Lauren’s Reviews > Katabasis > Status Update

"Everything was new and exciting, the taste of digestives, the bright red telephone boxes, the cars zooming down the road on the right."

...the RIGHT? WHAT WAS THE EDITOR PAID FOR????? I thought an Englishman who says "anyways" was as bad as it was going to get but this is wildly shoddy.

I was already 90% sure Peter is meant to be read as autistic given that he's academically excellent, totally timeblind, and noticeably inconsistent socially, but being told he grew up gifted and with chronic digestive issues is the nail in the coffin. I wonder if Kuang will have the nerve to actually say it or just leave it as wussy "coding." Like, just name your ND characters what they are.

There is something wildly frustrating when an author has a character describe a different plan they had and reveals they had a much better idea for a plot than the final product turned out. That is WAY more interesting (if perhaps less commercial) - a doctoral candidate Frankensteins her abusive advisor. Like. Kuang. Where is that book? That's a way better book!

The setting is engaging, but good lord, this relationship is *not* convincing, are you joking, the "they have to huddle for warmth and he wakes up with a boner" trope?? Ooh she gets so annoyed with their academic rivalry I wonder what forced romance plot is on the way.