Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
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
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
dark
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
mysterious
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:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
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
adventurous
dark
tense
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:
Yes
This review is based on the ARC received.
There are points in the book where it should be a 1 or 2 star.
Its strongest trait is its craft. It is crafted so expertly and in such a meticulous way that I did enjoy reading it regardless of what I thought of the plot.
Some books can be tortuous to read. This is not one of them.
There are many weak points. Its magic system is … contrived. It functions on the concept of logical fallacies and paradoxes. But there are several times where it is a bit of an ass pull. Sort of like the plot needed something to happen but the magic system wasn’t able to fit in. So they just skipped all the technicalities.
The humour is not very funny. If you are an Oxbridge student descended from a line of Earls then you would get a chuckle. But most of the time the jokes had me rolling my eyes.
The main character is deeply flawed but this is very intentional so I won’t fault it. Alice is a very annoying pick me kiss ass for like 80% of the book. Maybe avoid reading if you don’t vibe with that. We are shown throughout the book that she has very little agency but then towards the end it winds up being untrue! She actually had NO agency. What a slap in the face. I couldn’t fucking believe it.
The attempt at feminist commentary is ridiculous. Maybe the most egregious of all the novel’s cons. Such scathing internalized misogyny thats never truly resolved if I’m being honest. Permeates a good chunk of the middle.
Kuang does this weird thing where some random shit happens and then she’ll launch into an explanation of who or what this thing is. It all reads like a Family Guy cutaway gag. “Remember the time we—“ and then you get the longest flashback of your life.
It also is overly referential. I understand that they are scholars but we are approaching Ready Player One levels of referencing—wherein the reference IS the information. “Oh this is just like That One Thing in Dante.” You can’t just say that and move on wtf lmaooo
Also the references are inserted in such a janky essay-esque way. “As CS Lewis once said—“ I’m not reading a thesis bro put that shit away.
A good chunk of the beginning and middle were just endless streams of thought. So much thinking and brooding and whatnot. You’re barely in hell until maybe 3/4 of the way in, almost.
My best advice is to not think too hard about it. Once you do it all falls apart on you. The plot is swiss cheese.
The important thing is that I enjoyed reading it. Again, the writing craft is just fantastic. I can forgive all else.
There are points in the book where it should be a 1 or 2 star.
Its strongest trait is its craft. It is crafted so expertly and in such a meticulous way that I did enjoy reading it regardless of what I thought of the plot.
Some books can be tortuous to read. This is not one of them.
There are many weak points. Its magic system is … contrived. It functions on the concept of logical fallacies and paradoxes. But there are several times where it is a bit of an ass pull. Sort of like the plot needed something to happen but the magic system wasn’t able to fit in. So they just skipped all the technicalities.
The humour is not very funny. If you are an Oxbridge student descended from a line of Earls then you would get a chuckle. But most of the time the jokes had me rolling my eyes.
The main character is deeply flawed but this is very intentional so I won’t fault it. Alice is a very annoying pick me kiss ass for like 80% of the book. Maybe avoid reading if you don’t vibe with that. We are shown throughout the book that she has very little agency but then towards the end it winds up being untrue! She actually had NO agency. What a slap in the face. I couldn’t fucking believe it.
The attempt at feminist commentary is ridiculous. Maybe the most egregious of all the novel’s cons. Such scathing internalized misogyny thats never truly resolved if I’m being honest. Permeates a good chunk of the middle.
Kuang does this weird thing where some random shit happens and then she’ll launch into an explanation of who or what this thing is. It all reads like a Family Guy cutaway gag. “Remember the time we—“ and then you get the longest flashback of your life.
It also is overly referential. I understand that they are scholars but we are approaching Ready Player One levels of referencing—wherein the reference IS the information. “Oh this is just like That One Thing in Dante.” You can’t just say that and move on wtf lmaooo
Also the references are inserted in such a janky essay-esque way. “As CS Lewis once said—“ I’m not reading a thesis bro put that shit away.
A good chunk of the beginning and middle were just endless streams of thought. So much thinking and brooding and whatnot. You’re barely in hell until maybe 3/4 of the way in, almost.
My best advice is to not think too hard about it. Once you do it all falls apart on you. The plot is swiss cheese.
The important thing is that I enjoyed reading it. Again, the writing craft is just fantastic. I can forgive all else.
emotional
reflective
tense
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:
Complicated
An intriguing look into hell, what makes hell what it is, and what sacrifices one makes throughout their journey in hell. Katabasis is a story of two scholars who journey to the depths of hell together.
The way this book is written, full of logic and wit and humor while still being informative. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it a million times again, Rebecca Kuang is one of the smartest minds of our generation and I will forever look at her books as a source of inspiration for me. I hope she never loses excitement for writing and always gives us more books.
I learned so much while reading, both about the study of logic, and how hell is depicted in many different ways. It’s just fascinating and I’ll probably reread upon release to see if there’s anything that I missed the first time. This feels like one of those books where the more times you reread, the more you learn.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an eARC of this book.
funny
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2.5/5 ⭐️ (closer to 2 but rounding up)
I was so excited to read this since I loved The Poppy War trilogy and Babel, but I’m just kinda confused and disappointed by Katabasis ☹️. There are moments that were good but mostly it’s just a slow, emotionally flat book that felt strangely poorly written for an R. F. Kuang novel?
~ spoilers from now on ~
Pros:
- Elspeth was the best character. From the get-go she was interesting and I was intrigued by her. Despite being dead she was basically the only character that felt alive and real, but she’s barely in the story.
- The last ~25% of the book was good! I didn’t love the cliche ending but the last few chapters leading up to it was interesting. The pace picked up and the main characters were separated so that surely helped.
- I didn’t mind the logic/mathematics/philosophy content. I see a lot of reviews saying that it felt like a textbook, was too complicated to read without googling, or felt like RFK was trying to show how smart she was by info-dumping facts. I don’t know a lot about the logic/math/philosophy she talked about but I thought it was fun to learn about (like how in Babel the focus was on etymology).
- The first 2 “floors” of Hell were interesting. They were creative and unique and it made me excited to see how the rest of Hell would be portrayed… and she stopped with that concept and the rest of Hell was just rocks and sand :’)
Cons:
- Incoherent structure!! The format it was written in didn’t work for me. It was basically 1 page interesting dialogue, 10 pages background info, 2 pages progressing story, 1 chapter of background info, etc. It made me want to put the book down cause I didn’t wanna read the character’s background anymore. Also, I think it would’ve been better if it was written in chronological order.
- Hell was somehow boring? There’s so much potential and creativity in describing what Hell might look like and I could never visualize it because the description was always just “rocks, sand, bones, black river”. That’s it.
- Characters lacked chemistry. There was supposed to be romance in this book between the main characters but there basically was nothing until the very, very end. I expected it to be hinted at (like Ramy & Robin in Babel) but there was nothing?
- I disliked Alice the entire time, Peter was okay (his background info chapter was actually good, having a character with Crohn’s isn’t common so it was cool to see), Grimes was boring & absent, everyone else I forget.
- Hell is supposed to be super, super old with souls trapped there for eons. Yet, the only people Alice & Peter meet are people from their era, at their university? I feel like there were so many missed opportunities with that.
- They start off needing food, water and rest and then halfway through that gets thrown out the window?
If this was supposed to have a deeper meaning about academics being hell and misogyny in academics, I didn’t really get it :/ Even if I just view it as a goofy love story it also feels like it falls short.
And John Gradus?? Who was that?? Was that something obvious and I missed it cause nobody talks about him in reviews?? I liked him!
I was so excited to read this since I loved The Poppy War trilogy and Babel, but I’m just kinda confused and disappointed by Katabasis ☹️. There are moments that were good but mostly it’s just a slow, emotionally flat book that felt strangely poorly written for an R. F. Kuang novel?
~ spoilers from now on ~
Pros:
- Elspeth was the best character. From the get-go she was interesting and I was intrigued by her. Despite being dead she was basically the only character that felt alive and real, but she’s barely in the story.
- The last ~25% of the book was good! I didn’t love the cliche ending but the last few chapters leading up to it was interesting. The pace picked up and the main characters were separated so that surely helped.
- I didn’t mind the logic/mathematics/philosophy content. I see a lot of reviews saying that it felt like a textbook, was too complicated to read without googling, or felt like RFK was trying to show how smart she was by info-dumping facts. I don’t know a lot about the logic/math/philosophy she talked about but I thought it was fun to learn about (like how in Babel the focus was on etymology).
- The first 2 “floors” of Hell were interesting. They were creative and unique and it made me excited to see how the rest of Hell would be portrayed… and she stopped with that concept and the rest of Hell was just rocks and sand :’)
Cons:
- Incoherent structure!! The format it was written in didn’t work for me. It was basically 1 page interesting dialogue, 10 pages background info, 2 pages progressing story, 1 chapter of background info, etc. It made me want to put the book down cause I didn’t wanna read the character’s background anymore. Also, I think it would’ve been better if it was written in chronological order.
- Hell was somehow boring? There’s so much potential and creativity in describing what Hell might look like and I could never visualize it because the description was always just “rocks, sand, bones, black river”. That’s it.
- Characters lacked chemistry. There was supposed to be romance in this book between the main characters but there basically was nothing until the very, very end. I expected it to be hinted at (like Ramy & Robin in Babel) but there was nothing?
- I disliked Alice the entire time, Peter was okay (his background info chapter was actually good, having a character with Crohn’s isn’t common so it was cool to see), Grimes was boring & absent, everyone else I forget.
- Hell is supposed to be super, super old with souls trapped there for eons. Yet, the only people Alice & Peter meet are people from their era, at their university? I feel like there were so many missed opportunities with that.
- They start off needing food, water and rest and then halfway through that gets thrown out the window?
If this was supposed to have a deeper meaning about academics being hell and misogyny in academics, I didn’t really get it :/ Even if I just view it as a goofy love story it also feels like it falls short.
And John Gradus?? Who was that?? Was that something obvious and I missed it cause nobody talks about him in reviews?? I liked him!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death
