Title: Katabasis
Author: R. F. Kuang
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Genre: Fantasy, Dark Academia
Publication Date: August 26, 2025
Pages: 560
ISBN-10: 0063021471
ISBN-13: 978-0063021471
Audiobook Read by: Morag Sims and Will Watt
Summary of Katabasis by R. F. Kuang
Katabasis is a story that is set in the 1980s. The story follows Alice Law, a graduate student at Cambridge. Alice is studying analytical magick under the formidable Professor Jacob Grimes — a man hailed as the greatest magician in the world. Grimes has built his reputation as being a genius on this subject but he is equally known for his bullying, arrogance, and manipulation. Most of his past students and even his colleagues tolerate his attitude because they understand the impact a glowing recommendation from him could have on a person’s academic future.
Then tragedy strikes. Grimes is killed in a magical accident in his lab that may, in part, be Alice’s fault. Determined to salvage her career — and perhaps her conscience — Alice decides to descend into Hell itself to retrieve Grimes. But before she can complete her preparations and pentagrams, her academic rival, Peter Murdoch, insists on joining her. Peter is another of Grimes’s protégés. He is charming, privileged, and equally brilliant. Both Alice and Peter’s rivalry runs deep as each of them are convinced the other one has had an easier experience.
Their unlikely partnership takes them through the Eight Courts of Hell — Pride, Desire, Greed, Wrath, Violence, Cruelty, Tyranny, and the nameless, final court. As they travel together, they are forced to survive demons, divine agents, and their own personal traumas. Alice and Peter’s relationship shifts uneasily between cooperation and rivalry, attraction and distrust.
This is not just a story of two people traveling through the underworld. Kuang uses it as a critique of academia and to show how far people will go to be seen as extraordinary.
Main Plot & Characters
- Alice Law: She is a Cambridge magick scholar who feels guilty over her advisor’s death and views this quest as necessary for her future. Alice is extremely driven.
- Peter Murdoch: He is Alice’s rival in the same department. Peter and Alice have a very complex relationship but he joins her on the descent into Hell for his own reasons.
- Professor Jacob Grimes: He is Peter and Alice’s deceased advisor, whose fragmented spirit in Hell becomes the central object of their mission.
- Elspeth Bayes: She is a former student of Grimes, who intervenes in Hell. Her story intersects with Peter and Alice in unexpected ways.
- Nick & Magnolia Kripke: Antagonist magicians in Hell seeking the Dialetheia, an artifact with paradoxical power over contradictions.
- Archimedes: He is the department’s cat.
- George Edward Mor: He is an older-Shade who shows up in one of the eight courts i.e. in the Court of Pride. He loves to say “a Cambridge Man.”
- Shades: Used to refer to dead souls in Hell.
- King Yama the Merciful: He is the ruler of the underworld.
- John Gradus: A Shade Alice meets in the Eight court.
- Gertrude: A Shade Alice meets in the Eight court who refuses to play along with expectations of the court. She takes Alice into the Rebel Citadel.
- Helen Murray: Another Cambridge professor and former department chair.
Writing Style
Kuang tells the story from the point of view of Alice and also Peter. One thing that comes through while reading this book is that you are dealing with a very intelligent author. She also gives disclaimers to certain portions of the book for their inaccuracies with reality.
When we read Yellowface, we enjoyed it for Kuang’s ability to effectively critique the publishing industry and she does an equally good job here, but in this case with academia. We liked how Katabasis explores the politics of research, academic egos, hierarchy, and the way rumors spread within that environment. It was also very smart of the author to set the story in the 80’s as it gave more room for these types of criticisms to have more impact.
With that said, we struggled with how technical the story sometimes became. Believe me, we enjoy books that go hard on world-building especially if they are prequels to a larger story, but there is also a thin line between building a believable world and overwhelming readers with excessive detail. At times, the story was so dense that we almost felt like postgraduate students preparing for our dissertations.
There were also parts of the story that could have been edited down and certain moments felt repetitive i.e. Peter is in danger, Alice saves Peter, again.
In terms of the characters, we liked both Alice and Peter but did we love them? Not really. They were both OK but we can’t say we fell in love with the characters. They had good banter, we’ll give them that but the chemistry between the two of them was also just OK. That said, we really appreciated how Kuang incorporated Peter’s Crohn’s disease into the narrative to explain his disappearances. It was a thoughtful and well-executed detail.
Memorable Quotes
- “Alice had dazzled her way through years of higher education by being a teacher’s pet; by miraculously succeeding where others had failed. She relished the thought that her advisor might be harsh, impatient even cruel – for that made his attentions to her worth the more.”— Alice reflections
- “She liked being the exception to the rule. Favoritism was well and fine if she was the favorite.”— Alice reflections
- “Those who had nothing substantial to brag about, bragged the loudest. Stay silent and ignore the chattering crowd – this was proof you had something real to be proud of “— Alice reflections
- “Your shadow at morning striding behind you. Your shadow at evening rising to meet you. I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”— Alice reflections on Eliot’s writings
- “That she was a spousal hire pretending to be a scholar?”
- “Both were desert planes, but where Violence was harsh and mindless, Cruelty was littered with intention. Cruelty fucked with you on purpose.”— Alice reflections
- “Remember that, Alice Law. Hell is a writers’ market.”— Gertrude
Final Thoughts on Katabasis
R. F. Kuang once again proves that she can take a familiar setting, in this case academia, and turn it into something darkly fascinating. The concept of mixing magical theory with the structure of academic politics worked really well.
That said, the book didn’t quite pull us in emotionally. We liked the world-building and acknowledge that this author is a very good writer but some parts of the book felt overly detailed. Still, it’s a good read and the story makes you question what people are willing to sacrifice for brilliance or recognition.
Book Rating
Characters ★★★⯪☆ (3.5/5)
Plot ★★★⯪☆ (3.5/5)
Writing ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Book Cover ★★★★⯪ (4.5/5)
Audiobook (Narration only) ★★★★⯪ (4.5/5)
Overall ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Have you read Katabasis yet? What did you think about its depiction of Hell and its academic critique? Let us know in the comments!
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