but I think it could have been better, unfortunately.

Content Warnings

ashmagoffin's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This novel is R. F Kuang at her best; dark academia, greek mythology inspired, academic rivals to lovers and whip crack humour. A wild ride in the best way possible. It is tricky to name a favourite thing as this book excelled in so many areas.

The characters are mint; everyone is well-developed and complicated. Alice and Peter are in a cage of problems and the only escape is Hell. Alice is full of unbridled ambition, passion and arrogance. Peter is a tortured golden retriever with actual substance. Both have a lot bubbling underneath the surface and together they have a dynamic which I could not get enough of. The shades we meet along the way make for entertaining side characters, often hilarious and thought-provoking.

The narrative of this book was followable, complicated at parts in terms of the paradoxes but I felt like my head hurt just enough to have a true dark academia experience. There are parts where I felt a bit lost like the characters did, wandering through the abyss of Hell. These elements were juxtaposed with humorous tone, this book was SO FUNNY and it is full of one liners. Kuang also threw a fair few romantic tropes in there but subverted, only one bed became only one blanket and we also had some fake dating elements too. Despite all this, this book never felt self-indulgent and I was having the best time.

Below the surface of this book which appears to be poking fun of academia, rather heavy themes are explored. Depression and chronic illness, diseases that some people consider to be 'invisible' and how we treat the people who experience this. I feel like many people will connect with this aspect of the novel. This gave the middle portion of the book a substantial heaviness as we are in the depths with Alice and Peter, seek out the content warnings if you are concerned, I've put some major ones in the bottom of this review.

This is an excellently paced novel, both character-driven and plot-driven. A work like this is an absolute feat to pull off. R F Kuang knows what she is doing and this is her at her best.

5/5 stars

CW: suicide, depression, sexual assault, death, filicide.

Content Warnings