InfraRead

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After its release this past Tuesday, Katabasis has caused quite a stir on booktok and media in general. There are a lot of mixed opinions on it, mostly critiques on R.F. Kuang’s writing possibly coming off as pretentious.

Personally, I really enjoyed this book. The story revolves around Alice Law, a PhD student who studies ‘magick’ at Cambridge under her advisor Jacob Grimes. When Grimes dies, Alice and her classmate Peter journey to hell to retrieve him.

The book relies heavily on past literature regarding hell, continuously referencing Dante and other famous works about hell. It also references a lot of arithmetic and mathematics, philosophy, and logic. Overall, the book is a heavy academic read. 

This is where most of the mixed opinions come in from readers. Some have been saying Kuang’s use of literature and mathematics comes across as pretentious and snobby, as if she is writing specifically for a certain demographic of academics. And if you aren’t ‘smart’ enough to get the book, it’s not for you.

In my opinion, Kuang’s writing does not come off as pretentious. Her writing itself serves a direct purpose in proving how prodigal the main characters are. Because in this fantasy world, only the smartest can become magicians. That being said, I think Kuang’s characters are pretentious, not her writing. Alice and Peter are some of the smartest people in the world, and they know it. They work their way through hell based on their education. 

They come off as know-it-alls because they are know-it-alls. 

Alice is very clear about how she has had to develop the personality to survive in this environment. If you want to swim with the sharks and be taken seriously, you need to learn how to bite. 

Especially as a woman in a male-centered field, she needs to prove herself over and over again. Grimes has taught both her and Peter to be combative and bold, and this reflects in their inner monologue and descriptions. 

I think this is mostly why the writing can come off as pompous with flashy language. With the constant mention of philosophers and authors and paradoxes (most of which I have never heard of in my life) the book can be hard to follow, so I can understand why it did not stick with a lot of readers.

I had accepted my fate and just kept reading, even when I had no clue what they were talking about. The first half of the book was extremely heavy with all these references, but the second half was so much better and I think the story flowed better in general.

Can the language in this book be a bit flashy? Yeah, definitely. Does this mean R.F. Kuang wants everyone to know just how smart she is? I think that is debatable. Fair warning, I have not read any of her other books so I can only speak on Katabasis. But for this book, I do not think it is a show of intelligence. She is writing a story based on extremely smart individuals, and if the writing had not lived up to their level, I think the story would have come across as a bit flat and lifeless. In order to write smart characters, the writing itself has to meet those expectations at some level.