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flora_arns 's review for:
Katabasis
by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
First off, I wouldn't call this a romance book, although the romantic relationship is fronted a lot more than anything else Kuang has written, and it's integral to the ending.
I wanted more of the flashbacks. I wanted more growing hatred and spite prior to Grimes’ death. The entire journey through hell felt very linear — one thing happened, and then the next, and oh no they're trapped, and then another thing happened. I wanted twisting and gorey and surreal rather than a modernization of the inferno. I wanted Annihilation-esque distortion.
I personally do love Alice’s character — Kuang is so good at writing feral women who have never done anything halfway ever and will lay down their soul and sanity for nothing less than acclaim and recognition. Alice’s debilitating fear of failure is what kept me going through this book that felt merely procedural at times.
I liked the ending, but I needed more than just those last 100 pages — Babel also suffers from this, I feel, and it almost comes off as low-stakes until the peak of the action(Alice’s meeting with Yama).
Elspeth was another standout to me, even if she is used as a mere foil to Alice — depression to her mania, the saying “fuck it” and letting go to Alice's “I will burn hell to the ground to graduate”.
i really did enjoy the philosophy-based magic system and all the references to classical philosophy and mythology. Even if it feels like an infodump at times. Even if Kuang comes off as pretentious and just flexing her Ivy-league wings -- that's part of why I like her writing: it engages with those concepts that have stuck in my head since intro to ancient philosophy, that when you finally understand them you have that “oh YEAH” moment. And I liked seeing those integrated into an adventurous story. It will resonate with those who have ever felt themselves pulled into the obsession of academia, unable to stop lest they lose their train of thought that might be The Idea.
it was a mix of hits and misses for me, but I did enjoy the majority of the time I spent reading it.
I wanted more of the flashbacks. I wanted more growing hatred and spite prior to Grimes’ death. The entire journey through hell felt very linear — one thing happened, and then the next, and oh no they're trapped, and then another thing happened. I wanted twisting and gorey and surreal rather than a modernization of the inferno. I wanted Annihilation-esque distortion.
I personally do love Alice’s character — Kuang is so good at writing feral women who have never done anything halfway ever and will lay down their soul and sanity for nothing less than acclaim and recognition. Alice’s debilitating fear of failure is what kept me going through this book that felt merely procedural at times.
I liked the ending, but I needed more than just those last 100 pages — Babel also suffers from this, I feel, and it almost comes off as low-stakes until the peak of the action
Elspeth was another standout to me, even if she is used as a mere foil to Alice — depression to her mania, the saying “fuck it” and letting go to Alice's “I will burn hell to the ground to graduate”.
i really did enjoy the philosophy-based magic system and all the references to classical philosophy and mythology. Even if it feels like an infodump at times. Even if Kuang comes off as pretentious and just flexing her Ivy-league wings -- that's part of why I like her writing: it engages with those concepts that have stuck in my head since intro to ancient philosophy, that when you finally understand them you have that “oh YEAH” moment. And I liked seeing those integrated into an adventurous story. It will resonate with those who have ever felt themselves pulled into the obsession of academia, unable to stop lest they lose their train of thought that might be The Idea.
it was a mix of hits and misses for me, but I did enjoy the majority of the time I spent reading it.