Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
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.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
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
Katabasis drops your right in the middle of the action, as PHD student Alice Law is in the act of drawing the pentagram that will take her to Hell so she can bring back to life her esteemed advisor. She is interrupted shortly by fellow advisee and once-friend-maybe-lover-now-enemy-questionmark Peter Murdoch who insists on coming along, and then they're off. To Hell.
I can always admire an author that challenges themselves to write a different genre each book. Even though this has a lot of overlap with Babel when it comes to themes and locations, reading Katabasis gives off a completely different vibe. There's darkness, yes. We're exploring the implications and effects of deep-rooted misogyny and abuse (and ableism, to a degree) in academia. But it's also giving buddy rom-com. Like: what if we hated each other but we're both really smart but we also had to share the emergency blanket we brought to Hell?
Another way that Kuang has drawn me in in both Babel and Katabasis, is her magic systems. I think they're so inventive and work so well for their purposes. In this book, the magic (sorry, magick) system is based on paradoxes: that's where the "veil" between real and unreal is thin and where we can believe fantastical things can be true. It's great fun to see Kuang play with this concept and implement it so creatively.
I can always admire an author that challenges themselves to write a different genre each book. Even though this has a lot of overlap with Babel when it comes to themes and locations, reading Katabasis gives off a completely different vibe. There's darkness, yes. We're exploring the implications and effects of deep-rooted misogyny and abuse (and ableism, to a degree) in academia. But it's also giving buddy rom-com. Like: what if we hated each other but we're both really smart but we also had to share the emergency blanket we brought to Hell?
Another way that Kuang has drawn me in in both Babel and Katabasis, is her magic systems. I think they're so inventive and work so well for their purposes. In this book, the magic (sorry, magick) system is based on paradoxes: that's where the "veil" between real and unreal is thin and where we can believe fantastical things can be true. It's great fun to see Kuang play with this concept and implement it so creatively.
"The point was that Professor Grimes hadn't tormented just anyone. He'd tormented them. Because they were strong enough to withstand it. Because they kept the faith. Because they were special, and worth the effort, and because whatever they became when he was done with them would be so dazzling."
I appreciated both Alice and Peter as characters, though it felt at times like Kuang wasn't sure whether they both supposed to be protagonists or not. I mean, Alice is the main protagonist - almost the entire book is from her pov. But then at some point we did take a couple of field trips into Peter's pov, and while it was nice, because it was kind of a one-off it also felt like it was just there to give us some Peter backstory without having to spend too much time on it. Some more Peter pov would've done the relationship we're also supposed to be investing in good, I think (I was invested. But I could've definitely been invested-er).
Despite it's whopping 540 pages (basically the same length as Babel) this book is definitely a page-turner. It took me maybe 5 days to read. By comparison: Babel took me a month and a half and I was on holiday for part of that. But I have to say: it did Not need to be 500+ pages. Where Babel really uses its length to slowly broaden the scope of the story, Katabasis is hyperfocused on a goal that reveals itself fairly early on and it does not really skew away from that at any point.
The book also lacked some of the depth and layers that I appreciated so much in Babel. I felt like the point was clear to me pretty early on, and while that point is interesting and serious and complex, I felt like it did still remain pretty singular. And the hyperfocus on it actually made me feel like we weren't able to explore some of the complexity because it's hammered home from so early on that at some point I felt feeling a little like I was just waiting for Alice to get there as well. The focus on theory that I so appreciated in Babel didn't fit the genre of this book as much, and sometimes bogged it down a little - like it was trying to be something it wasn't. I think that's also why the ending, while inevitable, fell sort of flat for me. Some things happened just too quick that I would've liked to spend some more time on, now that we were finally at the end, where all those 500+ pages had led to.
i'm pissed that my scattered reading thoughts somehow vanished from my draft and i don't remember exactly what were they, so before i lost more thoughts i'm going to try to write this review down
so. 2 postgrad students went to Hell to retrieve their advisor's soul. now IDK where did i get the impression that he's a good nurturing kind of advisor so that's why his students literally hell-bent to bring him back. but no. apparently he's AWFUL. but i digress.
this is definitely RFK heaviest book so far, thematically. i needed a lot of concentration to read it but even when i did my best to concentrate i still didnt fully understand all the analogies & paradoxes etc. probably my fault for being stupid... anyway. if you're going to read this with over-the-roof expectation because you've loved RFK previous books, I suggest you to lower your expectation now. plus its a little tedious since there's only 2 characters and the narrative is using 3rd person limited poc from alice. and she's DULL. rbh if i wasn't already rfk's fan, i think i wouldn't be able to maintain my patience for this. but i know that shes brilliant and i trust her. so i pushed myself through one paragraph at a time
long paragraph & inner thoughts testing my patience
the backstories dragged the plot
the world building was abstract, no solid structure, b
alice was such an unreliable narrator. she withheld facts and thruts and very biased, frankly, i didn’t like her. She’s such a morally conflicted MC and she’s testing my patience many times. I do, however, liked her character development.
though it's dark academia like Babel, it's nothing like it. while babel is about translation & colonialism, this is about life and death philosophy while poking fun at academia culture.
after seeing Alice's character development until the end, i can assure you it's totally worth it
i just want to know what had become of Archimedes the cat after that???
it’s RFK’s heaviest book so far because it grapples with logic and life & death philosophy.
so. 2 postgrad students went to Hell to retrieve their advisor's soul. now IDK where did i get the impression that he's a good nurturing kind of advisor so that's why his students literally hell-bent to bring him back. but no. apparently he's AWFUL. but i digress.
this is definitely RFK heaviest book so far, thematically. i needed a lot of concentration to read it but even when i did my best to concentrate i still didnt fully understand all the analogies & paradoxes etc. probably my fault for being stupid... anyway. if you're going to read this with over-the-roof expectation because you've loved RFK previous books, I suggest you to lower your expectation now. plus its a little tedious since there's only 2 characters and the narrative is using 3rd person limited poc from alice. and she's DULL. rbh if i wasn't already rfk's fan, i think i wouldn't be able to maintain my patience for this. but i know that shes brilliant and i trust her. so i pushed myself through one paragraph at a time
long paragraph & inner thoughts testing my patience
the backstories dragged the plot
the world building was abstract, no solid structure, b
alice was such an unreliable narrator. she withheld facts and thruts and very biased, frankly, i didn’t like her. She’s such a morally conflicted MC and she’s testing my patience many times. I do, however, liked her character development.
though it's dark academia like Babel, it's nothing like it. while babel is about translation & colonialism, this is about life and death philosophy while poking fun at academia culture.
after seeing Alice's character development until the end, i can assure you it's totally worth it
i just want to know what had become of Archimedes the cat after that???
it’s RFK’s heaviest book so far because it grapples with logic and life & death philosophy.
Required a lot of concentration & patience to read, especially the first half (it’s SO slow paced) but you just gotta trust RFK guys she always delivers. It’s not as good as Babel though (IMO) so if you want to readjust your expectation, now is the time for it.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
Thank you to R,F. Kuang and NetGalley for emotionally devastating me yet again!! What an amazing novel. This was terrifying, sad, tense, and a hopeful piece. The amount of research that must have went into this makes me wish to see some form of bibliography. I can't wait for everyone to read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Blood, Gaslighting
Minor: Homophobia
dark
reflective
slow-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
dark
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
REBECCA I NEVER SHOULD HAVE DOUBTED YOU!!!! one of the most interesting magic systems ive ever read