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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
my expectations were through the roof. she didn't meet it though. kind of felt like it was so unnecessarily dense and bland at times.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
adventurous
dark
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
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Was lucky enough to receive an ARC.
It is undeniable that R.F Kuang is a brilliant writer. Her prose, her lyricism, her use of language is astounding.
The plot however…. Underwhelming & honestly, boring.
Without giving away spoilers, there is zero chemistry between the two ‘lovers’, Alice has more chemistry with Elspeth (you’ll see) than Peter, and the only time I enjoyed the story and pacing was when Alice, FINALLY, was out of the male gaze, and on her own!! (About halfway through).
And yes, there is the layers of learning in this book, (which felt spoon fed, like a baby, rather than simply leaving it there for the reader to learn) like in Babel.
‘Academia is racist, misogynistic and facist’, among other moral quandaries, but the thing that made that so impactful in Babel, was ALSO the incredible plot.
I’m really sad to give such a low score, but I just really didn’t like this.
I’m keen to see more in depth analysis from academics, once the book is released. But for now, I’m basing my rating on these superficialities, which are also important to a book.
It is undeniable that R.F Kuang is a brilliant writer. Her prose, her lyricism, her use of language is astounding.
The plot however…. Underwhelming & honestly, boring.
Without giving away spoilers, there is zero chemistry between the two ‘lovers’, Alice has more chemistry with Elspeth (you’ll see) than Peter, and the only time I enjoyed the story and pacing was when Alice, FINALLY, was out of the male gaze, and on her own!! (About halfway through).
And yes, there is the layers of learning in this book, (which felt spoon fed, like a baby, rather than simply leaving it there for the reader to learn) like in Babel.
‘Academia is racist, misogynistic and facist’, among other moral quandaries, but the thing that made that so impactful in Babel, was ALSO the incredible plot.
I’m really sad to give such a low score, but I just really didn’t like this.
I’m keen to see more in depth analysis from academics, once the book is released. But for now, I’m basing my rating on these superficialities, which are also important to a book.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
dark
reflective
tense
fast-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
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Get in, Dante—we’re going to Hell, and R.F. Kuang is driving! But it’s not all doom and gloom. Katabasis is a playfully clever descent into the underworld of contemporary academia, complete with enemies-to-lovers tension, razor-sharp satire, and a surprisingly deep dive into the nuances of grief, regret, guilt, shame, and the haunting, hollow shallowness of ambition and pride.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to love this book so much because RF Kuang is my favorite author… however, this book fell flat. It felt discombobulated and thrown together. It reads like it doesn’t know whether it wants to be a fantasy novel, a scholarly report on hell and every written iteration of it, or an essay on “moral agency, forgiveness, and whether you could still be wronged if you did something wrong first.” I wish the book was set up like Babel with the scholarly sections set up with footnotes, it would make the story flow better. Instead, it reads like Kuang babied the reader on the actual historical texts. Not only that, the book also feels discombobulated in the way that in the first few chapters there seems to be fictionalized historical texts that then just disappear in the rest of the book.
Not only is the mechanics of the story all over the place I did not connect with any of the main characters. I found Alice annoying, whiney, and self centered but also hated herself? I see what Kuang was going for, but again, it fell flat. Kuang did give us two good chapters on Alice and Peter’s past which made them more digestible and relatable and really shows you don’t always know what people are battling in their personal lives, but those were fleeting. The “romance” that was pitched is hardly there and was more of an afterthought. I did enjoy the side characters such as Elspeth and all the shades we meet.
Overall, the plot of this was good in theory but the execution not so much. The magical system was unique and fun, and the way Kuang describes hell in relation to academia was also unique and an interesting take that I haven’t seen before. Definitely my lowest rated RF Kuang book… it’s not bad, but I don’t feel it’s up to her typical standards, it feels like it’s trying to be something it’s not and I’m bummed about that.
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC!
Having enjoyed Babel tremendously, I was really looking forward to picking up Katabasis - however, it did not live up to my expectations.
I enjoyed the magical setting, but that was probably the only real highlight. The writing came across as a bit pretentious; the actual story was interspersed with long-winded tangents about the history of magic which didn't really fit with the tone.
The main character was really difficult to sympathise with. By the end of the novel, she has reasonable motivations for acting as she does, but she's insufferable and hard to understand for far too long. I also personally didn't really love the romance element of the story.
That said, the book was engaging enough, and I did want to find out what would happen next.
Having enjoyed Babel tremendously, I was really looking forward to picking up Katabasis - however, it did not live up to my expectations.
I enjoyed the magical setting, but that was probably the only real highlight. The writing came across as a bit pretentious; the actual story was interspersed with long-winded tangents about the history of magic which didn't really fit with the tone.
The main character was really difficult to sympathise with. By the end of the novel, she has reasonable motivations for acting as she does, but she's insufferable and hard to understand for far too long. I also personally didn't really love the romance element of the story.
That said, the book was engaging enough, and I did want to find out what would happen next.