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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
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
Only R.F. Kuang Could Make Hell Glitter
A Joy of the Dark Acadamia subgenre. This story hits the ground running wherein you are completely swept away with the journey the two main characters are taking. A journey into Hell.
Discover why Alice and Peter would risk everything simply to return their professor to the world of the living. Uncover dark truths of life and of death itself. Including, what happens to a soul in the underworld? Who or what lurks down there in the darkness? And can a soul ever escape Hell?
Meet loveable and scornful characters trying to solve life's unanswerable questions in a relm of infinity, magic and sin.
Littered with references and quotes from the world of academia and a layered magic system built with mathematics, logic and analytics. This story is bound to facinate and maybe even inspire your reading, with the works of Dante Alighieri's, Desiderius Erasmus or Haraclitus but maybe thats just me.
Definitely one to add to the 'To Be Read' list. This is now my favourite Kuang novel. I can't wait for people to read it so I have someone else to talk about it with!
Thank you to the publishers for sending this to me as an early proof copy. As always, my opinions are unbiased and my own.
A Joy of the Dark Acadamia subgenre. This story hits the ground running wherein you are completely swept away with the journey the two main characters are taking. A journey into Hell.
Discover why Alice and Peter would risk everything simply to return their professor to the world of the living. Uncover dark truths of life and of death itself. Including, what happens to a soul in the underworld? Who or what lurks down there in the darkness? And can a soul ever escape Hell?
Meet loveable and scornful characters trying to solve life's unanswerable questions in a relm of infinity, magic and sin.
Littered with references and quotes from the world of academia and a layered magic system built with mathematics, logic and analytics. This story is bound to facinate and maybe even inspire your reading, with the works of Dante Alighieri's, Desiderius Erasmus or Haraclitus but maybe thats just me.
Definitely one to add to the 'To Be Read' list. This is now my favourite Kuang novel. I can't wait for people to read it so I have someone else to talk about it with!
Thank you to the publishers for sending this to me as an early proof copy. As always, my opinions are unbiased and my own.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Outsized expectations made this one feel like a big disappointment; still giving it 3 stars bc I guess it was alright?! I’m not objective when it comes to reading Kuang, perhaps. Or reading anyone really. This book felt like it was showing off her brilliance…but to what end?!
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
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:
Complicated
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.
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
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicide
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of the book community's most anticipated read this year, it's rare to find someone who hasn't heard of all the buzz surrounding "Katabasis". The literary world's darling, R. F. Kuang, back in her academia element after the titular success of Babel, and as someone who has immortalized Babel into their skin, I was curious how "Katabasis" would land for me. I had heard mixed review ranging from those who found the story insightful & astute, to those who found the main character annoying and grating. In a way, this story is something new for Kuang, a character arc that explores romance, a topic that Kuang has usually strayed from in her other stories, choosing to merely hint at touches of romance here and there. And though I do appreciate when authors make attempts to try new things, "Katabasis" felt like too close to Kuang simply dipping their toes in as opposed to committing wholeheartedly into romance, and while I found other aspects of the story enjoyable, there are many ways in which this book misses it's mark entirely for me.
Chiefly, I argue against the idea that "Katabasis" is NOT Kuang's attempt at a romance story. A large majority of obstacles within the story serve to further the relationship between Alice and Peter or to uncover more of the secrets of their past relationship. The miscommunication, or lack of communication, from both characters both in their past and in their hellish present is the main propelling force for the tension between these characters, and the resolution of this communication is wholeheartedly one of the main theses in this book.
With that said, is it a good romance? Absolutely not, and the reason why is three fold. First, the angst & yearning felt by Alice is incredibly dry, displayed through moments of the dialogue stating her feelings toward Peter, without any actionable items that show her feelings.
Second, it is transparently clear that Kuang looks upon the romance genre with a level of pretentious derision. This is seen both from her attempt to force a handful of lazy, slap-dash romance tropes into the plot (just one bed, enemies to lovers, second chance romance, he falls first, to name a few) and also from the way in which she condescendingly talks about romance stories through Elspeth. It almost feels as if the writing is making a mockery of the romance genre in the way it flaunts a half-baked trope scene as a means of showing how "easy" it is to write romance, when in reality the art of romance writing is insurmountably difficult, for how do you put into words full breadth of what it means to love?
And third, the miscommunication in romance is a high-stakes tool to create conflict that furthers the relationship growth; in Katabasis, the miscommunication certainly leads to high-stakes situations for Alice & Peter, but Kuang offers the resolution to these events far too easily, in a way that utter deflates all tension and suspense. For a book that centers around a journey into the depths of Hell, it never feels like the stakes are actually life-and-death, removing any sense of urgency or danger from the protagonist's quest, which in turn leads to a story that tends to drag along without purpose.
And third, the miscommunication in romance is a high-stakes tool to create conflict that furthers the relationship growth; in Katabasis, the miscommunication certainly leads to high-stakes situations for Alice & Peter, but Kuang offers the resolution to these events far too easily, in a way that utter deflates all tension and suspense. For a book that centers around a journey into the depths of Hell, it never feels like the stakes are actually life-and-death, removing any sense of urgency or danger from the protagonist's quest, which in turn leads to a story that tends to drag along without purpose.
Now having said that, I will say that I wholeheartedly enjoyed Alice as the main character. I dispute the idea that her personality is "annoying"; she is a character that has been, and still is, traumatized through the hands of Professor Grimes, her unrelenting drive/sacrifice for academic validation is a mirror of Kuang's past fantasy protagonists, her character was an blatant and authentic depiction of being on the ace spectrum, shown through moments of her casual derision toward the idea of sex and romantic relationships as a whole, and her dry personality is the direct result of all of these foundational characteristics. If anything, her flaws allow a level of humanization that is glaringly absent in Peter, who's defining characteristic is a secret sob story told in a manner that feels almost ableist in it's attempts to draw empathy toward his pathetic existence, and it's incredibly difficult to understand this appeal.
Further, while I feel that Kuang's usual "wandering prose" style of topic diversions is interesting, I don't think it works for a story like Katabasis, especially with the character relationships she attempts to establish. The story refuses to engage with backstory through dialogue, instead choosing to divert entire conversations midway to forcefully shove a tangent on the context of the subject. Alice never organically discuss matters in the past, which became increasingly more obvious as the story persisted. As a result, Alice FEELS like a very passive and sullen and moody character, but the root of the issue is in the way that Kuang writes her character. The way a person talks to their love interest about obstacles in their journey is a helpful tool in building connection and establishing feelings, but it feels Kuang sees herself as above that in Katabasis.
I did enjoy the vividly horrific details that Kuang has chosen to include in the more gory environments and scenes inside her version of hell, but Alice is the main reason I enjoyed this book in any capacity. Kuang's pattern of mistrusting readers to understand the point of her stories has never been more blatant, and I feel like this story was also a sorely missed opportunity to discuss the intersection of gender and race in white academic spaces. Finally, it's almost embarrassing how this story references Greek mythos and yet substitutes a persimmon for Persephone's pomegranate, and conflates Hades with Thanatos! Truly, every person who is recommending a read of Virgil or Ovid or some other pretentious, dry book prior to reading Katabasis is simply wrong, even Kuang cites incorrectly, so it truly does not matter. All in all, I would rate Katabasis above Yellowface in my scale of all of Kuang's books, but I fear nothing will hit the mark quite like The Poppy War trilogy did.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang is a modern day classic. This book reminded me of what it’s like to live in the moment, to stop worrying so much about the future and realize that I’m living the life I dreamed of when I was a child. It made me feel so many emotions about what I’m doing with the gift of life, and to appreciate the people in it. We are such fleeting pieces of history, our lives hold no real consequences in the vastness of the universe; but with that, we have infinite potential. I relate to Alice, I don’t want to die wishing I had lived. I want to love like Alice and Peter, to understand someone’s purpose, their soul. I don’t fear death, because how does life have meaning if it never ends? R.F Kuang writes so intricately and beautifully I feel like I’ve learned the lessons Alice has by going to hell and back myself. So until I make the journey into death, I’m going to take her advice… and live.
R.F. Kuang is a literary genius. She pulls from so many pivotal authors and theorists from history, Lewis Carroll, Rousseau, Dante, Socrates, Aristotle, Homer, etc… and is able to pull them into the modern world. Her perspectives and theories on death and the soul’s tie to the body. The story itself was captivating, not a sped through adventure but one drawn out, that compels them reader to make conclusions for themselves.
Alice and Peter are two kids, masters students, victim to the same abuser. They give up so much of their youth for the impossible idea of perfection, that they miss what’s right in front of them. Katabasis follows their descent into Hell and the trials and the truths they must face while there. Katabasis is a love story for the poets, for the people who need to learn to find themselves before they can give someone their heart.
I am so lucky to have read this book early, it is 5 stars, and is one of the top 3 books I have ever read.
R.F. Kuang is a literary genius. She pulls from so many pivotal authors and theorists from history, Lewis Carroll, Rousseau, Dante, Socrates, Aristotle, Homer, etc… and is able to pull them into the modern world. Her perspectives and theories on death and the soul’s tie to the body. The story itself was captivating, not a sped through adventure but one drawn out, that compels them reader to make conclusions for themselves.
Alice and Peter are two kids, masters students, victim to the same abuser. They give up so much of their youth for the impossible idea of perfection, that they miss what’s right in front of them. Katabasis follows their descent into Hell and the trials and the truths they must face while there. Katabasis is a love story for the poets, for the people who need to learn to find themselves before they can give someone their heart.
I am so lucky to have read this book early, it is 5 stars, and is one of the top 3 books I have ever read.