Book Report: Katabasis
By: Cassie Birk
Welcome to the Book Report. This is the nitty gritty, spoiler-free review of one of my latest reads. Keep reading to see if R.F. Kuang’s romp through hell, Katabasis, would be a good fit for your TBR!
BEFORE WE DIVE IN…
Genre: Fantasy
Age Group: Adult/New Adult (anyone who’s been in college can especially relate)
The following content warnings are described on page: Death (human deaths are off page but described, in addition to gorey animal deaths on page), Suicidal Thoughts, Blood, Murder, Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assult, Disordered Eating, Misogyny, Chronic Illness
Spice Level: None. The romantic subplot is a slow burn with kissing and hugging on page.
Page Count: 541 pages
Series: No. While R.F. Kuang has called this book a “spiritual sequel” to Babel: An Arcane History, it is a standalone story in a different world following new characters.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Katabasis follows Alice and Peter, two graduate analytical magick students at an alternate version of Cambridge, where the study of magick is as mundane as studying economics, as they journey to Hell to save the soul of their thesis advisor. They are not, however, trying to save Professor Grimes out of love. He is the picture of what is wrong with academia: predatory towards women, egotistical, unaccommodating to chronic illness, and willing to do anything, no matter how unethical, to maintain his image as a once-in-a-generation genius at the top of his field. But if Alice doesn’t have his letter of recommendation at the end of the semester, how is she supposed to secure her place in academia amid shrinking opportunities due to funding cuts brought on by the conservative governments of the 1980s?
Arriving in Hell, Alice and Peter must travel through the eight Dante-esque layers that they, ironically, discover bear striking similarity to the university campus they just left. But in the battle to petition the ruler of the eighth mysterious circle, they must contend with jilted magicians, ex-graduate students, and, most difficult of all, the lies that Alice is telling herself about what she really wants.
And for the visual folks out there, Katabasis has a very well done book trailer to get you hyped.
READER PROFILE
You might find this book a great fit for your TBR if:
You are looking for a modern journey through the layers of Hell in reference to Dante’s Divine Comedy, like the novel Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle or Damned by Chuck Palahniuk, but are looking for more sympathetic and diverse protagonists.
The classic romance drama you are constantly rewatching is What Dreams May Come, rather than The Notebook. Afterall, the afterlife is a great place for pining.
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid, with the critique of how women are treated in academia and the dynamic between Effy and Preston, was one of your top releases of 2023.
Classic lit is more your thing, with special attention paid to Jorge Luis Borges, and you are looking to try a BookTok pick.
If you enjoyed the classic allusions in Eric by Terry Pratchett. Especially if your favorite bit was how Rincewind uses his knowledge of university bureaucracy, rather than his magic, to navigate Hell. But you want that dark academia tone for fall, rather than a satire.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Portrait Credit: Sonja Horsman
In addition to Katabasis, R.F. Kuang is the award-winning, #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. She has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford; she is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale. Her next book, Taipei Story, will return to the contemporary lit fic world focusing on a college freshman who is doing a language study abroad program in Taipei.
Fun Fact: Peter from Katabasis is based on R.F. Kuang’s husband, Bennett, who is a PhD student in Philosophy at MIT.
WHAT READERS THINK
“R.F. Kuang once again proves she’s one of the most precise and fearless writers of her generation. Katabasis isn’t just a descent—it’s a dissection. Every page feels like being flayed open by her language: sharp, deliberate, and uncomfortably honest. The novel’s emotional core is devastating. Kuang balances fury and fragility with an almost surgical precision, showing what happens when intellect and guilt spiral into obsession. Her characters are self-aware to the point of ruin, and she never offers them—or us—any easy redemption. What makes this book extraordinary is how it lingers. It’s not a story you finish; it’s one that keeps echoing. The prose is luminous yet suffocating, the pacing slow but deliberate—like walking deeper into a cave you know you can’t leave unchanged. If Babel was about revolution and Yellowface was about appropriation, Katabasis is about reckoning—with self, with silence, and with the unbearable weight of truth. It’s beautiful, painful, and unrelentingly human. A near-perfect novel that hurts in all the right ways.”—Tash via Fable
“This felt like the most academic novel R.F. Kuang has put out. There were many points in the book when it felt like dense philosophical issues or logic problems, most times this is when my attention started to drift. But, there were a lot of issues that Kuang tackles, too. The idea of how much sacrifice is worth intellectual gain, abusive relationships with academic advisors, misogyny within academia, what it means in leaving a legacy, etc. I found myself often reflecting on these ideas, and how they correlate with one another. I definitely liked the book and the different themes it tackles, but it is not for everyone.”—lilayyy via StoryGraph
“Certainly has its moments. And a kind of beauty—that is all mostly borrowed, quotation and exposition, all over-cognized—and thus, distant-feeling, a shadow thrown off a more intricate object. To Katabis's many dubious readings of Nietzsche, I wish to add one of my own: that the mind needs digestion.”—heptagrammaton via Goodreads
“JUSTICE FOR PETER!”—Readin’ Team Bookclub
BOOK REPORTER’S REVIEW
I ADORED Babel and was immediately excited when this book was announced. R.F. Kuang’s unapologetically nerdy dives into Hell across cultures, magic circles, and even fictional British chalk brands could be polarizing. Needless to say, the academic asides didn’t take me out of anything. Alice is absolutely delulu, so if I wasn’t supposed to read her like an unreliable narrator, well… I still think I’m right. I am not a big romance girly, so her banter with Peter and the way that their relationship developed slowly, subtly, and sweetly with their more academic inclinations at the forefront rather than tropes was something I was here for. The romance didn’t hinder the book’s commentary on sexism, academia, and the wider inequality of collegiate life.
One of my favorite parts of Babel was the magic system, which was based in linguistics. So I was excited for the magic system in Katabasis focused on logic and paradox. That also ended up being my biggest letdown. Speaking as someone who took a class in language and formal reasoning in undergrad (although it’s been a hot minute, so don’t make me take a midterm or anything), I did not get the magic system. What made certain paradoxes more powerful? How does the syllogism get transferred into the symbols of the magic circle? I’m a nerd! I want the tools to nerd out with you, Rebecca!
The only other thing that is likely unique to me as a reader is that graphic violence towards animals, especially cats, is incredibly hard for me to read. There is an adorable, precious, goodest campus bean, Archimedes, that helps Alice through part of her journey. Yet there is a graphic, on-page killing of a panther which includes the jungle cat being skinned, eaten, and worn as armor. That was NOT fun to read, even though plotwise it tracked. My cat (who you should all admire below) can sacrifice me for character growth and survival, but not the other way around. But if anyone does want to write a fanfic where the cats that traverse in and out of hell are the protagonists, please let me read it.