Review: Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

“Katabasis” is Greek for “journey” or “descent.” Katabasis is a riff on Dante’s Inferno through the lens of dark academia.

Kuang’s first work was essentially historical fantasy, but the left turn she has taken into dark academia since may be her true home. Both Katabasis and Babel focus on Oxbridge, with all of its beauty…and, to be blunt, horror. Oxbridge is a crucible, after all.

And by taking the Inferno through the lens of dark academia, Kuang turns Hell into a college campus. Pass, and you get to be reincarnated. Fail, and you get to stay an undergraduate forever. Yeah, that’s a pretty good Hell.

And our sojourners into Hell are Rachel Law, a Chinese-American, and Peter Murdoch, a chronically ill Brit, both of whom find themselves under the tutelage of the utterly awful Professor Jacob Grimes. As far as I can tell, Kuang created him by taking all the worst traits in advisors she’d ever heard of and turning them into a person. He sexually assaults his female students, emotionally abuses students, takes credit, all of that. We don’t actually see much of Grimes, though.

We see him as impact.

This book works as “academia sucks,” the core of dark academia, and it also achieves what it sets out to do…taking off not just Dante but the tale of Orpheus and every other exploration of Hell, but mostly it’s Dante.

Kuang has done her research. If you like dark academia…or Dante…check this one out.

Review: When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory

We are living in a simulation books are popular lately. This one, at least, avoids the “It’s all the player’s fault” situation.

Instead, it is more an exploration of how people would react to knowing, for sure, that they live in a simulation. The coders remind everyone every week in “mind font” and have included a variety of Impossibles to prove it. (Or maybe they just couldn’t do anything about those bugs).

It centers very much on the ethical question. The Protagonists are convinced that most people are bots…and thus it’s okay to kill people.

We have religious people dealing with how God fits in…or doesn’t fit in…

All of this is written in a very contemporary style, not really genre in voice at all. The author does attach a plot…a woman who is trying to prevent the next level down from being coded, and being pursued by a variety of people.

But it’s also an exploration of the assorted bugs and glitches, which people are touring like they are roadside attractions (this book also takes on America at a few levels).

Enjoyable, but not quite my thing, mostly because of the voice.

I received a copy of this book for award consideration purposes.