Katabasis
I enjoyed this, but not as much as Kuang’s other books.
The premise was interesting, but felt a bit like a postgraduate in-joke polished into literature. The protagonists are academics who seem to really want you to know how smart they are and how much they’ve read. An accurate portrait, but about as annoying on the page as it is in real life.
There is loving research into hellish mythology behind this book. These worlds, which are not of pure fire and damnation, feel strangely familiar. I’ve been somewhere similar before, in Supergiant’s Hades, Sandman’s Orpheus, or The Penelopiad. These are hells that are more benign than they appear, where the damned make their own punishment as a form of tragedy. If only they could escape themselves.
The book meandered a bit, though, sometimes appearing more interested in showing off its own research than advancing the story.
I’ve read all of Kuang’s books now, and will read whatever she does next. They’re fun. She enjoys playing with magic as a glitchy contradiction. Each book has a new take on this, and I’ll be interested to see what she comes up with next.