Katabasis (Deluxe Limited Edition): A Novel
Dante’s Inferno meets Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul—perhaps at the cost of their own.
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Community Reviews
Loved this book. It was dark, witty and thought-provoking. Alice was a memorable FMC, flawed and an unreliable narrator of her own story but I still was rooting for her to get past her own demons and realise what truly mattered in life. Peter and Elspeth were great supporting characters. Shocked when Peter died but so glad at the end when Alice used the exchange spell to bring him back and Grimes got what he deserved!
3 because there were parts where I did not want to put the book down, but then there's parts where I wanted to skip over.
I enjoyed the ending, some of the characters, the descriptions about the shades and how their lives ended.
However the romance was boring and I didn't like Alice. Every other woman was looked down on or judged for not caring about academics enough. If I have to read the word 'statement' one more time I might start sobbing.
DNF @ 14%
Katabasis feels less like a novel and more like an academic name-dropping contest. The female lead is saddled with a “woe is me” attitude, convinced she’s the smartest person in any room, and resentful of anyone who dares to have had an easier time in life or academia. Instead of coming across as ambitious, she just feels one-dimensional, self-pitying, and exhausting. The male lead? About as compelling as lukewarm tea.
And then there’s the endless parade of writers, poets, philosophers, and literary theories about hell. But instead of enriching the story, it just feels like Kuang waving around her bibliography. Name-dropping ≠ narrative. All of this would be forgivable if there were a solid story at the heart of it, but what little plot exists feels like a side quest in service of the references.
When the writing is dry and the characters are dull, no amount of intellectual window-dressing can make it work. I tapped out early — life’s too short for a book that’s all gloss and no substance.
Katabasis feels less like a novel and more like an academic name-dropping contest. The female lead is saddled with a “woe is me” attitude, convinced she’s the smartest person in any room, and resentful of anyone who dares to have had an easier time in life or academia. Instead of coming across as ambitious, she just feels one-dimensional, self-pitying, and exhausting. The male lead? About as compelling as lukewarm tea.
And then there’s the endless parade of writers, poets, philosophers, and literary theories about hell. But instead of enriching the story, it just feels like Kuang waving around her bibliography. Name-dropping ≠ narrative. All of this would be forgivable if there were a solid story at the heart of it, but what little plot exists feels like a side quest in service of the references.
When the writing is dry and the characters are dull, no amount of intellectual window-dressing can make it work. I tapped out early — life’s too short for a book that’s all gloss and no substance.
Dark academia that weaves in thought provoking questions with an interesting rivalry. Both of the main characters are so flawed but that’s what makes it so wonderful to read. The take on hell is interesting but not groundbreaking, though I think it does what it needs to for the plot. Overall a worthy read.
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