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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This might have made itself one of my favorite books ever. I don't usually take this long when reading a book that I enjoy however it is dense and full of information. I love it so so much. The way of writing is not linear at all, you jump back and forth as the journey progresses but don't worry, it's easy to follow along. What I found most interesting is how the writing gets more complicated, confusing and all over the place as the heroes progress through the circles of hell and their minds deteriorate from the journey. It's an obscure masterpiece and I loved it from start to finish.
Content Warnings
Minor: Gore
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-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
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Things I liked:
- Kuang is in her element, using her academic knowledge to discuss traveling through Hell. For some readers, I can see this being a lot, but for me I adored the heavy use of this academic background.
- Despite being heavy on academics, this was a fairly quick read. Kuang kept me engaged throughout the story to be able to read long chunks at a time.
- The Magick system feels so unique. From logic puzzles, to imbued chalk, this felt original.
- Kuang looks at abuse of power in the academic world, which is such an important topic. And this means not only sexual abuse, but things like unpaid labor, stealing research, etc etc.
Things I disliked:
- I didn't really see the
love between Alice and Peter. They truly just seemed more like academic rivals, maybe friends. Maybe characters just needed to be fleshed out more for me to enjoy it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Disappointed because I usually like her books. A little too highbrow for me to get into.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
This was certainly an interesting read. The theories of hell were unique and I definitely learned a lot about mathematics and logic puzzles. The setting is easily the star of this novel.
This work started with a bang, but then moved into a crawl. Things picked back up around the last third and stayed interesting until the end. My main problem was with the characters. I enjoy an unlikable character, but I found Alice and Peter to be so uninteresting until deep into the novel. Hard to stay invested when the characters themselves are insipid.
Overall I did really enjoy the world R F Kuang created and was back engaged by the end of this book. I’d recommend it to fantasy fans - particularly those interested in logic/philosophy.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for access to this eARC. All opinions are my own.