xinpan’s Reviews > Katabasis > Status Update

Ok, what’s even happening…if we hadn’t before, we we have completely and entirely lost the plot now.

Alright so is Peter just dead now? I was slightly disappointed because I find Alice annoying, but I feel I should be sadder by the prospect of him dead. I feel like he still might come back though miraculously.

The whole method of telling their backstories in a non chronological way is actually very annoying and counterproductive to actual enjoyment of a fantasy novel.

I feel like only just now I’ve gotten to know who the characters are. Feeling like the characters’ names only just now have meaning halfway through the book is kind of ridiculous. I understand the author thought that she could only now tell us their backstories for it to mean something to the reader, but I disagree and think it actually worked against herself. We should’ve gotten to know them around 1/4 in.

The language and the thought is what’s carrying me through thus far…Not how I like my fantasy novels…I’m only continuing because I have a sliver of hope that this could get better.

Honestly, this book is pretty pretentious. I want story, plot, fantasy. I’m just met with abstract concepts and words parading around as wisdom. There’s time for that later, but what keeps readers of this genre engaged is the story. I’m sensing none of that, and frankly Alice is annoying and Peter doesn’t intrigue me. Hope this gets better…

Not sure how I feel about this ~100 pages in…I expected some esoteric writing, but this is a bit much. All the theories and stuff is overcrowding a lot of the enjoyment of storybuilding. I don’t feel like I know anything about the MCs, they feel 1D. Their characters weren’t built upon before their descent to Hell, maybe they will be lager, but I feel their depth was neglected and is surface level.