ladypepperoni finished reading and wrote a review...
3.5⭐ rounded down. I had a good time while I was reading it, but I'm not sure if I liked it enough to reread.
Kuang is, as ever, fantastic at writing unlikeable characters. Both our characters are deeply delusional, which spurs a whole host of their other flaws. The core of the book is their journey through their flaws, Hell is just the setting where they do that. It was kind of meh to me that Hell was just filled with academics and we didn't see anything else. Feels like there was a wasted opportunity there.
Overall, I didn't feel like you needed any pre-reading to enjoy this, nor did I feel like Kuang was just showing off how much she researched. It felt like she nerded out and used all the research to build the world. I found it easy to just roll with it and view it as world building.
I still didn't feel the impact of the academia setting in the way I hoped I would. Babel did that so well that it's hard to live up to that, for me. I did enjoy the catharsis of seeing the very real and deeply awful characteristics of academics. But perhaps that's because I am adjacent enough to that world that it feels nice to see it called out.
So I enjoyed my time with the book well enough, but I don't know if it will have any lasting power for me.
ladypepperoni started reading...

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter
Heather Fawcett
ladypepperoni finished reading and wrote a review...
View spoiler
Post from the Katabasis forum
my god alice, grimes not being actively malicious doesn't lessen any of the damage he's done
ladypepperoni commented on a post
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ladypepperoni paused reading...

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)
Becky Chambers
ladypepperoni commented on a post


Hi, can we add some of Ruby Dixon's monster romances to the list? She is one of the authors that got me into monster romance and smut.
Thanks!
ladypepperoni started reading...

I Who Have Never Known Men
Jacqueline Harpman
ladypepperoni commented on a post
ladypepperoni finished reading and wrote a review...
Sweet, cute, but ultimately not that memorable for me
Post from the Katabasis forum
man, rf kuang really loves to write characters you love to hate. or if not hate, at least you want to shake them really hard
ladypepperoni started reading...

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)
Becky Chambers