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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
slow-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
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was excited to get an advance copy of this book, then I started reading it. The characters are awful pedantic caricatures of academicians and the setting is not enough Cambridge and way to much boring gray/black/sullen red hell. It did pick up after the mmc died but that was way too far into the book to save it for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood
Moderate: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit
I loved this book. The writing is amazing, the references to classics are exactly for me, the academia plot is great. There's so much excellent narrative construction. Perhaps the descriptions of Hell get a little thin and drifting, which would be my only modest complaint.
dark
sad
medium-paced
slow-paced
i cannot believe rfk put me through this hell
This is aggressively fine. I definitely enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Babel, mainly because it doesn't have quite so many major flaws as that book does. And where that book completely falls apart in its final act, Katabasis is fairly consistent throughout (though much like Babel I think it's at its strongest in the opening sections as we learn about this world that we're inhabiting).
There are two problems with Katabasis that made it a bit of a slog to get through for me. The first is that much like Babel it often feels very derivative of other works. Where Babel often read like poorly-disguised Harry Potter fan-fiction, Katabasis wears a few influences very clearly on its sleeve, in parts feeling like Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and at other times feeling like Garth Nix's Sabriel. I think there's also some His Dark Materials influence here, too, especially with regard to the lands of the dead that we see at the end of The Amber Spyglass.
The main problem, though, is that it's simply boring for large chunks of the book. We're on a journey through Hell, and very little happens. It's hugely anti-climactic, especially after how strong the promise of the opening section of the book is. The romance at the heart of the book, too, falls a little flat - these are two characters who literally go to hell and back for each other, and I never once believed that they actually cared about each other.
It's a shame, really. I desperately wanted to love both Babel and Katabasis - thematically they sound like exactly the sort of thing I'd be into, I love the settings that Kuang situates her stories in, I love her ideas, and I think her writing is often very good. Unfortunately it all just fails to come together for me, and that's disappointing.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
My over riding feeling is disappointment. I had such high expectations! Although I will say I enjoyed it for the most part. There was also lots that frustrated me. Plot holes, endless paragraphs that have no relevance and a romance that fell flat.
Also it felt a bit like the phrase have you considered not being depressed.
Now it was defiently an interesting concept and I enjoyed the inclusion of this mythology. However did kinda seem to be forgotten after a while.
I don't know. I wasn't the most impressed. Sorry 😬
Now it was defiently an interesting concept and I enjoyed the inclusion of this mythology. However did kinda seem to be forgotten after a while.
I don't know. I wasn't the most impressed. Sorry 😬
adventurous
emotional
reflective
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
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slow pacing throughout the first 3/4, very unlikable characters and a romance that didn’t work at all for me. Writing is long winded and is constantly romanticizing academia at every turn in a way that gets tired. Especially having read this after Babel, which is a much better story.