Katabasis: A Fantastical Descent into Hell, Rivalry, and Redemption in the Pursuit of Academic Glory from Author of Yellowface—R. F. Kuang

This was a hard book for me to read. I felt the magic system was a little convoluted using pentagrams, logic theorems and incantations just felt a little hard to grasp. I also felt some of the lower realms of hell were not expounded on nearly as much as the earlier ones where I would have thought there would have been more action. I did enjoy the push and pull between Peter & Alice and Alice’s growth throughout the journey. The last 150 pages were probably my favorite part of the book.

I liked this a lot. Wonderfully imaginative concept, rich storytelling, and, at its heart, a pair of compelling main characters. I do feel it is maybe a bit too long, and sags at points in the middle; and while almost all of the secondary and side characters are richly drawn and compelling even in short bursts, this oddly does not hold for some of the ostensible antagonists, who are barely developed beyond their mere presence. Still an entirely enjoyable read and highly recommended.

4 stars A tale that explores the light and dark sides of academia and takes a journey into the depths of Hell, all while being a story of love at its core. The love of knowledge, love of the heart, and a desire for understanding the complexities of life and what comes after. For the majority, I found the writing to be quite lovely, flowing in a way that made this substantial tome seem not so sizable. At other times though it felt esoteric with its deeply academic focus on Paradoxes and Mathematics. I did enjoy the way that the author blended academics with fantasy. While one is so solidly based in facts and proofs, the other is steeped in mystery and magic. Katabasis is an amalgamation of dark academia, horror, historical fantasy, and a rivals-to-lovers romance. If you are looking for romance with bedroom scenes and spice, this is not that kind of book. The academic and fantasy elements are predominant, where the love story takes on more of a supporting role. I started off reading the digital ARC but I made the switch to audio once available. I really enjoyed the dual narration and felt that I was able to better connect with story. Many thanks to Edelweiss and Harper Voyager of HarperCollins for the digital Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

By the end of Chapter 2, I had decided that the best way to describe Katabasis was as a cross between Harry Potter and Dante’s Inferno. The book’s 35 chapters can make for rather tedious and challenging reading, at times giving the impression that it is written more for an academic audience than the average reader. The writing style is consistent throughout, but I often felt that I needed a dictionary or thesaurus close at hand to fully appreciate the language used. Perhaps this is understandable given that the author was pursuing a PhD. at the time of writing. Her academic background is impressive, having studied at both Cambridge, which also serves as the setting for the book, and Yale. Putting the language aside, the story itself is an engaging account of the protagonist’s journey, which is described well. There is also an element of romance woven into the narrative, and the author does a good job of getting the reader to root for the protagonist. Ultimately, in keeping with the traditional fairytale approach, we are treated to a happy ending, with the protagonists living happily ever after. Overall, Katabasis offers an interesting story, but the dense language and academic feel may make it a challenging read for some.

If anything, this book may be too intelligent for me. I definitely should have done some pre-reading beforehand and whilst I understood the magic system it did beffudle me at times.

This book is by no means bad and I think the concept of Hell and everything it entails is definitely unique and well done, but it's just not interesting to me so it was difficult to stick with it.

I did really like how it dealt with mental health and how every character is flawed and selfish and yet they're still so human.

This book did however reframe my views on academia and made me question my own goals and the future I want to have. I've always loved learning just for the sake of it and for years have believed that I would be happy with that and nothing else.

But this book basically told me to get a life.

I'm grateful.

I do genuinely like it, and would probably rate it as a 3.5 or even 3.75 if I could but it just didn't hit the same as some of Kuang's other books for me. She's a fabulous author though and I can't wait to read Taipei Story when it comes out.