Katabasis (Deluxe Limited Edition): A Novel

4.2 ⭐️

Absolutely loved it, I’m a Kuang fan now.

What a cathartic adventure for Alice. And what a spot-on interpretation of what academia can be (at its worst, of course)

This book is about two scholars who journey through hell with the goal to bring back their deceased problematic professor. It explored the thrills and pitfalls of participating in high-level academia throughout their meandering tale. I do love this author. For fantasy books, she writes intensely intelligent and researched prose. This one referenced so many famous author and philosopher thoughts on hell and morality that play into the rationale of the characters. I wish I had read Dante's Inferno before reading this, haha.

The main characters are a bit annoying. This author also wrote Babel, which I loved much more. However, this book was still quite good if you want to chew on the philosophy of living well.

This novel takes place in Hell... mostly... and if you are looking to double down on an Evangelical Christian's idea of hell, then this story is not for you. It does draw from ancient ideas of hell, though -- very well in fact! Someone did their homework! I only rated the story a 6 because this book was not for me... and therefore reading this relatively long book felt more like homework than recreation. Kuang did an excellent job of taking on the patriarchy, though (... which needs to be slapped around IMO.) But I found myself more horrified by the male behaviors than I was routing for our heroes.

However much graduate work can be equated with hell, it takes nearly double Kuang's less than 3 decades to fully postulate and populate all the circles of Hell. Dante wasn't all that much older, though, so he must have been rather prone to judgement and grudges. Exile will do that, I suppose. Alice, a graduate student in Cambridge's department of analytic magick, goes to Hell to find her adviser, who exploded due to a faulty pentacle she failed to correct. Peter, her primary rival, horns in on her expedition. Hell as presented here is more full of dangers and dullness but only a few opportunities for bitter wit. Sort of an early midlife reevaluation of priorities more than a ruthless review of wrong choices. Though there is that.

Im so disappointed in myself for wasting my time waiting for this book to get interesting. It was a college theory textbook. I was so bored it actually helped me go to bed early several days in a row. This book went through so many theories and maths (yes maths) and I honestly felt like all of it was completely unnecessary to the story. I didnt understand a lick of the theories and after 50% started skimming and only reading where there was character dialogue and I still understood the story. This book could have been half the length. Do yourself a favor, if it doesnt interest you in the first few chapters, the rest wont either.