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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
4.5 ⭐️
I'm definitely going to read this a second time when it's published as I think this is a book that's meant to be analyzed.
I highly recommend reading Piranesi by Susanna Clarke before Katabasis, as they have a very similar tone, and it helps to understand the vibe of this book!
The first 160-200 pages are very good but pretty tedious to get through. However, I PROMISE! if you push through those, your life will be changed. I was really nervous that this would fall a little flat at first, but I'm so so happy that I kept on reading!
It has a super captivating story, with super weird and interesting characters along with a thought-provoking theme and a really great approach to misogyny and chronic illness.
I love these characters with my whole heart, and if I could, I would write a 10-page review about this book!
I'm definitely going to read this a second time when it's published as I think this is a book that's meant to be analyzed.
I highly recommend reading Piranesi by Susanna Clarke before Katabasis, as they have a very similar tone, and it helps to understand the vibe of this book!
The first 160-200 pages are very good but pretty tedious to get through. However, I PROMISE! if you push through those, your life will be changed. I was really nervous that this would fall a little flat at first, but I'm so so happy that I kept on reading!
It has a super captivating story, with super weird and interesting characters along with a thought-provoking theme and a really great approach to misogyny and chronic illness.
I love these characters with my whole heart, and if I could, I would write a 10-page review about this book!
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I need a lifetime to process this. I obviously love Rebecca's writing style, even though I don’t understand most of it!
adventurous
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
First off, I wouldn't call this a romance book, although the romantic relationship is fronted a lot more than anything else Kuang has written, and it's integral to the ending.
I wanted more of the flashbacks. I wanted more growing hatred and spite prior to Grimes’ death. The entire journey through hell felt very linear — one thing happened, and then the next, and oh no they're trapped, and then another thing happened. I wanted twisting and gorey and surreal rather than a modernization of the inferno. I wanted Annihilation-esque distortion.
I personally do love Alice’s character — Kuang is so good at writing feral women who have never done anything halfway ever and will lay down their soul and sanity for nothing less than acclaim and recognition. Alice’s debilitating fear of failure is what kept me going through this book that felt merely procedural at times.
I liked the ending, but I needed more than just those last 100 pages — Babel also suffers from this, I feel, and it almost comes off as low-stakes until the peak of the action(Alice’s meeting with Yama).
Elspeth was another standout to me, even if she is used as a mere foil to Alice — depression to her mania, the saying “fuck it” and letting go to Alice's “I will burn hell to the ground to graduate”.
i really did enjoy the philosophy-based magic system and all the references to classical philosophy and mythology. Even if it feels like an infodump at times. Even if Kuang comes off as pretentious and just flexing her Ivy-league wings -- that's part of why I like her writing: it engages with those concepts that have stuck in my head since intro to ancient philosophy, that when you finally understand them you have that “oh YEAH” moment. And I liked seeing those integrated into an adventurous story. It will resonate with those who have ever felt themselves pulled into the obsession of academia, unable to stop lest they lose their train of thought that might be The Idea.
it was a mix of hits and misses for me, but I did enjoy the majority of the time I spent reading it.
I wanted more of the flashbacks. I wanted more growing hatred and spite prior to Grimes’ death. The entire journey through hell felt very linear — one thing happened, and then the next, and oh no they're trapped, and then another thing happened. I wanted twisting and gorey and surreal rather than a modernization of the inferno. I wanted Annihilation-esque distortion.
I personally do love Alice’s character — Kuang is so good at writing feral women who have never done anything halfway ever and will lay down their soul and sanity for nothing less than acclaim and recognition. Alice’s debilitating fear of failure is what kept me going through this book that felt merely procedural at times.
I liked the ending, but I needed more than just those last 100 pages — Babel also suffers from this, I feel, and it almost comes off as low-stakes until the peak of the action
Elspeth was another standout to me, even if she is used as a mere foil to Alice — depression to her mania, the saying “fuck it” and letting go to Alice's “I will burn hell to the ground to graduate”.
i really did enjoy the philosophy-based magic system and all the references to classical philosophy and mythology. Even if it feels like an infodump at times. Even if Kuang comes off as pretentious and just flexing her Ivy-league wings -- that's part of why I like her writing: it engages with those concepts that have stuck in my head since intro to ancient philosophy, that when you finally understand them you have that “oh YEAH” moment. And I liked seeing those integrated into an adventurous story. It will resonate with those who have ever felt themselves pulled into the obsession of academia, unable to stop lest they lose their train of thought that might be The Idea.
it was a mix of hits and misses for me, but I did enjoy the majority of the time I spent reading it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
almost didn’t pass the Bechtel test, but like that’s the point isn’t it?
Hands down my favorite Kuang so far. It’s absolutely brutal and grisly and visceral in the way Kuang always is — but underneath it all, there is this decadent life force that feels very distinct from her other works.
Alice & Peter are so believable, even in the moments when they’re clearly being caricatures of academics & the way I was constantly teetering between rolling my eyes at them and crying for them gave me a fabulous headache.
I’m always emotionally miserable when reading anything by Kuang (which is undeniably part of her appeal) & while that didn’t change with Katabasis, this was a type of misery that I would happily go through again.
Hands down my favorite Kuang so far. It’s absolutely brutal and grisly and visceral in the way Kuang always is — but underneath it all, there is this decadent life force that feels very distinct from her other works.
Alice & Peter are so believable, even in the moments when they’re clearly being caricatures of academics & the way I was constantly teetering between rolling my eyes at them and crying for them gave me a fabulous headache.
I’m always emotionally miserable when reading anything by Kuang (which is undeniably part of her appeal) & while that didn’t change with Katabasis, this was a type of misery that I would happily go through again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes