Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
Katabasis by R.F. KuangMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hello Fellow Readers! Today we've got on the docket probably one of my newest favorite stories. Read on to learn more about it!
"Hell's lonely,"
"Hell is other people"
"Hell is other people"
With that setup between two incredibly multifaceted characters, we launch into R.F. Kuang's at times splendid and at times intensely gritty, raw, and even sinister world of magical academia, an alternate universe's Cambridge University, and soon enough, Hell itself.
A few trigger warnings before I begin: mentions of sexual assault, misogyny, suicidal ideation and thoughts, self-harm, burnout, and abuse of power/abuse in general.
I loved this story. From the at times deeply relatable and thankfully completely foreign academic trials Alice and Peter and others like Elspeth were shown to experience, to the remarkable and strange antics in Hell, R.F. Kuang takes us on a journey that I for sure will not soon forget.
When starting this one, I was expecting to have a challenge ahead, I'd heard there were many allusions, that the story itself was structured and peppered with academic language and constructs and could be hard to parse. And that structure and atmosphere was definitely there but personally I found it to be a really rich and fun challenge that only pulled me further into Alice and Peter's world. I don't think their story would have made as much sense nor have had quite as much emotional and visceral impact without those interludes and theoretical dialogue sequences.
So, if you've ever been in an academic setting and enjoyed getting your annotation pens out for a literature class, or you're curious about it but love fantasy or dark academia, I highly recommend you pick this one up and give it a try! Don't be afraid to go at it with bite sized sessions to start but beware it will probably ensnare you soon enough.
A few trigger warnings before I begin: mentions of sexual assault, misogyny, suicidal ideation and thoughts, self-harm, burnout, and abuse of power/abuse in general.
I loved this story. From the at times deeply relatable and thankfully completely foreign academic trials Alice and Peter and others like Elspeth were shown to experience, to the remarkable and strange antics in Hell, R.F. Kuang takes us on a journey that I for sure will not soon forget.
When starting this one, I was expecting to have a challenge ahead, I'd heard there were many allusions, that the story itself was structured and peppered with academic language and constructs and could be hard to parse. And that structure and atmosphere was definitely there but personally I found it to be a really rich and fun challenge that only pulled me further into Alice and Peter's world. I don't think their story would have made as much sense nor have had quite as much emotional and visceral impact without those interludes and theoretical dialogue sequences.
So, if you've ever been in an academic setting and enjoyed getting your annotation pens out for a literature class, or you're curious about it but love fantasy or dark academia, I highly recommend you pick this one up and give it a try! Don't be afraid to go at it with bite sized sessions to start but beware it will probably ensnare you soon enough.
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