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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
slow-paced
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Generally I'm a fan of r.f. kuang and her books, but this one, which i felt would be my favourite (takes place in hell, has piranesi (my favourite book) as a comp title), felt thee most boring out of all her books. This book takes place exclusively in hell and yet it was so so boring, it hurt my head. The emotional moments, of which there were barely any, felt lackluster and devoid of any feeling, and this was annoying because her books have made me tear up/actually cry before. The stakes felt very much nonexistent for some reason as well, can't exactly pinpoint why.
The characters were fun though, and that is the only reason this is getting a 3 instead of a 2 star review, and the romance was also fun, but nothing to write home about.
The characters were fun though, and that is the only reason this is getting a 3 instead of a 2 star review, and the romance was also fun, but nothing to write home about.
Thanks to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
After reading The Poppy War and Babel in quick succession, I was eagerly hoping for the ARC of Katabasis. Unfortunately, this one did not carry the same exhilirating feeling as Kuang's other books did for me.
The concept itself was intriguing to me and I was so excited for a deep dive into Kuang's take on Hell and the "hero's journey" of it all. Except I feel like only about 1/3 of the book is actually about Hell and the other 2/3 are scenes from the past. Which, in theory, would work if that's how this book had been going for. It almost feels like Kuang wanted to do dual timelines but instead a lot of the flashback scenes ended up feeling clunky and out of place.
I didn't feel put off by much of the literature and theory talk, though I am entrenched in that in my studies so it actually felt more of a comfort. However, I do see how it can come off a little much at times. There were explanations for nearly every reference made that spanned anywhere between a paragraph to three pages and this added to the clumsy pulled between scenes feeling for me. Alice and Peter were also profoundly unlikable to me for 3/4 of the book. I wanted so so badly to like them but every time they had a "rivals" moment it felt like a "well actually it's MY fault this happened...." competition and it was exhausting honestly.
Overall, I think this is the weakest of Kuang's books (though I have not yet read Yellowface) not only in character and plot development, but in prose. At times it felt more like a misguided debut than a sixth novel unfortunately. This hasn't put me off Kuang as an author because I do truly like her work but this just isn't one I can see buying for myself when it hits shelves.
I DNF this book. I didn't like reading the background literature review and research in the story because I felt it took away from the main plot. With that said, beautifully written for the 200 ish pages I read. Main plot was awesome and I will be looking for spoilers when this is released because I want to know what happens. If you liked Babel or Poppy War, you will love this.
adventurous
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment
adventurous
emotional
informative
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
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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
Thank you so much to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this ARC of Katabasis!
This was one of my favorite books of the year so far and an easy five star read. I had high expectations for this book because Babel by R. F. Kuang is one of my all time favorites. This book exceeded every expectation that I had.
Some of my favorite things about the book:
- The setting of academia. Competitive magical and academic settings are some of my favorite settings for a novel and this affirmed that.
- Two words: Character. Development.
- World building. Setting a fantasy novel in Hell? So ambitious and works so shockingly well.
- Unpredictability. I can often predict where a plot is going or how issues will resolve, and I can say I predicted absolutely nothing and that was a true delight.
- The mythology woven into a more modern setting. It was really cool to see how religion and myths were woven into this world in a way that made sense. They were easy to understand even if you were not familiar with the myth or religious beliefs, and even more interesting and exciting if you were.
I was unsure how a plot that consisted of two academic rivals descending into Hell to retrieve their professor could be serious, and sure there were moments of levity, but it was so impactful and serious to me. Kuang somehow managed to weave in meaningful isights on the human experience into the experiences of these characters in a completely different world that made me as a reader feel so seen and understood.
Although this digital ARC was provided to me by the publisher, I will absolutely be preordering a physical copy for myself. I can't wait to reread it soon.
This was one of my favorite books of the year so far and an easy five star read. I had high expectations for this book because Babel by R. F. Kuang is one of my all time favorites. This book exceeded every expectation that I had.
Some of my favorite things about the book:
- The setting of academia. Competitive magical and academic settings are some of my favorite settings for a novel and this affirmed that.
- Two words: Character. Development.
- World building. Setting a fantasy novel in Hell? So ambitious and works so shockingly well.
- Unpredictability. I can often predict where a plot is going or how issues will resolve, and I can say I predicted absolutely nothing and that was a true delight.
- The mythology woven into a more modern setting. It was really cool to see how religion and myths were woven into this world in a way that made sense. They were easy to understand even if you were not familiar with the myth or religious beliefs, and even more interesting and exciting if you were.
I was unsure how a plot that consisted of two academic rivals descending into Hell to retrieve their professor could be serious, and sure there were moments of levity, but it was so impactful and serious to me. Kuang somehow managed to weave in meaningful isights on the human experience into the experiences of these characters in a completely different world that made me as a reader feel so seen and understood.
Although this digital ARC was provided to me by the publisher, I will absolutely be preordering a physical copy for myself. I can't wait to reread it soon.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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
Beyond pleased to be able to review this ARC. First, I want to say that I love R.F. Kuang's writing. I think she's so clever with her word choice and sentence structure, and I found the reading experience of this book delightful. I really enjoyed Alice and Peter and all their flaws and shortcomings, and I liked how their relationship progressed.
As a huge nerd, I loved all the philosophy and paradox explorations. Kuang is a writer who doesn't hold your hand when it comes to academia—if you don't know very much about classical descents into hell or classical philosophy, she isn't going to spend time explaining them to you. But if you DO know about these things already, you really do feel like you're back in a seminar where everyone else has also already read Dante and Virgil. I could see this aspect being a turn-off for a lot of people, which I think was a bold choice, but I personally enjoyed it the way I loved the footnotes about philology in Babel.
Mild spoilers below:
I thought the Kripkes made excellent antagonists—such a good exploration of the hubris and the path that Alice so easily could have taken. And I thought her closing confrontation with Grimes was really well done and absolutely needed for her character arc.
My biggest critique about this book was that Hell was boring. The courts were simply not that interesting or distinct, and I think she could have done a lot more with it. There were a few interesting aspects at different points, but it felt a little excessive to make it a campus, and even that fell away for most of it, which made it feel unnecessary at all. I wanted a more exciting adventure through Hell, but I can also understand why she made the choices she did.
My smaller critique is that Alice in no way sounds American, and I don't think there was any value in making her an international student. Yes, we got to see that it left her feeling vulnerable when she arrived at Cambridge, but by the time of the story, all of her speech patterns feel so British that it felt contradictory to be reminded that she was in fact American.
Ultimately, I thought it was a very engaging and well written story, but really, it was too long and Hell was too bland. Cut out a hundred pages and amp up the drama in the rest, and it would have been a fantastic book.
As a huge nerd, I loved all the philosophy and paradox explorations. Kuang is a writer who doesn't hold your hand when it comes to academia—if you don't know very much about classical descents into hell or classical philosophy, she isn't going to spend time explaining them to you. But if you DO know about these things already, you really do feel like you're back in a seminar where everyone else has also already read Dante and Virgil. I could see this aspect being a turn-off for a lot of people, which I think was a bold choice, but I personally enjoyed it the way I loved the footnotes about philology in Babel.
Mild spoilers below:
I thought the Kripkes made excellent antagonists—such a good exploration of the hubris and the path that Alice so easily could have taken. And I thought her closing confrontation with Grimes was really well done and absolutely needed for her character arc.
My biggest critique about this book was that Hell was boring. The courts were simply not that interesting or distinct, and I think she could have done a lot more with it. There were a few interesting aspects at different points, but it felt a little excessive to make it a campus, and even that fell away for most of it, which made it feel unnecessary at all. I wanted a more exciting adventure through Hell, but I can also understand why she made the choices she did.
My smaller critique is that Alice in no way sounds American, and I don't think there was any value in making her an international student. Yes, we got to see that it left her feeling vulnerable when she arrived at Cambridge, but by the time of the story, all of her speech patterns feel so British that it felt contradictory to be reminded that she was in fact American.
Ultimately, I thought it was a very engaging and well written story, but really, it was too long and Hell was too bland. Cut out a hundred pages and amp up the drama in the rest, and it would have been a fantastic book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting