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blackheartwings 's review for:
Katabasis
by R.F. Kuang
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's a good book, solid 4 stars - I enjoyed it, I would absolutely read it again, I definitely shed a few tears at the end there.
The world building I think is the best part but it kinda gets sidelined because the main characters are too busy looking for their professor they get tunnel vision - which also means their characterization suffers? They're very 2D but also, God knows I often become Barely A Person with Hardly A Personality when I'm in the trenches of my coursework. And the book kinda makes note of this too in that they're so caught up in the trenches of being better academics than the other that they don't know each other as people. Was this on purpose or is this just a symptom of R.F. Kuang also being in the academic trenches of her PhD? Hard to say.
It's more of a reflection of academia rather than the scathing critique I thought it would be? She holds up a mirror to it and says "this is what you are, this is what you do" but does not follow it up with "this is how to fix it" - maybe on a personal level but not an institutional one.
The world building I think is the best part but it kinda gets sidelined because the main characters are too busy looking for their professor they get tunnel vision - which also means their characterization suffers? They're very 2D but also, God knows I often become Barely A Person with Hardly A Personality when I'm in the trenches of my coursework. And the book kinda makes note of this too in that they're so caught up in the trenches of being better academics than the other that they don't know each other as people. Was this on purpose or is this just a symptom of R.F. Kuang also being in the academic trenches of her PhD? Hard to say.
It's more of a reflection of academia rather than the scathing critique I thought it would be? She holds up a mirror to it and says "this is what you are, this is what you do" but does not follow it up with "this is how to fix it" - maybe on a personal level but not an institutional one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual harassment