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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Finally, R.F. Kuang and I met in the middle. I really, really enjoyed this book. Kuang's writing is just fantastic. Here it's all easy reading, gorgeous and evocative descriptions, effortless timeline hopping, engaging and interesting info-dumping, simple yet profound character moments, etc. etc. Definitely more Ninth House + Babel than Piranesi, and you definitely don't have to do any homework to understand the many references scattered throughout. For those who enjoy a slower pace, medium to heavy trauma, a simple romance, and a steady stream of oh? really?? moments in your journey through hell.
Intellectualism is not inherently bad, nor do I think that's the point Kuang is trying to make through her criticisms of (elite, Western, British) academia. An author referencing (and explaining!) texts like Dante's Inferno or philosophers like Nietzsche and Freud is not trying to pull the rug out from under you. Intertextuality is stimulating and exciting when you let it be, and this book is all the better for it!
And let it be known I gasped out loud in relief when peter was saved.
Intellectualism is not inherently bad, nor do I think that's the point Kuang is trying to make through her criticisms of (elite, Western, British) academia. An author referencing (and explaining!) texts like Dante's Inferno or philosophers like Nietzsche and Freud is not trying to pull the rug out from under you. Intertextuality is stimulating and exciting when you let it be, and this book is all the better for it!
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have so much to say. *CONTAINS SPOILERS*
First of all, I really did not know what to expect as I went into this; I wasn't a huge fan of Babel, and had qualms about the way RFK wrote academia. Furthermore, a lot of people in my reading community were not getting on with this, and I knew I was in for a journey, so I made sure to write notes to assist me in this review. Therefore this review will probably have a bit of a disjointed structure.
To cut to the chase, I actually *really* enjoyed this. Was it perfect? No! There were a couple of things I wasn't a huge fan of, however, I still give this 4.5 stars because I really enjoyed the book and the character development was really what did it for me.
At the start, I struggled. I really wasn't getting on with the way the lore was being explained to us - it was done in a way that felt very info-dumpy, which is what I disliked about Babel. The format was this 'A, so B, therefore C, and D, but E', and although I know the lore and magic system has to be explained in some capacity, but it wasn't doing a good job of being entertaining.
I also was confused by the Americanisms - It's academia in a very British setting, and I found that some idioms or sayings broke my immersion a bit. HOWEVER, this no longer was a problem once I realised the character was an American student studying in Britain. Once I understood this, I actually came to appreciate it, and I also really loved the influx of British Humour and cultural references (E.g. Wetherspoons, the Oxford Brookes joke, "more of a comment than a question, still asks people what they did for A-Levels") As a British person who has been through university I loved these and wondered if a non-British person would understand them.
I really liked the way she wrote descriptively about the locations - you really got a sense for the setting and it was much more immersive when you can imagine the place well. Despite being in hell, there was a lot of different locations that really contributed to the worldbuilding.
I did struggle to connect with the characters for quite a while - by page 83 I noted that we hadn't had much characterisation or anything that made the characters relatable. They were clearly just two very smart academics at a university, and RFK was sort of just using them as a conduit to flex knowledge. I am SO GLAD that my opinion changed by the end of the book - I feel like I went through a total rollercoaster with Alice. To begin with, I found her absolutely insufferable - she was a complete and utter Pick Me but still seemed to be anxious and awkward. Throughout the chapters I started to understand her more and she was very clearly a victim of her own internal patriarchy (and physical patriarchy). I started to sympathise with her very quickly once I understood what she's actually experience with regards to the professor and how that influenced her thoughts and actions. Honestly free my girl from the clutches of patriarchy and misogyny! I also really related with her when it came to her relationship with Peter - the confusing and frustrating dynamic that developed from a friendship turned rivalry and mixed signals and the way that manifested into anger and resentment towards him. Forget 3 dimensional - she was so much more. It also wasn't a linear development, which I ended up appreciating - I went between relating to her to being really frustrated with her all throughout the book. But it just goes to show how she wasn't the perfect one dimensional protagonist. Genuinely loved her spiral into feminine rage and insanity.
With regards to Peter, we definitely got less of a story with him, though I would argue that this is primarily Alice's story. (Though arguably it was marketed as a more of a romance. I would say its a fantasy/DA with elements of romance).
My biggest issue with Peter is not him as a character (he's a sweetie though possibly a bit dense), it was the way his death scene was written. It felt very lacklustre and underwhelming, and I was like 'so that's just it??'. The ONLY thing that redeemed that was the fact he came back to life at the end. I had the feeling it was going to happen due to the fact it was so lacklustre when he died but I wasn't totally sure. I think it would have been less predictable if RFK had given him a really devastating death scene, and then brought him back to life. The stakes could've been higher.
I will also say that although I didn't mind Alice's story after that part (so I would say from 60% onwards?), it felt a little fillery and probably didn't need to be so long. It also felt a little disjointed, but I digress - it wasn't bad. For example, it felt like the plot was going to follow somekind of descent into madness, and it was at this point I just wasn;t really sure I resonated with what was going on until we got to more of the climax scene and the ending.
The ending was a lovely happy ending, which I enjoyed.
I think I've pretty much covered what I did and didn't like about it. Overall, I genuinely ended up really liking the story. One thing I would say is sometimes the references felt a little modern and messed up the immersion for me. However, I think I liked this one so much more than Babel because it did exactly right with what Babel did wrong. Babel, for me, came across far too academic, we had pages of explanation and information that actually never really contributed to the plot or the overall world building -It's been a while since I read but I remember pages of etymology on certain words. It felt a lot more like an opportunity to just sound smart rather than build a solid world or plot - they were just at school most of the time. In Katabasis howwever, I actually really appreciated the academic parts, because despite being advanced and philosophical, they actually contributed to the wider plot/worldbuilding. Yes, the magic system with the logic and Greek mythology references was rather complicated and scientific, however, it doesn't matter if you didn't totally get it. If you just percieved it like any other fictional magic system (like that of The Will of the Many, for example), it just became a seperate magic system within its own world, with its own lore. By then, all the references and 'smart' bits, just became part of the wider structure of the story.
Katabasis did a fantastic job with it's character development and world building and I genuinely think that's why I ended up enjoying it so much, because you could really end up relataing and empathising with the main character Alice.
First of all, I really did not know what to expect as I went into this; I wasn't a huge fan of Babel, and had qualms about the way RFK wrote academia. Furthermore, a lot of people in my reading community were not getting on with this, and I knew I was in for a journey, so I made sure to write notes to assist me in this review. Therefore this review will probably have a bit of a disjointed structure.
To cut to the chase, I actually *really* enjoyed this. Was it perfect? No! There were a couple of things I wasn't a huge fan of, however, I still give this 4.5 stars because I really enjoyed the book and the character development was really what did it for me.
At the start, I struggled. I really wasn't getting on with the way the lore was being explained to us - it was done in a way that felt very info-dumpy, which is what I disliked about Babel. The format was this 'A, so B, therefore C, and D, but E', and although I know the lore and magic system has to be explained in some capacity, but it wasn't doing a good job of being entertaining.
I also was confused by the Americanisms - It's academia in a very British setting, and I found that some idioms or sayings broke my immersion a bit. HOWEVER, this no longer was a problem once I realised the character was an American student studying in Britain. Once I understood this, I actually came to appreciate it, and I also really loved the influx of British Humour and cultural references (E.g. Wetherspoons, the Oxford Brookes joke, "more of a comment than a question, still asks people what they did for A-Levels") As a British person who has been through university I loved these and wondered if a non-British person would understand them.
I really liked the way she wrote descriptively about the locations - you really got a sense for the setting and it was much more immersive when you can imagine the place well. Despite being in hell, there was a lot of different locations that really contributed to the worldbuilding.
I did struggle to connect with the characters for quite a while - by page 83 I noted that we hadn't had much characterisation or anything that made the characters relatable. They were clearly just two very smart academics at a university, and RFK was sort of just using them as a conduit to flex knowledge. I am SO GLAD that my opinion changed by the end of the book - I feel like I went through a total rollercoaster with Alice. To begin with, I found her absolutely insufferable - she was a complete and utter Pick Me but still seemed to be anxious and awkward. Throughout the chapters I started to understand her more and she was very clearly a victim of her own internal patriarchy (and physical patriarchy). I started to sympathise with her very quickly once I understood what she's actually experience with regards to the professor and how that influenced her thoughts and actions. Honestly free my girl from the clutches of patriarchy and misogyny! I also really related with her when it came to her relationship with Peter - the confusing and frustrating dynamic that developed from a friendship turned rivalry and mixed signals and the way that manifested into anger and resentment towards him. Forget 3 dimensional - she was so much more. It also wasn't a linear development, which I ended up appreciating - I went between relating to her to being really frustrated with her all throughout the book. But it just goes to show how she wasn't the perfect one dimensional protagonist. Genuinely loved her spiral into feminine rage and insanity.
With regards to Peter, we definitely got less of a story with him, though I would argue that this is primarily Alice's story. (Though arguably it was marketed as a more of a romance. I would say its a fantasy/DA with elements of romance).
My biggest issue with Peter is not him as a character (he's a sweetie though possibly a bit dense), it was the way his death scene was written. It felt very lacklustre and underwhelming, and I was like 'so that's just it??'. The ONLY thing that redeemed that was the fact he came back to life at the end. I had the feeling it was going to happen due to the fact it was so lacklustre when he died but I wasn't totally sure. I think it would have been less predictable if RFK had given him a really devastating death scene, and then brought him back to life. The stakes could've been higher.
I will also say that although I didn't mind Alice's story after that part (so I would say from 60% onwards?), it felt a little fillery and probably didn't need to be so long. It also felt a little disjointed, but I digress - it wasn't bad. For example, it felt like the plot was going to follow somekind of descent into madness, and it was at this point I just wasn;t really sure I resonated with what was going on until we got to more of the climax scene and the ending.
The ending was a lovely happy ending, which I enjoyed.
I think I've pretty much covered what I did and didn't like about it. Overall, I genuinely ended up really liking the story. One thing I would say is sometimes the references felt a little modern and messed up the immersion for me. However, I think I liked this one so much more than Babel because it did exactly right with what Babel did wrong. Babel, for me, came across far too academic, we had pages of explanation and information that actually never really contributed to the plot or the overall world building -It's been a while since I read but I remember pages of etymology on certain words. It felt a lot more like an opportunity to just sound smart rather than build a solid world or plot - they were just at school most of the time. In Katabasis howwever, I actually really appreciated the academic parts, because despite being advanced and philosophical, they actually contributed to the wider plot/worldbuilding. Yes, the magic system with the logic and Greek mythology references was rather complicated and scientific, however, it doesn't matter if you didn't totally get it. If you just percieved it like any other fictional magic system (like that of The Will of the Many, for example), it just became a seperate magic system within its own world, with its own lore. By then, all the references and 'smart' bits, just became part of the wider structure of the story.
Katabasis did a fantastic job with it's character development and world building and I genuinely think that's why I ended up enjoying it so much, because you could really end up relataing and empathising with the main character Alice.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
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
Like me, Alice Law is full of flaws. We are completely different people, and also one and the same. She's complicated, emotional, logical, ambitious. There were times I screamed and yelled at her for the decisions she made, but then she'd FEEL and I knew I was right there with her. Alice Law journeys into Hell as a last resort only to realize that's not how life works; there are always opportunities and choices. The journey she takes in this book is wild, tragic, and desperate.
The only other book l've read of Kuang is Babel, and this is a different kind of ride. I loved Katabasis for the journey, for the metamorphosis, for the wonderful, rich characters, and for the ending I didn't think we'd get (because I don't know if we deserved it) but hoped we would.
It's said that in reading stories we gain greater empathy; that even though it's a fictional world, we can expand our own array of emotions. This book, with all it's logic and references, is a book to make you feel - and not judge.
My rating is anywhere between 4 and 5 stars. That ending automatically bumps it up to 5. (ARC provided by NetGalley)
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So. That was a lot, and also somehow not enough?
I don't mind the pretentiousness, in fact I enjoyed the philosophical, metaphysical, and mathematical ramblings quite a bit. What I understood of it, at least. The before was, in many ways, a lot more interesting to me than Hell itself overall.
However... I think that's only because Kuang didn't make Hell interesting to me. I was expecting the eponymous journey to take up more plot, to learn some of the logistics. To actually see what all the circles were about. To be shown less than I was told, I guess.
And I get that that's not really the point, that it's sort of reductionist to review it based on that, but whatever. This is a fantasy with magicians who are in love and committed murder by accident, not an academic manuscript.
Speaking of them, Alice is a fairly plain self-insert, and Peter is the caricature of a pale, lanky, messy-haired campus genius (ft. Chron's). I liked them well enough most of the time... but not all that much. Their relationship left something to be desired for sure - once you claw your way out from under the academic rambling, it's basically just one big miscommunication trope. I will say though, the last 30% while they were apart was excruciatingly boring, and got pretty inexplicably grody too.
As far as villains go, the Kripke family was lame and they basically took themselves out, and Grimes was there to haunt the narrative more than anything else. Something, something, not a giant but a man. I do like that King Yama was basically just some chill dude, though.
All in all, not my favourite Kuang novel by a long shot, but an interesting concept and I'm not mad I read it.
I don't mind the pretentiousness, in fact I enjoyed the philosophical, metaphysical, and mathematical ramblings quite a bit. What I understood of it, at least. The before was, in many ways, a lot more interesting to me than Hell itself overall.
However... I think that's only because Kuang didn't make Hell interesting to me. I was expecting the eponymous journey to take up more plot, to learn some of the logistics. To actually see what all the circles were about. To be shown less than I was told, I guess.
And I get that that's not really the point, that it's sort of reductionist to review it based on that, but whatever. This is a fantasy with magicians who are in love and committed murder by accident, not an academic manuscript.
Speaking of them, Alice is a fairly plain self-insert, and Peter is the caricature of a pale, lanky, messy-haired campus genius (ft. Chron's). I liked them well enough most of the time... but not all that much. Their relationship left something to be desired for sure - once you claw your way out from under the academic rambling, it's basically just one big miscommunication trope. I will say though, the last 30% while they were apart was excruciatingly boring, and got pretty inexplicably grody too.
As far as villains go, the Kripke family was lame and they basically took themselves out, and Grimes was there to haunt the narrative more than anything else. Something, something, not a giant but a man. I do like that King Yama was basically just some chill dude, though.
All in all, not my favourite Kuang novel by a long shot, but an interesting concept and I'm not mad I read it.
it was so boring i couldn’t get myself to care
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
It's RF Kuang - prepare for TRAUMA (but like in a good - though violent and messy and terrifying - healing way)! This book was in no way what I expected, and it was better for it.
Katabasis follows Kuang's prior writing in that it utterly lambasts the world of academia, but through the eyes of an unreliable narrator who has yet to accept how much they've been hurt. Alice is a delightfully analytic and single-minded narrator, and her sojourn into hell so beautifully mirrors her own journey in understanding the human condition and what it means to really live. Peter is the ultimate absent-minded cinnamon roll, and I adored the Crohn's rep later on in his story. Also, there's a cat named Archimedes who may have stolen the entire show.
Though I am not overly familiar with some of the source content (ie Dante & Virgil), it's clear how much research went into crafting this tale of the circles of hell, how many versions and cultures were referenced with utmost respect. Cambridge, too, was rendered in such a way as to be specific, while also able to represent a slew of similar environments. Each character has a back story that is not only thoroughly plotted, but also incredibly relevant to Alice's self-discovery in a way that never feels like pandering.
Though I got a bit bogged down by the constant back and forth between flashback and present moment (without much forward plot movement) in the center of the book, the propulsive ending more than made up for the slippery pacing.
I will note that this tome grapples HEAVILY with suicide and emotional abuse as the characters come to grips with what has been done to them by their professor. There are whole chapters in which the narrator simply contemplates her own ending and the way others have approached theirs.
Ultimately though, Katabasis transforms into a story of human kindness and deftly balances the dark and light of what life has to offer.
Katabasis follows Kuang's prior writing in that it utterly lambasts the world of academia, but through the eyes of an unreliable narrator who has yet to accept how much they've been hurt. Alice is a delightfully analytic and single-minded narrator, and her sojourn into hell so beautifully mirrors her own journey in understanding the human condition and what it means to really live. Peter is the ultimate absent-minded cinnamon roll, and I adored the Crohn's rep later on in his story. Also, there's a cat named Archimedes who may have stolen the entire show.
Though I am not overly familiar with some of the source content (ie Dante & Virgil), it's clear how much research went into crafting this tale of the circles of hell, how many versions and cultures were referenced with utmost respect. Cambridge, too, was rendered in such a way as to be specific, while also able to represent a slew of similar environments. Each character has a back story that is not only thoroughly plotted, but also incredibly relevant to Alice's self-discovery in a way that never feels like pandering.
Though I got a bit bogged down by the constant back and forth between flashback and present moment (without much forward plot movement) in the center of the book, the propulsive ending more than made up for the slippery pacing.
I will note that this tome grapples HEAVILY with suicide and emotional abuse as the characters come to grips with what has been done to them by their professor. There are whole chapters in which the narrator simply contemplates her own ending and the way others have approached theirs.
Ultimately though, Katabasis transforms into a story of human kindness and deftly balances the dark and light of what life has to offer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail