Katabasis literally means “a descent downward”, into an underworld, real or metaphorical.
Two Cambridge graduate students studying “magick” descend into Hell to rescue their recently dead professor. But beyond the sorcery, the book lays bare something far more familiar: the microaggressions, manipulation, and outright abuse baked into academic life. Academia is a hellscape; Katabasis just makes it literal.
This is my second book by R.F. Kuang With Yellowface being my first read, and honestly, I went into Katabasis with zero expectations. I only found out about the book two days before its release, so I knew nothing about it except the plot and blurb. But that alone pulled me in; it already felt so different from what’s been coming out lately. So I dove right in.
Midway through, I started seeing reviews saying the book was “too complicated” or that you needed to do extra reading before starting. Honestly? I don’t agree. I didn’t do any pre-reading, and I don’t think I missed anything essential (besides knowing Dante’s Inferno, which I was already familiar with).
As a teenager, I grew up on Dan Brown novels, fast-paced, packed with history and references, so I had no issue following Kuang here. She explains what’s necessary, and for anything else, a quick Google is enough. But even that wasn’t really necessary. For me, the book flowed and was never too wordy or overwhelming. Reading this was one hell of a journey.
Katabasis Book Review
From page one, we’re right in the middle of it: Alice is literally going to Hell to save her professor’s soul so she can get a recommendation letter. She’s joined by fellow student Peter, who also wants to retrieve their professor’s soul.
Katabasis doesn’t waste time with slow introductions. Instead, we learn about the characters gradually, through dialogue, small reveals, and flashbacks. I loved this choice. The flashbacks break up the journey, so it never feels like just “court after court of Hell.” They let us see motivations, histories, and the truths beneath the characters’ surfaces. Sometimes you even catch hints about someone long before their POV or backstory confirms it, which made the reading experience even richer.
Katabasis World Building
The world-building was one of my favourite parts. Kuang’s Hell isn’t just fire, brimstone, and endless torment; it’s a campus. Bureaucratic, layered, organised… and terrifying in its own way. Hell is structured like an academic institution with rules, exams, and hierarchies, making the satire even sharper.
The eight courts of Hell are woven into the journey, each with its own unique atmosphere and challenges. Instead of just being symbolic, they feel like immersive, lived-in environments the characters must move through. From the grotesque bureaucracy to surreal landscapes, it’s both mythological and weirdly relatable for anyone who has navigated academia.
I also liked how the magic system was explained. It felt scholarly and ritualistic, but not “Harry Potter-ish.” More magician-like than wizard-school, if that makes sense. It was easy to follow, grounded, and very well-represented.
Katabasis Characters
Alice Law
At the centre of it all is Alice, a relentless Ph.D. student. Her name kept reminding me of Alice in Wonderland, except this time it’s Alice in Hell. Her character is deeply flawed, her inner voice isn’t always kind or noble, and she makes some questionable choices. But that’s what makes her human, and you can’t help rooting for her.
She’s complicated in the best way, her flaws are as important as her strengths. Alice knows how toxic her adviser, Professor Grimes, is, but she still worships him. She despises how women in academia tear each other down, yet she betrays a fellow student who shares her trauma. She complains about the cruelty of the system, but she also makes excuses for it, because it’s the same system she wants power in.
She’s contradictory, messy, and human. And watching her grow, seeing the way her inner voice shifts and the way she wrestles with ambition, loyalty, and rage, was one of the most rewarding parts of the book. The Alice we meet at the beginning is not the same Alice we leave at the end.
Also, the 1980s setting matters. Her feminist ideals and conflicts feel grounded in that era, making her choices and frustrations all the more authentic.
Peter Murdoch
I really liked Peter’s character. At first, I thought I’d dislike him, especially since Alice’s POV in the opening chapter paints him in a certain way. The golden boy of the magick department. The one born brilliant, the one academia adores because he doesn’t seem to have to try. Alice resents him for that ease, for the way genius just seems to flow through him, while she has to grind for every scrap
But as the book unfolds, you realise what his breezy genius actually costs him.
The flashbacks don’t just flesh out the characters; they reveal the price of brilliance. And that revelation makes Peter one of the most compelling characters in the story. By the time you see him clearly, it’s impossible not to care for him.
Other Characters
I enjoyed meeting the other souls in Hell and getting glimpses of their stories. Elspeth, in particular, was intriguing, enigmatic, always slightly out of reach, which makes sense since we’re limited by Alice’s perspective. The Kripkes were also fascinating additions, adding depth to the social ecosystem of Hell.
Grimes
I can’t say much about Grimes without spoiling the story, but he’s quite a character.
Professor Grimes is the kind of adviser you can’t quite look away from, charismatic, brilliant, but toxic to the core. He represents everything wrong with academic hierarchies: cruelty dressed up as genius, exploitation wrapped in mentorship. To Alice, he’s both monster and god, someone she knows is loathsome, yet someone she can’t stop craving approval from.
In many ways, Grimes isn’t just a character; he’s the embodiment of the academic machine itself: harsh, manipulative, and deeply addictive for those who want its validation. His death sparks the journey into Hell, but even in his absence, his influence poisons every step.
Final Thoughts on Katabasis by R.F Kuang
Overall, I loved Katabasis. The story felt fresh and unique, especially compared to most books out there right now. It was engaging, darkly satirical, and truly unputdownable.
What I appreciated most was how it isn’t just a descent into Hell, it’s also a mirror. Just as Alice and Peter emerge changed from their journey, the reader is invited to do the same. The message is powerful:
👉 Life is meant to be lived in a way that is true to you, not in pursuit of others’ approval.
To Hell and back, literally.
Katabasis Book Blurb
Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek:
The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld
Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality: her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world.
That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.
Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams….
Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the very same conclusion.
With nothing but the tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them, enough chalk to draw the Pentagrams necessary for their spells, and the burning desire to make all the academic trauma mean anything, they set off across Hell to save a man they don’t even like.
But Hell is not like the storybooks say, Magick isn’t always the answer, and there’s something in Alice and Peter’s past that could forge them into the perfect allies…or lead to their doom.
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