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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-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
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
what the hell sure
Rebecca, what the f*ck?
I laughed, I cried, I screamed, I had my soul ripped apart and put back together again.
This book was well and truly a masterpiece BUT not in the way booktok made it sound it would be.
Things I learnt:
• even genius R. F. Kuang believes that writing a dissertation is Hell.
• I need to make sure I finish my dissertation BEFORE I die.
• you definitely do not need to read a stack of books to understand this book.
As I thought, Rebecca has PERFECTLY explained everything she references BUT not in the way she did in Babel. This book was a fun read, the writing flowed wonderfully and it was easy to understand. So, take this as your reminder that you do not need to be a classics student to understand this book.
The one blanket trope? I loved it.
Academic rivals to lovers? Wonderful.
Heartbreak? Yes.
Heart surgery to fix the heartbreak? You’ll have to read Katabasis to find out!
If you enjoyed Blood Over Bright Haven but you didn’t get the ending you wanted - this one is for you.
If you can’t cope with how Rebecca kills off characters you love in graphic heart wrenching detail? Maybe miss this one out.
I laughed, I cried, I screamed, I had my soul ripped apart and put back together again.
This book was well and truly a masterpiece BUT not in the way booktok made it sound it would be.
Things I learnt:
• even genius R. F. Kuang believes that writing a dissertation is Hell.
• I need to make sure I finish my dissertation BEFORE I die.
• you definitely do not need to read a stack of books to understand this book.
As I thought, Rebecca has PERFECTLY explained everything she references BUT not in the way she did in Babel. This book was a fun read, the writing flowed wonderfully and it was easy to understand. So, take this as your reminder that you do not need to be a classics student to understand this book.
The one blanket trope? I loved it.
Academic rivals to lovers? Wonderful.
Heartbreak? Yes.
Heart surgery to fix the heartbreak? You’ll have to read Katabasis to find out!
If you enjoyed Blood Over Bright Haven but you didn’t get the ending you wanted - this one is for you.
If you can’t cope with how Rebecca kills off characters you love in graphic heart wrenching detail? Maybe miss this one out.
challenging
reflective
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
3.5 stars!
Katabasis was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, so I was so excited to start this one. Thank you so much to HarperCollins for the arc of this book!
The premise of this book is unique and captivating. The magic system is thoroughly complex and intricate. Academic rivals Alice Law and Peter Murdoch must travel to Hell to save the soul of their advisor. For those interested in reading this, I think it's important to note that this is not necessarily or heavily a 'romantic fantasy' like one of its genres labels. It is very much a subplot of romance in my opinion in comparison to typical 'romantasy' labeled books. There are also a LOT of info dumps about philosophy, theories, mathematics, psychology, moral dilemmas, etc. It did get to be a bit much at times but all of the information was still interesting and thought-provoking at times. I think these points are important to consider before diving into this book-- it reads as academia & deals with dark topics. *make sure to read trigger warnings*
I have also seen discourse on if you need to read other works before Katabasis like Dante's Inferno. As someone who has not read it, I was still able to follow along and understand what was happening. It does help if you have somewhat of a background/knowledge in Greek mythology as there are many references throughout the novel (Persephone, Orpheus, Cerberus). Knowing some of these names/creatures will also add to the experience overall. There are also a lot of references to philosophers/psychologists like Socrates, Kant, or Freud but they are easily understandable and explained in depth (if you've watched the good place you might have a leg up just because of chidi).
I did enjoy this one! A bit outside of my normal genre because of how dark it was, but R.F. Kuang is a genius and her work is incredible.
Expect to read a lot about chalk!
Katabasis was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, so I was so excited to start this one. Thank you so much to HarperCollins for the arc of this book!
The premise of this book is unique and captivating. The magic system is thoroughly complex and intricate. Academic rivals Alice Law and Peter Murdoch must travel to Hell to save the soul of their advisor. For those interested in reading this, I think it's important to note that this is not necessarily or heavily a 'romantic fantasy' like one of its genres labels. It is very much a subplot of romance in my opinion in comparison to typical 'romantasy' labeled books. There are also a LOT of info dumps about philosophy, theories, mathematics, psychology, moral dilemmas, etc. It did get to be a bit much at times but all of the information was still interesting and thought-provoking at times. I think these points are important to consider before diving into this book-- it reads as academia & deals with dark topics. *make sure to read trigger warnings*
I have also seen discourse on if you need to read other works before Katabasis like Dante's Inferno. As someone who has not read it, I was still able to follow along and understand what was happening. It does help if you have somewhat of a background/knowledge in Greek mythology as there are many references throughout the novel (Persephone, Orpheus, Cerberus). Knowing some of these names/creatures will also add to the experience overall. There are also a lot of references to philosophers/psychologists like Socrates, Kant, or Freud but they are easily understandable and explained in depth (if you've watched the good place you might have a leg up just because of chidi).
I did enjoy this one! A bit outside of my normal genre because of how dark it was, but R.F. Kuang is a genius and her work is incredible.
Expect to read a lot about chalk!
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
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
So incredibly unbelievably grateful to Harper Voyager to gifting an e-ARC of this book to attendees at #BookHuddle Victoria Retreat.
Alice and Peter are two grad students in analytical magick who undertake a journey into Hell to rescue their advisor. Grad school literally is Hell, so the concept completely fits. I loved this and appreciated the humor (I laughed out loud several times), but I don't know if things will land the same for someone who doesn't have the same experience.
I adore R.F. Kuang and this really hit home for me. I loved the magic system and the idea of magic based on paradoxes, which was a really unique system. I'm already recommending this to everyone I know who is currently in or has recently escaped from grad school.
Alice and Peter are two grad students in analytical magick who undertake a journey into Hell to rescue their advisor. Grad school literally is Hell, so the concept completely fits. I loved this and appreciated the humor (I laughed out loud several times), but I don't know if things will land the same for someone who doesn't have the same experience.
I adore R.F. Kuang and this really hit home for me. I loved the magic system and the idea of magic based on paradoxes, which was a really unique system. I'm already recommending this to everyone I know who is currently in or has recently escaped from grad school.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
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:
Yes
Babel still takes my #1 spot from this author, but this was absolutely insane. INSANE.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
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
Alice is going to Hell. No, really.
Alice Law and fellow academic Peter Murdoch (swoon) have to travel through all layers of Hell to find their professor and rescue him.
Storywise, I was in it. I think this sounds fascinating. Yesss, give us allll the academic and religious critiques! I wanna hear it. Unfortunately, that's about where it begins and ends with its quality.
Alice Law is so shallowly written I was actively rooting for her downfall. The setting was hastily put together with awkward academic references that were the same references critiqued for being elitist throughout the actual story. The pacing was incredibly disjointed, leaving certain scenes moving so fast I blinked and they were over, and others so slow I was begging for it to end. The last 30% had so much build up, only for resolution to be achieved within literal paragraphs.
The main characters had no chemistry, not even platonic, let alone romantic or sexual. The development was nonexistent, and due to their lack of personalities I had a hard time being invested in their success. Additionally, they were never challenged. Literally every miniscule challenge they came across, the characters would say "we aren't doing this" and then... just didn't? They arguably had too much of an easy time in Hell.
With nothing new or interesting to add to the conversation on academia and elitism - I've debated where to rate this star-wise. I'm giving it a solid 3. I think I enjoyed it more than I didn't, and while bored for a solid chunk of it, I still needed to know what was destined for my sweet boyfriend, Peter Murdoch. Kuang can, and has, done better.
Thanks Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the e-ARC! KATABASIS - out August 26!