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laurenslibrary331 's review for:
Katabasis
by R.F. Kuang
3.5 stars!
Katabasis was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, so I was so excited to start this one. Thank you so much to HarperCollins for the arc of this book!
The premise of this book is unique and captivating. The magic system is thoroughly complex and intricate. Academic rivals Alice Law and Peter Murdoch must travel to Hell to save the soul of their advisor. For those interested in reading this, I think it's important to note that this is not necessarily or heavily a 'romantic fantasy' like one of its genres labels. It is very much a subplot of romance in my opinion in comparison to typical 'romantasy' labeled books. There are also a LOT of info dumps about philosophy, theories, mathematics, psychology, moral dilemmas, etc. It did get to be a bit much at times but all of the information was still interesting and thought-provoking at times. I think these points are important to consider before diving into this book-- it reads as academia & deals with dark topics. *make sure to read trigger warnings*
I have also seen discourse on if you need to read other works before Katabasis like Dante's Inferno. As someone who has not read it, I was still able to follow along and understand what was happening. It does help if you have somewhat of a background/knowledge in Greek mythology as there are many references throughout the novel (Persephone, Orpheus, Cerberus). Knowing some of these names/creatures will also add to the experience overall. There are also a lot of references to philosophers/psychologists like Socrates, Kant, or Freud but they are easily understandable and explained in depth (if you've watched the good place you might have a leg up just because of chidi).
I did enjoy this one! A bit outside of my normal genre because of how dark it was, but R.F. Kuang is a genius and her work is incredible.
Expect to read a lot about chalk!
Katabasis was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, so I was so excited to start this one. Thank you so much to HarperCollins for the arc of this book!
The premise of this book is unique and captivating. The magic system is thoroughly complex and intricate. Academic rivals Alice Law and Peter Murdoch must travel to Hell to save the soul of their advisor. For those interested in reading this, I think it's important to note that this is not necessarily or heavily a 'romantic fantasy' like one of its genres labels. It is very much a subplot of romance in my opinion in comparison to typical 'romantasy' labeled books. There are also a LOT of info dumps about philosophy, theories, mathematics, psychology, moral dilemmas, etc. It did get to be a bit much at times but all of the information was still interesting and thought-provoking at times. I think these points are important to consider before diving into this book-- it reads as academia & deals with dark topics. *make sure to read trigger warnings*
I have also seen discourse on if you need to read other works before Katabasis like Dante's Inferno. As someone who has not read it, I was still able to follow along and understand what was happening. It does help if you have somewhat of a background/knowledge in Greek mythology as there are many references throughout the novel (Persephone, Orpheus, Cerberus). Knowing some of these names/creatures will also add to the experience overall. There are also a lot of references to philosophers/psychologists like Socrates, Kant, or Freud but they are easily understandable and explained in depth (if you've watched the good place you might have a leg up just because of chidi).
I did enjoy this one! A bit outside of my normal genre because of how dark it was, but R.F. Kuang is a genius and her work is incredible.
Expect to read a lot about chalk!