Salomé Veder’s Reviews > Katabasis > Status Update

I was going to continue as it's not HORRIBLE but I literally don't know what the point of this book is. Kinda like Alchemised--what is this about?

Pretty much nothing.

Don't mind the writing but the structure is terrible, characters all P.O.S. RFK made Hell boring and unimaginative AF.

Mostly disappointed my first by this author was so...MEH, SO VERY MEHHH, OH-SO FUCKING MEHHHHH.

The end.

I really hate these flashbacks that are rammed in after each court they enter, meander in, & eventually, finally freaking exit...

So far, this has all been mostly filler & just drags. Cut most of the first 40% & it would have already been a better book instantly cuz we learn very little about Hell (since it's basically Cambridge) & most of the time, Alice is making moony eyes at Peter or hating herself.

SIGH.

Oh snapppp. I did not see that coming tho I did wonder why Peter was so pushy about going with Alice to Hell... And all this time, she was girl crushing double time on him this whole time. About time to be as morally bankrupt as Prof Grimes and kill the weaselly mofo!!!!!

Is it a bit of a copout that Hell resembles Cambridge & England????

Not that I have any idea what the layout of Cambridge at all, or England, for that matter.

But still...a...tad lazy, eh????

Also, the character of Alice--obv nod to Alice in Wonderland. Can't decide if that's clever or not. Hmmm, maybe I'll say yes this time. And I do kinda like that magic is akin to math/sciences vs history/traditional 'magic'.

Great. We have to go through all the courts (8 chapters) of nothing going on and more info dumpin', aka 'world building'.

At least the cat's interesting!

I wish Alice and Peter acted less like 12 year old brainiacs lost in the library and be actual adults. That would make this book slightly more enjoyable. Using 'chatty dialogue' to info dump, seems to be the way of fantasy-forward novels. It's clever but it can still be boring AF. So far, the plot is just literally meandering through hell with meandering dialogue...

Too much exposition of academic theory between Alice and Peter and with the obvious romantic and juvenile 'teenage crush' trope...yawn.

There's gotta be some psychological reason that Alice is so hell bent (hahah) to have Grimes as her idol as he's moral bankrupt. Daddy issues? Immaturity? Anti-social behavior? Also, the pseudo, obvious romantic undertones between Alice and Peter...cringe.

Do we need six pages of them just climbing a bone wall???

Why does Peter also believe the prof went to hell when no one could decipher the pentagram that killed him? Is it just automatic that if you explode and there’s a pentagram nearby…you go to hell?