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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
The book was actually pretty good until the very last chapter, which upset me so much I dropped the score of 4.5 down to 3.75. Prior to reading this book I’d seen reviews saying the romance felt very “insta-lovey” which didn’t make sense to me because there was already yrs of history between the characters before chapter 1 and they were in a very small cohort at their uni. However, the last chapter, which was filled of professions of love, the same chapter where our FMC Alice decides to turn away from the only life she’s ever known for a boy she only recently discovered her feelings towards? Yea that was def giving insta-love. Which is crazy considering I’d read ~500 pages at that point. Anyway the mythology was nice, no the book wasn’t a difficult read, no I would not read it again (book didn’t feel satisfying).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Vomit
This was such vivid and fascinating world building, and I had a great time hanging out with with our main characters. Their flaws made them so real, and I loved them 💖
challenging
dark
funny
informative
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
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
This is probably my least favorite RF Kuang book, but I still love everything she writes. One thing I love most about her books are the devastating endings so I feel like the happily ever after was less satisfying. Also I feel like Peter should have died later on in the book so we got more time with him. It didn’t completely feel like a love story more just a side plot, but also more of a love story than her other books?? I love how RF Kuang explores the complexity of human emotions in all of her books & this was no different.
I'm here to challenge the early reviewers who claimed this read like a textbook. What textbook, because I want to read it if it’s written like this.
You know how I know the wrong readers got ARCs? Before release, the average rating hovered around 3.7–3.8. Now that it’s officially out, it’s climbing steadily above four stars. I should’ve known RF Kuang would never, never, let me down.
Katabasis follows Alice and Peter, who journey into Hell to save the soul of their dead advisor so they can secure letters of recommendation, jobs, etc. That’s all you really need to know going in.
I loved this book. I could’ve binged it in a day, but I wanted to savor it as much as I wanted to devour it. What I mainly want to do here is address the common critiques I’ve seen. Minor spoilers ahead:
Critique 1: It’s too dense, it reads like a textbook.
Why are people shocked that a dark academia novel includes, brace yourself, academia? Someone said Kuang spent the whole book proving Alice is smart. Yes, because that’s her character. Yes, because the book is about academics. They’re smart. That’s the point. And frankly, I had fun with it. I laughed out loud, found the hellscapes fascinating, and thought the characters’ journeys shone brightest. The info-dumping and worldbuilding felt natural for two academics preparing to descend into Hell. I loved the research itself.
Critique 2: There’s no/little romance.
Kuang never promised a romance. She said it’s the most love story centered book she’s written, and she was right. If you didn’t catch the romance, you missed one of the book’s main threads. A love story doesn’t have to follow traditional “romance genre rules.” And yet, Alice and Peter's relationship clearly follows many of the traditional romance tropes: miscommunication, rivals to friends to rivals to lovers, only one sleeping bag, yearning. It’s a love story, but that's not the point of the book, although it is a major part of it.
Critique 3: The characters are insufferable.
Yes and that’s the point. Alice is insufferable, too smart for her own good, desperate for everyone to know it. But she’s also a victim: of academia’s relentless pressure, of Professor Grimes’s abuse, of constant belittling and harassment. Even her internalized misogyny is a reflection of the toxic system she’s clawing to belong to. The heart of the book isn’t their literal journey through Hell, but their fight to escape academia’s grip and Grimes’s shadow, and to find themselves (and each other).
Critique 4: Kuang’s prose is formulaic.
I couldn’t disagree more. Kuang’s prose is clean, digestible, and deceptively simple, she makes big ideas accessible while still infusing them with emotion. I laughed, I had fun, and I never once felt bogged down. Sure, prose preferences are subjective, but formulaic? Not in my experience.
Critique 5: The plot is stale and conflicts resolve too easily.
Yes, some problems wrapped up quickly. But I didn’t care, because the real tension lies in the characters’ internal journeys. The external challenges in Hell served as stepping stones for Alice and Peter’s personal reckoning. And not everything was easy, Alice in particular suffered mentally and physically through both her personal Hell and the literal one. As for the flashbacks? I thought they deepened the character work and were well paced, revealing key pieces of information about the characters at the right moments.
At its core, this book is about figuring out what it means to live. Not just exist, not just tick the boxes you’ve been told to, not just scrape by for scraps of praise or fleeting recognition. Alice learns the value of being alive in the simplest, most human ways: a cup of tea, stars on a dark night, the shift of a fall breeze.
Yes, it’s a brutal, scathing look at the rot of academia and the way it consumes people. But it’s also about survival, about clawing your way through that darkness and realizing there’s something worth living for on the other side. That there’s more to life than prestige or being the smartest in the room. That sometimes the real victory is just breathing, choosing to live, and finding meaning in the small, ordinary joys that make being alive worth it.
You can disagree with me, and maybe Kuang just isn’t for you. That’s fine. But don’t be afraid of this book, it’s accessible, engaging, meaningful, and I’ll be raving about it for years. Easily my most anticipated release of the year, and so far, the best book I’ve read this year.
You know how I know the wrong readers got ARCs? Before release, the average rating hovered around 3.7–3.8. Now that it’s officially out, it’s climbing steadily above four stars. I should’ve known RF Kuang would never, never, let me down.
Katabasis follows Alice and Peter, who journey into Hell to save the soul of their dead advisor so they can secure letters of recommendation, jobs, etc. That’s all you really need to know going in.
I loved this book. I could’ve binged it in a day, but I wanted to savor it as much as I wanted to devour it. What I mainly want to do here is address the common critiques I’ve seen. Minor spoilers ahead:
Critique 1: It’s too dense, it reads like a textbook.
Why are people shocked that a dark academia novel includes, brace yourself, academia? Someone said Kuang spent the whole book proving Alice is smart. Yes, because that’s her character. Yes, because the book is about academics. They’re smart. That’s the point. And frankly, I had fun with it. I laughed out loud, found the hellscapes fascinating, and thought the characters’ journeys shone brightest. The info-dumping and worldbuilding felt natural for two academics preparing to descend into Hell. I loved the research itself.
Critique 2: There’s no/little romance.
Kuang never promised a romance. She said it’s the most love story centered book she’s written, and she was right. If you didn’t catch the romance, you missed one of the book’s main threads. A love story doesn’t have to follow traditional “romance genre rules.” And yet, Alice and Peter's relationship clearly follows many of the traditional romance tropes: miscommunication, rivals to friends to rivals to lovers, only one sleeping bag, yearning. It’s a love story, but that's not the point of the book, although it is a major part of it.
Critique 3: The characters are insufferable.
Yes and that’s the point. Alice is insufferable, too smart for her own good, desperate for everyone to know it. But she’s also a victim: of academia’s relentless pressure, of Professor Grimes’s abuse, of constant belittling and harassment. Even her internalized misogyny is a reflection of the toxic system she’s clawing to belong to. The heart of the book isn’t their literal journey through Hell, but their fight to escape academia’s grip and Grimes’s shadow, and to find themselves (and each other).
Critique 4: Kuang’s prose is formulaic.
I couldn’t disagree more. Kuang’s prose is clean, digestible, and deceptively simple, she makes big ideas accessible while still infusing them with emotion. I laughed, I had fun, and I never once felt bogged down. Sure, prose preferences are subjective, but formulaic? Not in my experience.
Critique 5: The plot is stale and conflicts resolve too easily.
Yes, some problems wrapped up quickly. But I didn’t care, because the real tension lies in the characters’ internal journeys. The external challenges in Hell served as stepping stones for Alice and Peter’s personal reckoning. And not everything was easy, Alice in particular suffered mentally and physically through both her personal Hell and the literal one. As for the flashbacks? I thought they deepened the character work and were well paced, revealing key pieces of information about the characters at the right moments.
At its core, this book is about figuring out what it means to live. Not just exist, not just tick the boxes you’ve been told to, not just scrape by for scraps of praise or fleeting recognition. Alice learns the value of being alive in the simplest, most human ways: a cup of tea, stars on a dark night, the shift of a fall breeze.
Yes, it’s a brutal, scathing look at the rot of academia and the way it consumes people. But it’s also about survival, about clawing your way through that darkness and realizing there’s something worth living for on the other side. That there’s more to life than prestige or being the smartest in the room. That sometimes the real victory is just breathing, choosing to live, and finding meaning in the small, ordinary joys that make being alive worth it.
You can disagree with me, and maybe Kuang just isn’t for you. That’s fine. But don’t be afraid of this book, it’s accessible, engaging, meaningful, and I’ll be raving about it for years. Easily my most anticipated release of the year, and so far, the best book I’ve read this year.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Alice and Peter could be obnoxious at times, but I became endeared to them by the end and am immensely pleased they got a happy ending. I have cried TOO MANY TIMES over one of her books, it was nice to be dry eyed for once! I also loved that Peter was chronically ill: the chapter where he revealed his past resonated deeply with me as a T1D. T1D is of course different than what Peter was going through with Crohn’s Disease, but the way it was described as “The Beast” and the way Peter talked about having an invisible disability really struck home. It was very powerful, especially since disabled characters aren’t often represented in fantasy, at least in the books I read.
One thing I will say is that some of the logic and philosophy in this book can be tough. Kuang does elaborate on the theories she talks about, but it did make my head spin! I just took it slow and reread if needed-- and if that still didn’t help me understand, I just went with it and let myself enjoy the rest of the book lol. Either way, I had a great time reading Katabasis, and think it was definitely worth the preorder and wait for publication!
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-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