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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
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
adventurous
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 stars for one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, which I cannot believe I am SO LUCKY to have gotten to read a galley of. I generally love RF Kuang's work and how academic her writing is, while also being fantastical and this book hits that mark for me. I was able to picture all of the happenings in this book, which rarely happens for me, and I enjoyed the dynamic between Alice and Peter. I did have some disappointment with how the love story sub-plot played out, but the ending redeemed those concerns for me. I felt that Kuang could do better with her descriptions in this story, there were some instances where it would have been helpful to have more exposition especially since they were in Hell which provided so much potential for craziness. I also was a little bit disappointed with how some of the problems were resolved in ways that felt very quickly resolved and might not have fed the plot as much as Kuang was aiming for. Overall though, I can forgive those small issues because this was such a fun read that I both wanted to take my time with, but also did not want to put down.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Those who know me, knows I am an R.F. Kuang devotee. She is one of my favorite authors, so naturally, I began reading this book with high expectations.
Katabasis had a very solid, remarkable start. R.F Kuang truly has a talent for setting the idea for her readers, no matter how complex it seems. I know we have all seen the tiktok that went viral for suggesting “books to read in preparation for Katabasis”, and while multiple references were really inserted left and right, I do believe that whoever has a basic knowledge of Greek mythology can still keep up without difficulty. It’s all the math you have to worry about /lh.
Setting aside their rivalry and differences, we follow two graduate students, Alice and Peter, as they descend into Hell to return their professor back into the land of the living. For the first half of the novel, they proved their determination to accomplish it. But as the chapters went by, they slowly began to lose sight of their goal. That, and not to mention the amount of times we were sidetracked due to the lengthy narrations. The thing is, while the descriptive and in-depth style of writing worked for Babel, here it simply, heavily, overshadowed the story itself. I know it’s dark academia, but a journey to Hell would also entail plenty of adventure, no? It was the textbook sort of information overload, and this is coming from someone who enjoyed the life out of Babel—because for that novel, we at least maintained a balance.
In my own opinion, it doesn’t matter whether you can follow the references or not. What good are these if none of them lead to anything more than just a reference?
Now, despite the extensive history we read about our two main characters, neither Alice nor Peter stood out to me as much as R.F. Kuang's other characters. It truly is a shame to say so, since they had an impressive introduction too. But as far as the book went, they were both so underdeveloped. Dare I say, even neglected. Their personalities at the beginning were not retained throughout the later pages—it was as if they were slowly being wiped into blank slates the longer they were in Hell. Whether or not this was on purpose, I have no idea. All I know is that I was more attached to the side characters than either Alice or Peter. Good gods, I just did not care about them, I’m sorry.
Originally a 4/5 rating, I thought a flat 3 was more fitting. Partly because I also deducted .50 due to a part where an animal was murdered gruesomely towards the end. I understand how vital it was for the story to progress, but... Well. I, unfortunately, am just very queasy when it comes to animal death and cruelty. Always mind the TWs, folks.
Regardless of everything mentioned above, I have high hopes that, since this is still an ARC, there might be a chance for improvements before it is officially published. I wanted to love it. Truly, I did, and the unique magick system had me floating in wonders. There were themes that genuinely resonated to me as well, but alas, I have to be honest and say that this is my least-liked novel of R.F. Kuang’s. It even took me two weeks to properly write a review because I was so confused, so conflicted.
Katabasis had a very solid, remarkable start. R.F Kuang truly has a talent for setting the idea for her readers, no matter how complex it seems. I know we have all seen the tiktok that went viral for suggesting “books to read in preparation for Katabasis”, and while multiple references were really inserted left and right, I do believe that whoever has a basic knowledge of Greek mythology can still keep up without difficulty. It’s all the math you have to worry about /lh.
Setting aside their rivalry and differences, we follow two graduate students, Alice and Peter, as they descend into Hell to return their professor back into the land of the living. For the first half of the novel, they proved their determination to accomplish it. But as the chapters went by, they slowly began to lose sight of their goal. That, and not to mention the amount of times we were sidetracked due to the lengthy narrations. The thing is, while the descriptive and in-depth style of writing worked for Babel, here it simply, heavily, overshadowed the story itself. I know it’s dark academia, but a journey to Hell would also entail plenty of adventure, no? It was the textbook sort of information overload, and this is coming from someone who enjoyed the life out of Babel—because for that novel, we at least maintained a balance.
In my own opinion, it doesn’t matter whether you can follow the references or not. What good are these if none of them lead to anything more than just a reference?
Now, despite the extensive history we read about our two main characters, neither Alice nor Peter stood out to me as much as R.F. Kuang's other characters. It truly is a shame to say so, since they had an impressive introduction too. But as far as the book went, they were both so underdeveloped. Dare I say, even neglected. Their personalities at the beginning were not retained throughout the later pages—it was as if they were slowly being wiped into blank slates the longer they were in Hell. Whether or not this was on purpose, I have no idea. All I know is that I was more attached to the side characters than either Alice or Peter. Good gods, I just did not care about them, I’m sorry.
Originally a 4/5 rating, I thought a flat 3 was more fitting. Partly because I also deducted .50 due to a part where an animal was murdered gruesomely towards the end. I understand how vital it was for the story to progress, but... Well. I, unfortunately, am just very queasy when it comes to animal death and cruelty. Always mind the TWs, folks.
Regardless of everything mentioned above, I have high hopes that, since this is still an ARC, there might be a chance for improvements before it is officially published. I wanted to love it. Truly, I did, and the unique magick system had me floating in wonders. There were themes that genuinely resonated to me as well, but alas, I have to be honest and say that this is my least-liked novel of R.F. Kuang’s. It even took me two weeks to properly write a review because I was so confused, so conflicted.
adventurous
funny
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
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:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
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
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes