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jenniferrmaryy 's review for:
Katabasis
by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have so much to say. *CONTAINS SPOILERS*
First of all, I really did not know what to expect as I went into this; I wasn't a huge fan of Babel, and had qualms about the way RFK wrote academia. Furthermore, a lot of people in my reading community were not getting on with this, and I knew I was in for a journey, so I made sure to write notes to assist me in this review. Therefore this review will probably have a bit of a disjointed structure.
To cut to the chase, I actually *really* enjoyed this. Was it perfect? No! There were a couple of things I wasn't a huge fan of, however, I still give this 4.5 stars because I really enjoyed the book and the character development was really what did it for me.
At the start, I struggled. I really wasn't getting on with the way the lore was being explained to us - it was done in a way that felt very info-dumpy, which is what I disliked about Babel. The format was this 'A, so B, therefore C, and D, but E', and although I know the lore and magic system has to be explained in some capacity, but it wasn't doing a good job of being entertaining.
I also was confused by the Americanisms - It's academia in a very British setting, and I found that some idioms or sayings broke my immersion a bit. HOWEVER, this no longer was a problem once I realised the character was an American student studying in Britain. Once I understood this, I actually came to appreciate it, and I also really loved the influx of British Humour and cultural references (E.g. Wetherspoons, the Oxford Brookes joke, "more of a comment than a question, still asks people what they did for A-Levels") As a British person who has been through university I loved these and wondered if a non-British person would understand them.
I really liked the way she wrote descriptively about the locations - you really got a sense for the setting and it was much more immersive when you can imagine the place well. Despite being in hell, there was a lot of different locations that really contributed to the worldbuilding.
I did struggle to connect with the characters for quite a while - by page 83 I noted that we hadn't had much characterisation or anything that made the characters relatable. They were clearly just two very smart academics at a university, and RFK was sort of just using them as a conduit to flex knowledge. I am SO GLAD that my opinion changed by the end of the book - I feel like I went through a total rollercoaster with Alice. To begin with, I found her absolutely insufferable - she was a complete and utter Pick Me but still seemed to be anxious and awkward. Throughout the chapters I started to understand her more and she was very clearly a victim of her own internal patriarchy (and physical patriarchy). I started to sympathise with her very quickly once I understood what she's actually experience with regards to the professor and how that influenced her thoughts and actions. Honestly free my girl from the clutches of patriarchy and misogyny! I also really related with her when it came to her relationship with Peter - the confusing and frustrating dynamic that developed from a friendship turned rivalry and mixed signals and the way that manifested into anger and resentment towards him. Forget 3 dimensional - she was so much more. It also wasn't a linear development, which I ended up appreciating - I went between relating to her to being really frustrated with her all throughout the book. But it just goes to show how she wasn't the perfect one dimensional protagonist. Genuinely loved her spiral into feminine rage and insanity.
With regards to Peter, we definitely got less of a story with him, though I would argue that this is primarily Alice's story. (Though arguably it was marketed as a more of a romance. I would say its a fantasy/DA with elements of romance).
My biggest issue with Peter is not him as a character (he's a sweetie though possibly a bit dense), it was the way his death scene was written. It felt very lacklustre and underwhelming, and I was like 'so that's just it??'. The ONLY thing that redeemed that was the fact he came back to life at the end. I had the feeling it was going to happen due to the fact it was so lacklustre when he died but I wasn't totally sure. I think it would have been less predictable if RFK had given him a really devastating death scene, and then brought him back to life. The stakes could've been higher.
I will also say that although I didn't mind Alice's story after that part (so I would say from 60% onwards?), it felt a little fillery and probably didn't need to be so long. It also felt a little disjointed, but I digress - it wasn't bad. For example, it felt like the plot was going to follow somekind of descent into madness, and it was at this point I just wasn;t really sure I resonated with what was going on until we got to more of the climax scene and the ending.
The ending was a lovely happy ending, which I enjoyed.
I think I've pretty much covered what I did and didn't like about it. Overall, I genuinely ended up really liking the story. One thing I would say is sometimes the references felt a little modern and messed up the immersion for me. However, I think I liked this one so much more than Babel because it did exactly right with what Babel did wrong. Babel, for me, came across far too academic, we had pages of explanation and information that actually never really contributed to the plot or the overall world building -It's been a while since I read but I remember pages of etymology on certain words. It felt a lot more like an opportunity to just sound smart rather than build a solid world or plot - they were just at school most of the time. In Katabasis howwever, I actually really appreciated the academic parts, because despite being advanced and philosophical, they actually contributed to the wider plot/worldbuilding. Yes, the magic system with the logic and Greek mythology references was rather complicated and scientific, however, it doesn't matter if you didn't totally get it. If you just percieved it like any other fictional magic system (like that of The Will of the Many, for example), it just became a seperate magic system within its own world, with its own lore. By then, all the references and 'smart' bits, just became part of the wider structure of the story.
Katabasis did a fantastic job with it's character development and world building and I genuinely think that's why I ended up enjoying it so much, because you could really end up relataing and empathising with the main character Alice.
First of all, I really did not know what to expect as I went into this; I wasn't a huge fan of Babel, and had qualms about the way RFK wrote academia. Furthermore, a lot of people in my reading community were not getting on with this, and I knew I was in for a journey, so I made sure to write notes to assist me in this review. Therefore this review will probably have a bit of a disjointed structure.
To cut to the chase, I actually *really* enjoyed this. Was it perfect? No! There were a couple of things I wasn't a huge fan of, however, I still give this 4.5 stars because I really enjoyed the book and the character development was really what did it for me.
At the start, I struggled. I really wasn't getting on with the way the lore was being explained to us - it was done in a way that felt very info-dumpy, which is what I disliked about Babel. The format was this 'A, so B, therefore C, and D, but E', and although I know the lore and magic system has to be explained in some capacity, but it wasn't doing a good job of being entertaining.
I also was confused by the Americanisms - It's academia in a very British setting, and I found that some idioms or sayings broke my immersion a bit. HOWEVER, this no longer was a problem once I realised the character was an American student studying in Britain. Once I understood this, I actually came to appreciate it, and I also really loved the influx of British Humour and cultural references (E.g. Wetherspoons, the Oxford Brookes joke, "more of a comment than a question, still asks people what they did for A-Levels") As a British person who has been through university I loved these and wondered if a non-British person would understand them.
I really liked the way she wrote descriptively about the locations - you really got a sense for the setting and it was much more immersive when you can imagine the place well. Despite being in hell, there was a lot of different locations that really contributed to the worldbuilding.
I did struggle to connect with the characters for quite a while - by page 83 I noted that we hadn't had much characterisation or anything that made the characters relatable. They were clearly just two very smart academics at a university, and RFK was sort of just using them as a conduit to flex knowledge. I am SO GLAD that my opinion changed by the end of the book - I feel like I went through a total rollercoaster with Alice. To begin with, I found her absolutely insufferable - she was a complete and utter Pick Me but still seemed to be anxious and awkward. Throughout the chapters I started to understand her more and she was very clearly a victim of her own internal patriarchy (and physical patriarchy). I started to sympathise with her very quickly once I understood what she's actually experience with regards to the professor and how that influenced her thoughts and actions. Honestly free my girl from the clutches of patriarchy and misogyny! I also really related with her when it came to her relationship with Peter - the confusing and frustrating dynamic that developed from a friendship turned rivalry and mixed signals and the way that manifested into anger and resentment towards him. Forget 3 dimensional - she was so much more. It also wasn't a linear development, which I ended up appreciating - I went between relating to her to being really frustrated with her all throughout the book. But it just goes to show how she wasn't the perfect one dimensional protagonist. Genuinely loved her spiral into feminine rage and insanity.
With regards to Peter, we definitely got less of a story with him, though I would argue that this is primarily Alice's story. (Though arguably it was marketed as a more of a romance. I would say its a fantasy/DA with elements of romance).
My biggest issue with Peter is not him as a character (he's a sweetie though possibly a bit dense), it was the way his death scene was written. It felt very lacklustre and underwhelming, and I was like 'so that's just it??'. The ONLY thing that redeemed that was the fact he came back to life at the end. I had the feeling it was going to happen due to the fact it was so lacklustre when he died but I wasn't totally sure. I think it would have been less predictable if RFK had given him a really devastating death scene, and then brought him back to life. The stakes could've been higher.
I will also say that although I didn't mind Alice's story after that part (so I would say from 60% onwards?), it felt a little fillery and probably didn't need to be so long. It also felt a little disjointed, but I digress - it wasn't bad. For example, it felt like the plot was going to follow somekind of descent into madness, and it was at this point I just wasn;t really sure I resonated with what was going on until we got to more of the climax scene and the ending.
The ending was a lovely happy ending, which I enjoyed.
I think I've pretty much covered what I did and didn't like about it. Overall, I genuinely ended up really liking the story. One thing I would say is sometimes the references felt a little modern and messed up the immersion for me. However, I think I liked this one so much more than Babel because it did exactly right with what Babel did wrong. Babel, for me, came across far too academic, we had pages of explanation and information that actually never really contributed to the plot or the overall world building -It's been a while since I read but I remember pages of etymology on certain words. It felt a lot more like an opportunity to just sound smart rather than build a solid world or plot - they were just at school most of the time. In Katabasis howwever, I actually really appreciated the academic parts, because despite being advanced and philosophical, they actually contributed to the wider plot/worldbuilding. Yes, the magic system with the logic and Greek mythology references was rather complicated and scientific, however, it doesn't matter if you didn't totally get it. If you just percieved it like any other fictional magic system (like that of The Will of the Many, for example), it just became a seperate magic system within its own world, with its own lore. By then, all the references and 'smart' bits, just became part of the wider structure of the story.
Katabasis did a fantastic job with it's character development and world building and I genuinely think that's why I ended up enjoying it so much, because you could really end up relataing and empathising with the main character Alice.