Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
challenging
inspiring
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:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
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
dark
hopeful
reflective
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
I really enjoyed a lot of this. It dragged a bit in the middle and I think it could have been cut down. But I was disappointed by the ending. It’s was very It’s a Wonderful Life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Ableism, Sexism, Suicide, Sexual harassment
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
While I have frequently enjoyed R.F. Kuang in the past, and was quite excited for the premise of Katabasis (as someone who had a childhood fixation on Dante's Inferno and the different circles of hell) this book fell short in some ways. Katabasis was not a page turner. In fact, it took me almost a month to get through this book when it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. R.F. Kuang seemed much too focused on the world building and references to outside sources than building a well paced story. This is not to say that I did not enjoy it, Alice Law and Peter Murdoch's adventure to Hell was quite fun to follow and how the court's of hell developed was quite interesting. Still, this failed to grasp my attention like previous books from this author.
While I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to others, it just didn't quite meet expectations.
While I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to others, it just didn't quite meet expectations.
As a final note, while marketed as her foray into romance, the romance elements were very light, and seemed at times forgotten. This did not bother me, but I caution anyone reading this hoping for the typical romantasy type book. This is, in my mind, not a quick read, not a book that drags you along for the ride, but a low burn that I enjoyed picking up to read a chapter here and there.
absurd, philosophical, and overall entirely too intelligent for my mortal brain to fully comprehend
I really enjoyed this and was frustrated every time I had to put it down. Once it got past the first third I just wanted to sit down and finish. I didn't really have time so it took me longer to finish than I'd like but every time I picked it back up I fell right back into the story. It had some slow reveals and took it's time but it's a journey for a reason.
Might be 4.5 actually but only because the author has set the bar so high for herself with her previous work. I think I loved both Babel and the Poppy War trilogy even more. This author is so talented and I will continue to read everything they write because I always enjoy her work.
Thanks so much to publishers and the author for an ARC!
Might be 4.5 actually but only because the author has set the bar so high for herself with her previous work. I think I loved both Babel and the Poppy War trilogy even more. This author is so talented and I will continue to read everything they write because I always enjoy her work.
Thanks so much to publishers and the author for an ARC!
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
{ARC REVIEW}
📖: Katabasis by R. F. Kuang
💭: Firstly, I’d like to say that I LOVED Yellowface and enjoyed Babel, but, oh boy…
Ugghhh, this pains me to write this review… I don’t hate it. Ok? I don’t. It’s NOT that bad. But I don’t love it. And that makes me sad because I wanted to love it soooo badly.
So, you got two academics (magicians -think pentagram drawing, not wand swishing) that travel to Hell to rescue their professor’s soul so they can graduate university after all their years of hard work.
Traveling to Hell was fun and I enjoyed Kuang’s take on what it might actually be like but PAUSE! Pump those brakes, babycakes. Every inconvenience or challenge was overcome too easily. I wanted more angst. More teeth. I wanted to feel ravaged and wrecked. I wanted to fight for my life.
While this is fantasy, it’s a lot more heavy on the logic, theories, mythology, and paradoxes. It’s a constant comparison and analysis of every expert and philosopher that’s come before us, examining if what they said still rings true.
I also think that Kuang is on to something when putting Chinese, Egyptian, Hinduism, and Greek belief systems right next to each other. That was fun. It brought up some heated conversations with friends. I sure love a good debate.
Oh, and amongst all the academic stuff, there is a storyline of love and trying to answer the question of what is the meaning of life. Is life worth living or should you just stay in Hell?
For fans of dark academia that want to go to Hell.
👀 Who would you be willing to travel to Hell for?
My kids, most definitely, but not a teacher.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
🔥 Out August 25th!
Thank you @avonbooks , @harpervoyagerus , and @netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
.
.
.
🏷️: #katabasis #arc #arcreview #bookreview #gotohell #tohellwithlove #netgalley #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #bookrecs #fantasy #darkacademia #mythology #bookish #igreads #instabook #bibliophile #tbr #comingsoon #newrelease #readmorebooks #books #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram
📖: Katabasis by R. F. Kuang
💭: Firstly, I’d like to say that I LOVED Yellowface and enjoyed Babel, but, oh boy…
Ugghhh, this pains me to write this review… I don’t hate it. Ok? I don’t. It’s NOT that bad. But I don’t love it. And that makes me sad because I wanted to love it soooo badly.
So, you got two academics (magicians -think pentagram drawing, not wand swishing) that travel to Hell to rescue their professor’s soul so they can graduate university after all their years of hard work.
Traveling to Hell was fun and I enjoyed Kuang’s take on what it might actually be like but PAUSE! Pump those brakes, babycakes. Every inconvenience or challenge was overcome too easily. I wanted more angst. More teeth. I wanted to feel ravaged and wrecked. I wanted to fight for my life.
While this is fantasy, it’s a lot more heavy on the logic, theories, mythology, and paradoxes. It’s a constant comparison and analysis of every expert and philosopher that’s come before us, examining if what they said still rings true.
I also think that Kuang is on to something when putting Chinese, Egyptian, Hinduism, and Greek belief systems right next to each other. That was fun. It brought up some heated conversations with friends. I sure love a good debate.
Oh, and amongst all the academic stuff, there is a storyline of love and trying to answer the question of what is the meaning of life. Is life worth living or should you just stay in Hell?
For fans of dark academia that want to go to Hell.
👀 Who would you be willing to travel to Hell for?
My kids, most definitely, but not a teacher.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
🔥 Out August 25th!
Thank you @avonbooks , @harpervoyagerus , and @netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
.
.
.
🏷️: #katabasis #arc #arcreview #bookreview #gotohell #tohellwithlove #netgalley #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #bookrecs #fantasy #darkacademia #mythology #bookish #igreads #instabook #bibliophile #tbr #comingsoon #newrelease #readmorebooks #books #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
tl:dr: for me personally, not as good as Babel though I will try not to draw too much comparison and review it on its own merit. not as much a "love story" as the jacket is currently pushing it.
I was thrilled to read another ARC from RF Kuang because I frothed Babel, and while there are many of the same elements that I love in this one, it didn't quite hit the same way. actually I was terrified this was going to be an attempt to jump onto the romantasy bandwagon and I am thankful to be able to report that the romance aspect is rather mild and certainly not the central beats of the story.
what I truly enjoyed was the exploration of racism, sexism, ableism and ego/privilege in the area of academia, which was definitely a theme of Babel as well but perhaps explored with more specificity in Katabasis. the blending of magic with formal logic was fairly well done and I enjoyed it, and maybe it's just my autism but I wish we could solve real life arguments by just admitting the other person applied logic better.
I would have liked to see more of the magic system and how it worked, I felt like Babel had such a novel and interesting and previously unexplored system that the one in Katabasis is a little bit of a let down, but satisfying enough nonetheless. (it could be that as a bilingual Babel was simply that much more relatable in terms of being aware of "how much meaning is lost" in translation)
Unfortunately this book falls prey to a trend which I am seeing in a fair few of the ARCs I read, which is that the plot feels extremely slow burn until the last 100 pages where everything comes to fruition, but kind of leaves me with emotional whiplash. I guess it's a good gimmick for marketing, get them to read the whole book wanting to know what happens and then wrap it up quick to leave them wanting more, but it feels dissatisfying and cheap for an author that I think could be capable of much more depth and more appealing pacing. Not sure how much of this is publishers pushing authors or authors seeing the bandwagon and hopping on, but personally I much prefer a book that leaves me with questions on philosophy or human nature, not just "what just happened? is that seriously it?"
I was thrilled to read another ARC from RF Kuang because I frothed Babel, and while there are many of the same elements that I love in this one, it didn't quite hit the same way. actually I was terrified this was going to be an attempt to jump onto the romantasy bandwagon and I am thankful to be able to report that the romance aspect is rather mild and certainly not the central beats of the story.
what I truly enjoyed was the exploration of racism, sexism, ableism and ego/privilege in the area of academia, which was definitely a theme of Babel as well but perhaps explored with more specificity in Katabasis. the blending of magic with formal logic was fairly well done and I enjoyed it, and maybe it's just my autism but I wish we could solve real life arguments by just admitting the other person applied logic better.
I would have liked to see more of the magic system and how it worked, I felt like Babel had such a novel and interesting and previously unexplored system that the one in Katabasis is a little bit of a let down, but satisfying enough nonetheless. (it could be that as a bilingual Babel was simply that much more relatable in terms of being aware of "how much meaning is lost" in translation)
Unfortunately this book falls prey to a trend which I am seeing in a fair few of the ARCs I read, which is that the plot feels extremely slow burn until the last 100 pages where everything comes to fruition, but kind of leaves me with emotional whiplash. I guess it's a good gimmick for marketing, get them to read the whole book wanting to know what happens and then wrap it up quick to leave them wanting more, but it feels dissatisfying and cheap for an author that I think could be capable of much more depth and more appealing pacing. Not sure how much of this is publishers pushing authors or authors seeing the bandwagon and hopping on, but personally I much prefer a book that leaves me with questions on philosophy or human nature, not just "what just happened? is that seriously it?"