Katabasis is a novel about a journey into Hell, as two analytic magick students find themselves venturing into the unknown to bring back their PhD supervisor. Alice Law is an outsider—an American in Cambridge surrounded by white male academics—who wants to succeed, but when the death of her supervisor throws her goals into question, she researches how to get into Hell and find him. And suddenly, as she sets off, she finds her academic rival and once-friend Peter Murdoch is coming too. The two of them must debate texts about Hell, philosophy, logic, and everything else that makes up the magic they do if they have any hope of getting through Hell and having the life they want at the end of it.

Having read Kuang's earlier Babel and Yellowface, I was assuming Katabasis was going to be similar to Babel, especially as it is very much marketed as dark academia. The "dark academia" label is basically meaningless by now, but I would say that despite both being about magic (and different kinds of fascinating magic at that) and Oxbridge, Babel and Katabasis are very different. Katabasis is what I want to call very affectionately "pretentious trash", in that it is full of references to literary texts and philosophy and academia, but it is also a ridiculous story of two academic rivals who secretly like each other journeying through Hell. That's not to say it doesn't have plenty of serious things to say, about academic burnout and power structures and the misogyny and prejudices of academia, but it isn't as deep as Babel and it isn't trying to be.

The narrative is pretty simple, with a few twists and turns but mostly being a classic journey structure, with the characters meeting others along the way and things coming back to be relevant. The romance side of things is pretty low key, but it is also part of Alice's wider need to realise there are things outside of just being the best in her field of magic. I enjoyed all of the references to literature about Hell and the way in which real texts and authors, both fictional and non-fictional, are a key part of the magic and mythology of Katabasis' world. The main issue I had with this book is that as someone who is British and knows Oxbridge fairly well, there's a number of misused terms/references (mostly in a UK vs US way) that might be intentional (as Alice is American) or might be picked up later (as I read a proof copy), but for me that sort of mistake does pull me out of the story, especially as initially I didn't realise Alice was American.

Even though Katabasis is a long novel, I found it gripping and fun to read. I love books about Hell and I enjoy reading about pretentious people having drama at elite universities, so I think I was always going to like Katabasis as long as it didn't mess up on those elements, and for me, it fulfilled the kind of book I wanted it to be. Babel is probably a better novel (and I find myself telling people about its magic system and how it relates to colonialism quite often), but Katabasis just ticked off a lot of boxes for things I enjoy. Basically, if you want a Cambridge students of magic go to Hell book, this is a lot of fun.

I would give this a 3.75 and I feel sad about it. I LOVED THIS BOOK till like 90% through but the ending really let it down for me a lot. I was expecting an interesting ending I couldn’t see coming but I got what I expected which isn’t bad I guess.

This was only my second book by R.F. Kuang an I really enjoyed it. She put a lot of philosophical and methematical theories in here but they never disrupted the reading flow and were explained in a very nice way! I loved Alice as a main character, it was very interesting to see the world (and especially the underworld) through her eyes. I was kind of expecting there to be a little bit more romance, that aspect wasn't really very present for me most of the time, but that didn't make this any worse of a reading experience for me.

This book exceeded my expectations — which were mighty high already. Let’s start with the cons. Especially at the start, I felt like I heard the publisher’s voice a little too much. It seemed like Alice and Peter were forced together, before I really knew their personalities. The descriptions of Hell were fluid at first, but when the characters were thrown together it felt forced and jarring. I felt like I knew the sections that Kuang wrote after drafting, and tried to sandwich them in between free flowing prose. Perhaps this will be edited better come publication.

That being said, this was slowly forgotten as I kept reading, the characters stories intertwined more, their personalities being revealed inch by inch, through flashback chapters and lore drops so late they had me salivating at the mouth for more. This is something I haven’t seen before and really enjoyed. It made the characters believable, and less caricatures of common tropes, like at the start. Because I didn’t know much about the pair in the first 50% of the book, it made me care for them so much more when their own histories were finally revealed.

Of course, with every Kuang story, there is a potent message at the heart of this book. The complicated inequalities of academia. “Academia being sexist is a boring truism,” writes Kuang. Yes, this has been a topic written and rewritten for decades, and still it hasn’t changed, and Kuang highlights precisely how. How the inequalities are only recreated within modern frameworks, within first-wave feminism (that doesn’t consider intersectionality), how this is not something easily shaken and there really is no place to go because the people at the top are the problem. Kuang’s critique of academia pierces through the noise and hits right at the heart.

“Hell is a university campus.” I loved the setting. It was original and vivd, yet lucid. Structured enough, but not set in stone. Some parts of the book made me realise that I am not alone in my guilty conscience. Kuang examines autonomy, control, power. The difference between imagination and reality, where one is in control, and in the other they are powerless. From excusing casual misogyny, careless comments at coffee machines, to violent crimes that ruin careers. The cut-throat hierarchies and power dynamics within these intensely fast-paced competitive environments. At some points, I thought Kuang was simply showing off her prestigious education, but after a second thought I think her writing only served to mimic the frustratingly pretentious and gate-keepy nature of academia as a whole.

At the end of the day, this is a book about Alice on an adventure through the Wonderland of academia, and the sacrifices it begs you to make. It is a reminder that while some things are not larger than life, you do not need to forfeit the small things that make life worth living. Nourish yourself. What is progress *to you*? What is power *to you*? Remember those forever. More than anything, this book is an ode to life.

Katabasis is an enjoyable and thought-provoking book about Alice and Peter who go to Hell to bring their Professor back.

There's lots of characters depth and growth and the book takes an analytical look at academia and morality which is woven into the main storyline.

R. F. Kuang's background as an academic is clear here and she has woven so much into this one book that I'm sure I'll be picking up on things I didn't see the first time next time I read it!

Katabasis... I don't even know how to wrangle up all my thoughts about this book- it is just perfect for me as a reader. I adore R. F. Kuang but I've never had one titles really stick out for me until now.

This is one of my favourite books of all time! The blend of academia, mythology, fantasy, and even at times horror, was just perfect and has reignited one of my long-term special interests- Classics. Alice and Peter are incredible characters, they are deeply complex and full of so much emotion- their stories as individuals and lovers are equally important and vital to the plot. We get so many side characters who add so much to the story- I particularly loved Elspeth and Gradus! (Though Archimedes may be taking the spot of my favourite character🐈‍⬛️)

What I really admired about this book was Kuang's exploration of how a love of academia and its accessibility have never really aligned for students, something I've both felt and seen in my graduate career. She explores how race, gender, and disability are treated within academic fields and the lengths individuals have to go to in order to be seen as worthy scholars who should be listened to and respected.

Thank to Harper Collin's and netgalley for the ARC to review!

Absolutely devastating - incredible, but devastating. Kuang never misses, and Katabasis is no exception. It’s intense, brutal, and thought-provoking, with that trademark precision and power in the writing. I had to take breaks just to feel. It’s not an easy read, but it’s a necessary one, and so, so well done.

I started and ended this book in different frames of mind.

At the start I couldn't empathise with Alice's reasons for going into Death in search of her tutor, Grimes. Her world view was so narrow and confined to academia that I wanted to shake her and say there's more to life - or death- that's important and you are missing what those important things are . I understand the thrill of research and learning, but ... As social commentary on the Ivory Tower of Academia it works, but at the risk of me losing empathy along the way. Kuang also has interesting points to make about misogyny in this sphere which are important. I think one theme is definitely Power.

I hadn't read Dante so promptly bought myself the Penguin edition which has useful "maps" to Hell/Death/ the Underworld. It would also be helpful to look at Paradise Lost (plus The Aeneid, Borges etc.)
However, I was thinking as I was reading that other authors have written about Hell/ Death more effectively- I was thinking Philip Pullman ,Ursula le Guin in The Farthest Shore and Tolkien with Frodo and Sam's journey through Mordor.

However, I ploughed on through my own circle of disinterest until I reached a part where Alice (obviously named because of Carroll's books + obligatory Cat) and Peter (maybe Peter as the one who holds the keys to Heaven?) disclose to each other what was really happening to them both in the "real" world and the pace of the book seemed to change. That's when I really started to love this book.

Loved the characters of Elspeth and Gradus. I also enjoyed the references to Chinese mythology. and other non- Christian mythologies. The Magi/Magyk scholarship reminded me of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.

The subject of grief was beautifully described . I can't quote the lines pre- publication that I highlighted in my ARC ) I am not sure about the description of this book as a "love story" as it seems to belittle its scope.

The overall tone was slightly marred by the occasional colloquialism "bum" for example.

In the end I came to love Alice and appreciate her courage and fell in love with the book at the point described above.

I have already been raving about this book to customers and know it will be "huge"

“𝙈𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙇𝙖𝙬. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩. 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙎𝙤𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙚. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙙𝙤, 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙧𝙮—𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙—𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩.”

Forever grateful to R.F. Kuang, the publisher and NetGalley for granting me an eARC of this book, I will be requesting that to be written on my headstone one day.

Katabasis follows Cambridge students Alice Law and Peter Murdoch as they descend to Hell in an effort to save the soul of their Professor of Magick, Jacob Grimes, and get their hands on the recommendation they have worked so hard for.

A beautifully intricate academic rivals to lovers story with a complex magic system, but I expected no less from Kuang. Katabasis was sharp and intellectual, rich in mythology and philosophy, with a vibrant and diverse group of characters.

This is sure to be one of the biggest hitters for the fantasy genre in 2025 and it’s wholly deserving.

3.75/5
This is my first RF Kuang and i enjoyed it, though im glad i read on kindle and could look up the academic terminology scattered throughout! Without a doubt my favourite characters were Elspeth and Archimedes, and i suspect the book would be more my cup of tea of it was their story i followed but Alice and Peter had a tortured genius-idiots thing going on that i did enjoy.

I love R F Kuang and went into this book brimming with anticipation... Only to find it, disappointingly, to be a 2 day struggle. Although mostly as beautifully lyrical as usual, the writing felt overly clunky in parts and I found myself skimming just to get past the dense passages.

The plot was fine, but the pacing was inconsistent and the world building varied from fascinating to confusing, with Hell being an overall disappointment. Katabasis was not the book for me, but I live in hope that Kuang's next novel will be a return to form!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

3.75/5

Kuang's intellectual prose and innovative worldbuilding were the two parts of this book that stood out to me. I utterly adored the excerpts of fictional essays on magick, chalk and other such unique magical creations. I think Kuang truly shines when leaning into this denser, academic style of writing. The world itself was very interesting; I loved the logical and mathematical fuel of magick, I loved the shifting paradoxes and the ephemeral nature of magick as an entity. I found all of these factors incredibly compelling, I've never read a magic system quite like it, it was fascinating. And, as a concept, I loved the idea of navigating through the courts of Hell.

Where I think this novel stumbles into problems, for me personally, is in the set up and the character building. As I mentioned, I adore the concept of this book and I truly did enjoy Kuang's take on each circle of Hell and the philosophical bargaining at each point. Yet, as a plot, it was never that exciting. I don't mean that as a complaint of little action, I love a slow-paced, character-driven narrative, however the characters plodding through each court became tedious as their motivations for doing so unravelled.

And here we come to my main issue with the book; I could never wholly connect to the characters. Alice wasn't a particularly likeable character to me, however I can wholeheartedly love an unlikeable character if they're interesting or the story gripping enough—Kuang has proven this before herself—yet I never found Alice to be a character that fascinated me. As more about her was revealed, I could empathise with her and I definitely grew to like her more, but that spark of connection never drew me in. I think this is the main shortcoming that I encountered as I therefore couldn't care about the characters in any significant way.
Peter I liked far better, yet we weren't in his head as we were in Alice's and so I found our time with him a little sparse. I also found it to be lacking in interesting side characters. As we happened upon one I found compelling nearing the end of the book, it only became more apparent to me how much the rest of the book had suffered so for this.

What became increasingly tiresome to me were the characters' motivations, it felt more like we were journeying through Hell because it was what the story needed rather than because of any force actually driving the characters to do so. This dwindling drive is even written plain upon the text, but I don't find discerning it equal to reinvigorating the story. There were also several points of easily resolvable miscommunication and other factors that I couldn't make myself buy into. Of all the possibilities that could have been dreamt up in this world, of all the stories to tell, I simply found this one a little disappointing.

As this book comes out and people recognise the themes of academia swirling about it, they will inevitably compare it to Babel. I think this comparison is justified as it is Kuang's own work and I therefore want to make a few observations. The books share several differences—Katabasis is far more fantastical, far more philosophical, and focuses directly on the exploitation of students—but, I think, more important are their similarities. For I feel (and you are welcome to disagree with me) that Babel already says everything this book sets out to, but with more nuance, whilst also far exceeding the bounds of what Katabasis says. Babel emphasises academia's exploitation as an institution of colonialism, and that is clearly what its thesis focuses on, however I still think as a result of that it shows effortlessly how the people working within it are exploited also—especially when they belong to a group of marginalised people that the institution wants to mine for resources.
This is my long and rambling way of saying that I think Babel already covers these themes far better than Katabasis. That is not to say that this book doesn't hold merit of its own, I definitely found parts of the world and the theology interesting, however I think Kuang made several strange choices in its construction.

I do suppose I am being harsher than I would be for an author I like less, but I have come to adore R.F. Kuang immensely and therefore—fairly or unfairly—do hold her to a higher standard. I'm curious to see how others will feel, especially in comparison to Babel, I'm immensely interested in the conversations that will stem from this book and I do hope others enjoy it more. I do still think there is a lot of artistic merit in this book, but it unfortunately fell quite flat for me. I just never emotionally connected with it and that connection is such an important part of a book for me.

Thank you Netgalley and HarperVoyager for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

After brilliantly tackling the topic of colonialism in a fantasy novel in 'Babel', R.F. Kuang is back to tackle academia in 'Katabasis'.
My expectations were high, and I applaud the objective of this book. It's original, funny, and clever, and she creatively shines a light on the toxicity of academic spaces.
However, I found it a bit too long, it started to feel a bit drawn out. There were some plotholes that left me feeling a bit disappointed. A good read, but I think it could have been better, unfortunately.

I never thought I'd read a book that accurately sums up why I quit my PhD. (And why I want to and am going to go back and finish it.)

So this is one of those books that very much feels like it was written for me, personally. And I feel like other academia survivors will feel similarly. I am not sure how well this novel would translate for someone who hasn't suffered the very specific post-grad struggle (and more specifically the PhD struggle where you are just working, alone, isolated, and nocturnal for months at a time). I only say that because I'm not positive if the plot has enough to stand on its own. Without drawing from my specific struggle, I'm not sure if the philosophy/fantasy elements would hit as strongly.

But having gone through that, I loved the set up and execution here. I enjoyed the extreme slow burn between Peter and Alice and I felt the emotional beats quite strongly. I wish the pacing had a bit more going on at times, but having read Babel, I knew what to expect pacing-wise. This isn't a story about academic aestheticism, this is the nitty gritty of academia at its worst. The prose is Kuang's strength, very readable while communicating a lot of information to the reader.

Overall, I really liked this one and would rate it 4.25 stars. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Probably my favorite R.F. Kuang's book, and I've loved Babel. This one felt a bit more accessible, even if I hadn't read any of the "required" titles that people said were "mandatory" to fully understand the story. It is, in my opinion, her greatest novel as of now and the second most accessible one after Yellowface. Nonetheless, it is still an amazing story to dive into!

Dark academia meets Greek mythology? This book was made for me.
Kuang takes classical mythological works and imagines them as real scholarly works that one can use to study and carry out their own journey to hell. We are immediately thrown into the action, although I felt the pace was sometimes a little slow, with heavy amounts of philosophical monologuing. Kuang's exploration of academia and exploitation within the field were incredibly poingant. As the story unfolded, we gained even more understanding of the characters' motivations.
This was not my first RF Kuang but it is the first book of hers I've read in the fantasy genre. I will definitely be picking up her other fantasy works!

This is an extraordinary book and I adored it! The main plot is quite simple, two PHD students go to Hell to save their professor so he can pass them because obviously that's what you do! It is set in an alternative Cambridge where they are studying magic and although I needed a dictionary by my side throughout, and my knowledge of vocabulary has significantly increased, I didn’t feel Iost at any point. I haven’t read the many texts that ‘booktokers’ are suggesting you read before reading this and I personally don’t think they are necessary. The statements and views on feminism in academia, the snobbery, the misogyny are all explored and critiqued magnificently. The characters are lovable but not perfect, the different levels of hell within the underworld are all beautifully described, and everything is written so eloquently, it feels like a classic already. This is dark academia fantasy at its very best and will be my favourite book until she writes something else!

(sort of debating between 3-3.5)

Katabasis drops your right in the middle of the action, as PHD student Alice Law is in the act of drawing the pentagram that will take her to Hell so she can bring back to life her esteemed advisor. She is interrupted shortly by fellow advisee and once-friend-maybe-lover-now-enemy-questionmark Peter Murdoch who insists on coming along, and then they're off. To Hell.

I can always admire an author that challenges themselves to write a different genre each book. Even though this has a lot of overlap with Babel when it comes to themes and locations, reading Katabasis gives off a completely different vibe. There's darkness, yes. We're exploring the implications and effects of deep-rooted misogyny and abuse (and ableism, to a degree) in academia. But it's also giving buddy rom-com. Like: what if we hated each other but we're both really smart but we also had to share the emergency blanket we brought to Hell?

Another way that Kuang has drawn me in in both Babel and Katabasis, is her magic systems. I think they're so inventive and work so well for their purposes. In this book, the magic (sorry, magick) system is based on paradoxes: that's where the "veil" between real and unreal is thin and where we can believe fantastical things can be true. It's great fun to see Kuang play with this concept and implement it so creatively.

"The point was that Professor Grimes hadn't tormented just anyone. He'd tormented them. Because they were strong enough to withstand it. Because they kept the faith. Because they were special, and worth the effort, and because whatever they became when he was done with them would be so dazzling."

I appreciated both Alice and Peter as characters, though it felt at times like Kuang wasn't sure whether they both supposed to be protagonists or not. I mean, Alice is the main protagonist - almost the entire book is from her pov. But then at some point we did take a couple of field trips into Peter's pov, and while it was nice, because it was kind of a one-off it also felt like it was just there to give us some Peter backstory without having to spend too much time on it. Some more Peter pov would've done the relationship we're also supposed to be investing in good, I think (I was invested. But I could've definitely been invested-er).

Despite it's whopping 540 pages (basically the same length as Babel) this book is definitely a page-turner. It took me maybe 5 days to read. By comparison: Babel took me a month and a half and I was on holiday for part of that. But I have to say: it did Not need to be 500+ pages. Where Babel really uses its length to slowly broaden the scope of the story, Katabasis is hyperfocused on a goal that reveals itself fairly early on and it does not really skew away from that at any point.

The book also lacked some of the depth and layers that I appreciated so much in Babel. I felt like the point was clear to me pretty early on, and while that point is interesting and serious and complex, I felt like it did still remain pretty singular. And the hyperfocus on it actually made me feel like we weren't able to explore some of the complexity because it's hammered home from so early on that at some point I felt feeling a little like I was just waiting for Alice to get there as well. I think that's also while the ending, while inevitable, fell sort of flat for me. Some things happened just too quick that I would've liked to spend some more time on, now that we were finally at the end, where all those 500+ pages had led to.

So, the first thing you need to know about this book is that pretty much every character in it is completely and utterly insane, but they think they are the most rational and logical people you'll ever meet. It makes for very compelling reading, although perhaps mostly in the sense of watching something awful you can't quite look away from.

Katabasis jumps straight into the action - the setting has already shifted from Cambridge to Hell by the end of the first chapter. And while the premise of the book - going to fetch your professor from Hell because it seems like the most straightforward way to make sure you get your degree - is so absurd as to make the whole story almost comic, even from the very beginning there are hints at much darker aspects underlying it. These aspects are revealed bit by bit as you delve further into the book, and the characters venture further into Hell.

In keeping with Kuang's style, her criticisms of the world of academia in this book pull no punches. Katabasis focuses on the practices that perpetuate misogyny (and, to a lesser extent, ableism), and how insidious they can be. What seems, at the outset of the book, to be an unjustifiably extreme decision takes on a twisted kind of logic as the context of Alice and Peter's perspectives are filled in. The narration is, in places, very blunt about the ways in which they are deluding themselves, but nonetheless you can begin to understand why they chose to go to Hell in lieu of finding another thesis supervisor.

I found the structure of the book to work well. It interspersed the journey through Hell with flashbacks, mostly Alice's, which progressively added depth to the characters and their motivations and also helped to engage with the story, as some of the parts set in Hell did come across a bit dull. It was particularly interesting to reconsider previous assertions made by the characters or the narration given additional backstory, as sometimes they recontextualised things in ways I hadn't seen coming. From the very beginning, it felt only logical to doubt the ideas and opinions of someone who was willingly venturing into Hell, but while some statements Alice made seemed flimsy from the beginning, there were others that I only realised weren't all she made them out to be until the narrative went on to contradict it. This was particularly relevant when it came to Alice's perception of Peter (and vice versa, although the story mostly follows Alice's perspective). Despite Alice knowing Peter for years, she only really came to learn that the idea of him that she, and indeed most of Cambridge, had built up didn't match the reality at all when about halfway through Hell. There is a lot of shattering of illusions throughout the book, and I thought they were excellently set up - you get hints, early on, that not all is as it seems, but it's only later that you realise the full extent of everything you didn't know.

Some of my criticisms of the book lie in things that will probably be picked up in editing, given that I am reading an advance copy, and were minor details that probably wouldn't bother most people, so aren't really worth mentioning. I found it somewhat jarring that American terminology was used in places for a book that is set in England - arguably since the main character is American this can be attributed to the fact that the story is mostly focused on her perspective of the world, but it just threw me off a bit in places. I wasn't particularly compelled by Alice and Peter's relationship. It just seemed a bit lukewarm throughout, and seemed to change little even as their opinions and understanding of each other changed signficantly.

Overall, I found this book to be excellently written and enjoyable to read. It was evident throughout that a lot of thought went into the way everything was structured, and it really paid off. If you liked Kuang's other books, I think it's safe to say that you will like this one too. (The one thing I would note is that this is not a lighthearted book. While the concept seems a bit whimsical in isolation, this whole book is very much in keeping with the very hard-hitting style of Kuang's other works and should be approached with that in mind.)

A blistering, brilliant story about abusive dynamics in academia, and growing away from them through love. This was such a gorgeous love story, honestly I won’t say too much because it’s best to go into this knowing as little as possible. I loved reading this slowly, and it really worked by being savoured, but I also can’t wait to speed re-read this. The magic was so well thought-out, it felt so mysterious but also lived-in, like it was just another degree. This is only the second book I have read by R.F. Kuang but it has confirmed me as a lifelong fan of hers.