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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
finished my proof based math class just in time to read a proof based novel
this is rf kuang at her worst. alice is insufferable. hell is greatly under utilised, and the plot ?? barely holds up. struggled to finish it past the halfway mark, i truly wanted to give up because i was so sick of it.
characters? ungodly unlikeable. Plot? thinly veiled. world building? non existent. References to philosophy and mythology? painfully shoved down your throat.
it’s BARELY a romance. it’s BARELY fantasy. it’s actually barely a story at all but really a thesis forced into fiction for publication’s sake.
Maybe this would go over better if you were smarter than me. maybe it’s not for me at all. but as a voracious fantasy reader and someone who’s read all of kuang’s other books, this was a huge miss.
we get it, you’re very smart, rebecca. but that doesn’t mean you’re a good writer of fiction!
characters? ungodly unlikeable. Plot? thinly veiled. world building? non existent. References to philosophy and mythology? painfully shoved down your throat.
it’s BARELY a romance. it’s BARELY fantasy. it’s actually barely a story at all but really a thesis forced into fiction for publication’s sake.
Maybe this would go over better if you were smarter than me. maybe it’s not for me at all. but as a voracious fantasy reader and someone who’s read all of kuang’s other books, this was a huge miss.
we get it, you’re very smart, rebecca. but that doesn’t mean you’re a good writer of fiction!
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Blood, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Vomit
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
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:
Yes
**NOTE: I was sent an ARC with the expectation of an honest review. **
"Alice Law, you naughty girl. You're trying to go to Hell." This was the tantalizing quote on the postcard included with my ARC by the publisher. The reverse side has a packing list for the trip, with familiar things like chalk and flashlights and curiosities like a Perpetual Flask.
This book was a revelation; it's academic, it's speculative fiction, it's enemies-turned-to-lovers, it's even got a literal descent into Hell.
Alice Law accidentally sends her analytic magick graduate advisor to Hell and decides the only logical answer is to go there and retrieve him. Fellow grad student and wunderkind Peter Murdoch offers his help, and his expertise in his own field of magick. What follows is probably no worse than a doctoral defense but also involves as much bloodletting as writing a thesis. :) It's like Dante, but more "Hadestown" musical than Christian mythos.
I really loved the way the story traveled in a straight line for the real time journey, but bounced back to give us character development that could bring us to the why of these two on their path. I'm definitely going to look into this author 's other work, because their style is right up my alley.
"Alice Law, you naughty girl. You're trying to go to Hell." This was the tantalizing quote on the postcard included with my ARC by the publisher. The reverse side has a packing list for the trip, with familiar things like chalk and flashlights and curiosities like a Perpetual Flask.
This book was a revelation; it's academic, it's speculative fiction, it's enemies-turned-to-lovers, it's even got a literal descent into Hell.
Alice Law accidentally sends her analytic magick graduate advisor to Hell and decides the only logical answer is to go there and retrieve him. Fellow grad student and wunderkind Peter Murdoch offers his help, and his expertise in his own field of magick. What follows is probably no worse than a doctoral defense but also involves as much bloodletting as writing a thesis. :) It's like Dante, but more "Hadestown" musical than Christian mythos.
I really loved the way the story traveled in a straight line for the real time journey, but bounced back to give us character development that could bring us to the why of these two on their path. I'm definitely going to look into this author 's other work, because their style is right up my alley.
RF Kuang does it again with a story I could not put down. A romance heart, Katabasis is about two graduate students as they journey to Hell to retrieve their asshole advisor they both had a hand in killing. The twists were shocking and while I feared this book would be too long, the incredible prose, complex plot, and heartwarming characters ultimately made it a quick read. Can't wait for this to come out so I can force all my friends to read another book by her.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
~4.5 stars
This was a wild ride and I loved it. Will have to take some time to digest, but it might be my favorite so far (right next to Babel).
Things I liked:
The prose
The magic system
The relationships between Alice and Peter, and all of the other characters that crossed their paths
The characters themselves - they felt deliciously real, RF Kuang is the queen of representing the moral-greyness of humanity
The journey that, at first, I thought would be straightforward (my fault entirely for thinking this, I should have known better) and definitely was not
Things that I liked and disliked at the same time:
That I had to look up many references and definitions of words
That, as a PhD student myself, some things hit very close to home
Very excited to have won this advance reader’s copy in a goodreads giveaway:)
This was a wild ride and I loved it. Will have to take some time to digest, but it might be my favorite so far (right next to Babel).
Things I liked:
The prose
The magic system
The relationships between Alice and Peter, and all of the other characters that crossed their paths
The characters themselves - they felt deliciously real, RF Kuang is the queen of representing the moral-greyness of humanity
The journey that, at first, I thought would be straightforward (my fault entirely for thinking this, I should have known better) and definitely was not
Things that I liked and disliked at the same time:
That I had to look up many references and definitions of words
That, as a PhD student myself, some things hit very close to home
Very excited to have won this advance reader’s copy in a goodreads giveaway:)
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes