chloé ✿’s review of Katabasis > Likes and Comments
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happy reading ⋆˚✿˖°
LMAOOO THE PUN😭🤣🤣 hope your next read is much better!💓💓
Love this!! I wanted to read this as well, but I don’t exactly have high hopes for it. Kuang is known for writing great themes and doing extensive research, but her characters and plots end up taking the short end of the stick unfortunately. 😭😭
Hope your next read is much better!!!<3
I always love well written, "I didn't like this and here's why" reviews. Thank you for sharing.
hope your next read is much better 💌
Hope your next read will be much better, ml 🥺🤍
Ahhh sorry hope your next read is better love!
stunning review chloe bbs! i hate when books are unnecessarily wordy and just downright boring to read. i hope your next read is a lot better, you deserve only the best reads 😽💘
Kuang’s tendency to overwrite and overexplain irks me, too. She graduated from Yale and REALLY wants you to know.
After roughly 2/3 into the book I can totally agree!
omg yessssss Alive was so unlikable I kinda wanted her to stay in hell lmaooooo
I agree with so much of what your said though, it felt way too textbooky!
I'm just 20% in and soooooo bored, will keep reading a bit but after reading your review I'm not too optimistic about finishing it
That's literally the vibe I get from this book 😂 I don't know what it is, but theres something about R.F. Kuang books totally give off a holier than thou vibe feeling. Definitely not adding this one to my TBR. I hope your next read is so much better, angel! 🫶🏽
it’s interesting because i felt the opposite about this book and babel! i felt she didn’t trust the reader in babel and i kept getting taken out of the story and didn’t feel much emotional connection to the characters. i also didn’t feel that connected to the characters in katabasis but for some reason the info dumping and references didn’t take me out of the story like it did for babel - it felt true to the characters of the story and added to their personal definition of hell (imo)
I got this from fairyloot and I won’t be reading it 😂
I agree with you. I just finished it and it was so boring! 🥱
I respect it 😂 I understand what you mean for sure
Yea the courts bled together for me and if felt like she was trying to hard to make sure we visited each one which unnecessary and dragged the story out more than necessary for sure
Okay I know you're a Christian, and I'm curious how prevalent the occult was in this book? Obviously we know it's about hell, and Dante's Inferno didn't bother me. But I saw a special edition with a pentagram as part of the artwork... and that rubs me the wrong way. Would love to hear some thoughts from a religious perspective before spending any money on this one!
Sorry this one wasn’t for you! 🫂 Hopefully your next read makes up for it
@mbhabibti I wasn’t bothered by it, personally! the pentagrams are prevalent, however, and are used as the magic system. pentagrams are written in chalk and that’s how magic is conducted in this book. there was some commentary about religion but it didn’t bother me, it was more fact-based about which religions believe what about Hell and the afterlife. i also have read Dante’s Inferno and wasn’t bothered by it, and that’s much how i felt about this book. it wasn’t offensive to me personally by any means, though my tolerance might be different than others. if it rubs you the wrong way, I’d recommend getting from the library or not spending money on it. <3
@alix my religious beliefs have nothing to do with my review or rating. <3
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it . I agree with you it was very boring .
I just started this book and I can’t seem to get into at all. 25 pages in and I’m bored and disconnected
@stacey the beginning is the heaviest on info-dumping, extensive explanations, and excessive vocabulary. (it all persists through the entire book but the beginning seems to be the heaviest.) 🙂↔️
This isn’t a crazy review until I realize how nice Chloé is. Girl I am so sorry😭💔
beautiful review but sorry it didn’t work out :// Hope your next read is sm better!
Sorry you didn’t vibe with this one, manifesting a five star for you bestie 🤞💗
im sorry it wasn’t as enjoyable, im a bit on the fence to with this one just because of how I been hearing it’s textbook heavy
I kind of think I’m gonna feel this way too
Aww sorry it didn’t work out…I’m still curious bc I love this author 😭
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 so spot on! in spite of the highest high that babel and poppy war were, this book was a disappointment 🫤
150 pages in and agree. At least I have a pretty book for the shelf. This book is terrible.
PS but it’s a bloody nice copy and I like holding it in my hands
I loved Babel and that book still makes my heart ache but omg
THIS BOOK WAS SO BAD! It felt like a textbook and it was not worth it losing half of their life line like wtf?
oh no😣🤧 i hope your next read is sososo much better!💞💝💓
Just got 50% on my kindle into this book before DNF. I agree with your review. I read up until students were having a conversation about having s3x with trains before stopping, rubbing my eyes and returning to my library.
I'm halfway through and just got on here to see if I'm the only person who is annoyed af at Alice and would appreciate a little more worldbuilding and a little less whining.
Same. Unfortunately. I’m about half through, and I’m bored out of my mind.
I have to agree with the consensus. This bold could not have been more pretentious. Chloe- your bullet points are spot on.
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justine ⊹ ࣪ ˖ (semi-ia)
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Sep 02, 2025 11:12AM
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LMAOOO THE PUN😭🤣🤣 hope your next read is much better!💓💓
Love this!! I wanted to read this as well, but I don’t exactly have high hopes for it. Kuang is known for writing great themes and doing extensive research, but her characters and plots end up taking the short end of the stick unfortunately. 😭😭
Hope your next read is much better!!!<3
I always love well written, "I didn't like this and here's why" reviews. Thank you for sharing.
hope your next read is much better 💌
Hope your next read will be much better, ml 🥺🤍
Ahhh sorry hope your next read is better love!
stunning review chloe bbs! i hate when books are unnecessarily wordy and just downright boring to read. i hope your next read is a lot better, you deserve only the best reads 😽💘
Kuang’s tendency to overwrite and overexplain irks me, too. She graduated from Yale and REALLY wants you to know.
After roughly 2/3 into the book I can totally agree!
omg yessssss Alive was so unlikable I kinda wanted her to stay in hell lmaoooooI agree with so much of what your said though, it felt way too textbooky!
I'm just 20% in and soooooo bored, will keep reading a bit but after reading your review I'm not too optimistic about finishing it
That's literally the vibe I get from this book 😂 I don't know what it is, but theres something about R.F. Kuang books totally give off a holier than thou vibe feeling. Definitely not adding this one to my TBR. I hope your next read is so much better, angel! 🫶🏽
it’s interesting because i felt the opposite about this book and babel! i felt she didn’t trust the reader in babel and i kept getting taken out of the story and didn’t feel much emotional connection to the characters. i also didn’t feel that connected to the characters in katabasis but for some reason the info dumping and references didn’t take me out of the story like it did for babel - it felt true to the characters of the story and added to their personal definition of hell (imo)
I got this from fairyloot and I won’t be reading it 😂
I agree with you. I just finished it and it was so boring! 🥱
I respect it 😂 I understand what you mean for sure
Yea the courts bled together for me and if felt like she was trying to hard to make sure we visited each one which unnecessary and dragged the story out more than necessary for sure
Okay I know you're a Christian, and I'm curious how prevalent the occult was in this book? Obviously we know it's about hell, and Dante's Inferno didn't bother me. But I saw a special edition with a pentagram as part of the artwork... and that rubs me the wrong way. Would love to hear some thoughts from a religious perspective before spending any money on this one!
Sorry this one wasn’t for you! 🫂 Hopefully your next read makes up for it
@mbhabibti I wasn’t bothered by it, personally! the pentagrams are prevalent, however, and are used as the magic system. pentagrams are written in chalk and that’s how magic is conducted in this book. there was some commentary about religion but it didn’t bother me, it was more fact-based about which religions believe what about Hell and the afterlife. i also have read Dante’s Inferno and wasn’t bothered by it, and that’s much how i felt about this book. it wasn’t offensive to me personally by any means, though my tolerance might be different than others. if it rubs you the wrong way, I’d recommend getting from the library or not spending money on it. <3
@alix my religious beliefs have nothing to do with my review or rating. <3
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it . I agree with you it was very boring .
I just started this book and I can’t seem to get into at all. 25 pages in and I’m bored and disconnected
@stacey the beginning is the heaviest on info-dumping, extensive explanations, and excessive vocabulary. (it all persists through the entire book but the beginning seems to be the heaviest.) 🙂↔️
This isn’t a crazy review until I realize how nice Chloé is. Girl I am so sorry😭💔
beautiful review but sorry it didn’t work out :// Hope your next read is sm better!
Sorry you didn’t vibe with this one, manifesting a five star for you bestie 🤞💗
im sorry it wasn’t as enjoyable, im a bit on the fence to with this one just because of how I been hearing it’s textbook heavy
I kind of think I’m gonna feel this way too
Aww sorry it didn’t work out…I’m still curious bc I love this author 😭
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 so spot on! in spite of the highest high that babel and poppy war were, this book was a disappointment 🫤
150 pages in and agree. At least I have a pretty book for the shelf. This book is terrible.
PS but it’s a bloody nice copy and I like holding it in my hands
I loved Babel and that book still makes my heart ache but omg THIS BOOK WAS SO BAD! It felt like a textbook and it was not worth it losing half of their life line like wtf?
oh no😣🤧 i hope your next read is sososo much better!💞💝💓
Just got 50% on my kindle into this book before DNF. I agree with your review. I read up until students were having a conversation about having s3x with trains before stopping, rubbing my eyes and returning to my library.
I'm halfway through and just got on here to see if I'm the only person who is annoyed af at Alice and would appreciate a little more worldbuilding and a little less whining.
Same. Unfortunately. I’m about half through, and I’m bored out of my mind.
I have to agree with the consensus. This bold could not have been more pretentious. Chloe- your bullet points are spot on.
