Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

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⭐⭐⭐⭐ Katabasis — Brilliant, Baffling, and Possibly a Future Classic (4 ⭐)

Author: R.F. Kuang
Genre: Fantasy / Dark Academia / Mythological Fiction
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 out of 5

⚠️ Trigger Warnings

Sexual harassment & sexual violence • Emotional abuse • Ableism • Disordered eating • Mental illness • Suicide & suicidal ideation • Substance use • Graphic violence • Academic exploitation • Power imbalance • Death

🤯 Initial Thoughts: Masterpiece or DNF? Yes.

I genuinely do not know how to feel about Katabasis — and I mean that in the most complimentary, confused way possible.

At various points, I was convinced this book was a work of genius… and at other points, I was flirting hard with the idea of a DNF. It’s beautifully written. It’s deeply unsettling. It’s intellectually aggressive. And it absolutely does not read like a “normal” fantasy novel. This book is weird. Capital W.

And yet — I keep thinking about it. I even want to reread it someday, which is frankly unhinged behavior for someone who never rereads books, not even 5-star ones. So take that as a sign. 😵‍💫📚

📚 What This Book Is About (Premise)

Katabasis is a standalone fantasy novel that reimagines Hell as academia’s final form.

Cambridge magick students Alice Law and Peter Murdoch descend into Hell to retrieve the soul of their deceased advisor, Professor Jacob Grimes, whose death may have been caused by Alice’s mistake. Hell, however, appears differently depending on who perceives it — and for Alice and Peter, it manifests as a grotesque, nightmarish university system.

The novel explores academia as an infernal structure, ambition as self-destruction, and the terrifying idea that logic, facts, and truth are not as stable as we think.

🚨 SPOILER WARNING 🚨

Full plot summary and ending below. This is detailed and complete.

🔥 Full Plot Summary: A Descent Into Academic Hell (Literally)

✍️ The Guilt That Starts It All

Alice Law blames herself for Professor Grimes’s death after a chalk pentagram she failed to double-check malfunctioned. Needing his recommendation letter — and desperate to maintain her academic trajectory — Alice descends into Hell to retrieve his soul.

Her academic rival, Peter Murdoch, accompanies her.

Hell immediately adapts to them: lecture halls, libraries, student centers, research prompts, dissertations — all wrapped in mythological dread. Even Archimedes the department cat casually wanders through dimensions because of course he does.

📚 The Courts of Hell (Pride, Desire, Greed, Wrath…)

Each Court reflects a different sin and a different academic nightmare:

  • Pride: A library where Shades research moral absolutes endlessly

  • Desire: A student center filled with compulsive, repetitive acts

  • Greed: A brutal test of loyalty and ambition

  • Wrath: Violence, betrayal, and punishment disguised as logic

Alice’s trauma slowly surfaces: Grimes sexually abused her, manipulated her admiration, punished her professionally after rejection, and treated her as disposable. Peter reveals that Grimes exploited his disability (Crohn’s disease), stole his research, and forced him into intellectual submission.

They meet Elspeth, a former student who died by suicide, and learn about the Kripkes, disgraced magicians who murdered each other to enter Hell and search for a Dialetheia — a True Contradiction powerful enough to bargain with Lord Yama.

🩸 Betrayal, Bone-Magic, and Truth

Pentagrams in Hell must be drawn with blood. Bone-things stalk living magicians. Lethe erases memory. Trust erodes.

Alice and Peter betray Elspeth in their desperation — and it backfires catastrophically.

Eventually, Peter sacrifices himself to save Alice, believing only one of them can escape. Alice witnesses his murder by the Kripkes and proceeds alone through the final Court, Dis, where Shades endlessly write dissertations about their crimes.

There, Alice finally realizes the truth:
👉 Academia didn’t save her — it broke her.

🐆 The Final Descent & the Ending

Alice learns to fight. She makes armor from bones. She kills the Kripkes. She destroys the infernal system that trapped them.

With Lord Yama’s permission, Alice summons Grimes — and finally sees him clearly: not a brilliant mentor or monster-god, but a small, cruel, ordinary man.

She trades Grimes’s soul for Peter’s.

Alice and Peter ascend together, freed from Hell and from academia’s impossible expectations. Alice looks forward not to prestige, but to a future defined by choice, not ambition.

The descent ends. The cycle breaks.

🧠 Final Thoughts: Why 4 Stars?

This book is exceptionally written and intellectually fearless — but it’s also dense, abstract, and frequently overwhelming. There’s a lot of infodumping, and the story sometimes pauses so Kuang can make sure you understand the metaphor.

Still, this is the kind of novel that:

  • Will age well

  • Will be studied

  • Will absolutely become someone’s favorite book

And weirdly? I want to read it again.

⭐ Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Not perfect. Not easy. But bold, original, and unforgettable.

📚 If You Liked This, Try These Next:

  • Babel by R.F. Kuang

  • The Magicians by Lev Grossman

  • Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

  • The Secret History by Donna Tartt

  • Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko

🧿 Bottom Line:
Katabasis is not here to entertain you gently. It’s here to challenge, unsettle, and haunt you — like the best (and worst) parts of academia itself.

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