Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I received a proof copy of this book, and as it’s not out for another few months there are no spoilers here!
Katabasis follows two PhD students at Cambridge in the 80s who travel into Hell to save the soul of their dissertation supervisor. Already, this seems a lot lighter than many of R. F. Kuang’s previous novels, and I would say that it is, especially in comparison to the bleakness of her Poppy War trilogy, but it is by no means lighter in page count. Honestly, this book is still fairly dark despite its hints of romance (any romance/romantasy readers will be disappointed by this one, I think, if that’s what you’re expecting), as there is a decent amount of blood and violence and generally dark themes. They are in Hell, after all. Kuang really loves a complex protagonist, and Alice is just another example. My favourite character was Peter, but I do think that the relationship between him and Alice was not really developed enough considering the size of this book, and the way it’s been marketed, in my opinion. I just wanted a bit more of their years at Cambridge together!
I did still very much enjoy this, and though it’s not my favourite of Kuang’s, I think I’ll definitely read this again and will recommend to others - especially anyone who is a bit afraid of reading her darker stuff.
Katabasis follows two PhD students at Cambridge in the 80s who travel into Hell to save the soul of their dissertation supervisor. Already, this seems a lot lighter than many of R. F. Kuang’s previous novels, and I would say that it is, especially in comparison to the bleakness of her Poppy War trilogy, but it is by no means lighter in page count. Honestly, this book is still fairly dark despite its hints of romance (any romance/romantasy readers will be disappointed by this one, I think, if that’s what you’re expecting), as there is a decent amount of blood and violence and generally dark themes. They are in Hell, after all. Kuang really loves a complex protagonist, and Alice is just another example. My favourite character was Peter, but I do think that the relationship between him and Alice was not really developed enough considering the size of this book, and the way it’s been marketed, in my opinion. I just wanted a bit more of their years at Cambridge together!
I did still very much enjoy this, and though it’s not my favourite of Kuang’s, I think I’ll definitely read this again and will recommend to others - especially anyone who is a bit afraid of reading her darker stuff.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Sexual harassment
funny
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2.5/5 ⭐️ (closer to 2 but rounding up)
I was so excited to read this since I loved The Poppy War trilogy and Babel, but I’m just kinda confused and disappointed by Katabasis ☹️. There are moments that were good but mostly it’s just a slow, emotionally flat book that felt strangely poorly written for an R. F. Kuang novel?
~ spoilers from now on ~
Pros:
- Elspeth was the best character. From the get-go she was interesting and I was intrigued by her. Despite being dead she was basically the only character that felt alive and real, but she’s barely in the story.
- The last ~25% of the book was good! I didn’t love the cliche ending but the last few chapters leading up to it was interesting. The pace picked up and the main characters were separated so that surely helped.
- I didn’t mind the logic/mathematics/philosophy content. I see a lot of reviews saying that it felt like a textbook, was too complicated to read without googling, or felt like RFK was trying to show how smart she was by info-dumping facts. I don’t know a lot about the logic/math/philosophy she talked about but I thought it was fun to learn about (like how in Babel the focus was on etymology).
- The first 2 “floors” of Hell were interesting. They were creative and unique and it made me excited to see how the rest of Hell would be portrayed… and she stopped with that concept and the rest of Hell was just rocks and sand :’)
Cons:
- Incoherent structure!! The format it was written in didn’t work for me. It was basically 1 page interesting dialogue, 10 pages background info, 2 pages progressing story, 1 chapter of background info, etc. It made me want to put the book down cause I didn’t wanna read the character’s background anymore. Also, I think it would’ve been better if it was written in chronological order.
- Hell was somehow boring? There’s so much potential and creativity in describing what Hell might look like and I could never visualize it because the description was always just “rocks, sand, bones, black river”. That’s it.
- Characters lacked chemistry. There was supposed to be romance in this book between the main characters but there basically was nothing until the very, very end. I expected it to be hinted at (like Ramy & Robin in Babel) but there was nothing?
- I disliked Alice the entire time, Peter was okay (his background info chapter was actually good, having a character with Crohn’s isn’t common so it was cool to see), Grimes was boring & absent, everyone else I forget.
- Hell is supposed to be super, super old with souls trapped there for eons. Yet, the only people Alice & Peter meet are people from their era, at their university? I feel like there were so many missed opportunities with that.
- They start off needing food, water and rest and then halfway through that gets thrown out the window?
If this was supposed to have a deeper meaning about academics being hell and misogyny in academics, I didn’t really get it :/ Even if I just view it as a goofy love story it also feels like it falls short.
And John Gradus?? Who was that?? Was that something obvious and I missed it cause nobody talks about him in reviews?? I liked him!
I was so excited to read this since I loved The Poppy War trilogy and Babel, but I’m just kinda confused and disappointed by Katabasis ☹️. There are moments that were good but mostly it’s just a slow, emotionally flat book that felt strangely poorly written for an R. F. Kuang novel?
~ spoilers from now on ~
Pros:
- Elspeth was the best character. From the get-go she was interesting and I was intrigued by her. Despite being dead she was basically the only character that felt alive and real, but she’s barely in the story.
- The last ~25% of the book was good! I didn’t love the cliche ending but the last few chapters leading up to it was interesting. The pace picked up and the main characters were separated so that surely helped.
- I didn’t mind the logic/mathematics/philosophy content. I see a lot of reviews saying that it felt like a textbook, was too complicated to read without googling, or felt like RFK was trying to show how smart she was by info-dumping facts. I don’t know a lot about the logic/math/philosophy she talked about but I thought it was fun to learn about (like how in Babel the focus was on etymology).
- The first 2 “floors” of Hell were interesting. They were creative and unique and it made me excited to see how the rest of Hell would be portrayed… and she stopped with that concept and the rest of Hell was just rocks and sand :’)
Cons:
- Incoherent structure!! The format it was written in didn’t work for me. It was basically 1 page interesting dialogue, 10 pages background info, 2 pages progressing story, 1 chapter of background info, etc. It made me want to put the book down cause I didn’t wanna read the character’s background anymore. Also, I think it would’ve been better if it was written in chronological order.
- Hell was somehow boring? There’s so much potential and creativity in describing what Hell might look like and I could never visualize it because the description was always just “rocks, sand, bones, black river”. That’s it.
- Characters lacked chemistry. There was supposed to be romance in this book between the main characters but there basically was nothing until the very, very end. I expected it to be hinted at (like Ramy & Robin in Babel) but there was nothing?
- I disliked Alice the entire time, Peter was okay (his background info chapter was actually good, having a character with Crohn’s isn’t common so it was cool to see), Grimes was boring & absent, everyone else I forget.
- Hell is supposed to be super, super old with souls trapped there for eons. Yet, the only people Alice & Peter meet are people from their era, at their university? I feel like there were so many missed opportunities with that.
- They start off needing food, water and rest and then halfway through that gets thrown out the window?
If this was supposed to have a deeper meaning about academics being hell and misogyny in academics, I didn’t really get it :/ Even if I just view it as a goofy love story it also feels like it falls short.
And John Gradus?? Who was that?? Was that something obvious and I missed it cause nobody talks about him in reviews?? I liked him!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death
dark
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What the *hell* man…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was lucky enough to hear R.F. Kuang speak in 2023 on Yellowface, and in that Q&A, she alluded to her next release and the reading list she was embarking on to write it. I was hooked; two academic rivals travel through hell to get a recommendation letter from their horrible advisor? Sign me up. I was lucky a second time by receiving an ARC of this book- thank you, Harper Collins!
I thoroughly enjoyed Katabasis. I found myself relating to the best and worst parts of Alice: her longing to succeed and her ill-conceived notion that she can logic her way out of anything. She was an interesting main character to follow, and I thought she and Peter played off of each other incredibly well. I think they are both easy to care for and to understand, even with all their pride, faults, and blind spots in pursuit of academic greatness.
I've seen some criticism online about the references that are scattered throughout this book, along the lines of the author trying to "show off" that she's read Plato, Nietzsche, etc. I think that's a bad faith interpretation of the text. Peter and Alice are in their last year of a demanding graduate program that has become their entire lives, myth and fable can be read in this world as genuine advice, and they're traveling through the courts of hell- of course they're going to constantly reference The Divine Comedy. I don't think that a throwaway reference to the Ubermensch or Euclidean geometry is Kuang flexing her academic superiority; I think it's the method of communication that Alice and Peter know best.
As for there being a "required reading list": Do I think you need to read Dante's Inferno or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to understand the book? No- I haven't touched either since 10th grade and I did just fine. But if you want to understand some references at first blush, or engage with the work further, go nuts!
I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 because I think there were some pacing issues and, while I appreciated having context of Alice's time at Cambridge slowly revealed to us as we dove deeper into Hell, I think at times it was a jarring interruption. I also wish we had witnessed more of the middle courts, but I also understand that this book is already over 500 pages.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Suicide
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
heyyyy. hey hey hey. HEY. HEYYY. holy shit. rebecca kuang i could kiss you.
i’ll be real, booktwt’s reaction to this terrified me. and honestly? i get why people wouldn’t like this. however i think it’s “flaws” are excusable or explained well-enough in the text for me to overlook so. YIPPEE.
ok let me start on the two main characters first — alice and peter. my loves. my pookies. i need fan art of them right this goddamn minute. alice was by far one of the best written characters’ i’ve seen in a while. because holy shit. she’s not only incredibly relatable, but she had extreme depth to her character to the point i almost felt like i knew her. like i almost feel like ive lost a close friend because now ive finished the book i won’t see my baby girl again. her character development actually went so fucking hard i also think it’s one of the best arcs ive read. i already miss alice and i just finished the goddamn book. peter was… ok. he had no character development or depth for like more than half of the book and out of nowhere he instantly became just as fleshed out as alice which i loved. i also love my baby boy. him and alice’s relationship was quite fascinating but imo i preferred when it was purely platonic (don’t give me shit for this spoiler one of the genres is romance 🤷). i do think their romantic relationship was built up well enough, it’s just a personal thing for me. i preferred when they were ribbing each other in every convo lol. i do say as well what happens with the Kripkes defo helped turn the tide towards my opinion of peter, as tbh before that i was ready to straight up beat his ass.
the overall plot was… Ok! i do think if you’re going into this book for the plot you’re setting yourself up to hate it. this is a book about alice and peter, and hell is just the setting which drives alice and peter’s thoughts, feelings & actions. i do think the plot kept me gripped up until the second court, but ill be honest the minute we moved on from that i was a bit… bored. it felt like they were kind of just pissfarting around. but in the later stages of the book i reflected and realised that all that Nothing kind of had to happen in order for alice and peter’s characters to grow. i will say it defo was slightly difficult at the time to stay interested, but its not like absolutely nothing happens either. i’m someone who needs tension to be interested in a story, and although there wasn’t any for a certain chunk, kuang instead interlaced the story with such banger philosophical thoughts that looking back on it im actually not as mad about it, and the more i read of this “boring” chunk, i was less and less bothered until i was having a great time.
the worldbuilding is difficult for me to sum into one word. on one hand, kuang’s take on hell draws on past interpretations with a novel spin with unique elements. i did like the first court’s interpretation, was a bit meh on the second court as there was a predictable theme the courts seemed to be following, but then after there it all kind of just fell apart. yet again there was an in-universe explanation for this, so im not annoyed or anything, but idk i expected more. the eighth court was intriguing, but defo not to the level of the first two.
i do think there is one issue i can’t really look past as i have with the others. and that’s the fact there were a lot of instances of deus ex machina’s that i simply couldn’t overlook because they threw me out of the text. the ending could be described as one, but i do think what happened was not only built up well before it happened, but it made sense with alice & peter’s character developments, so im not mad at that. i actually loved the ending. but there’s a couple of instances where alice and/or peter are isolated and put into a situation where they cannot escape, and then Random Hell Citizen Number One saves them. and idk it felt like lazy writing at times. why are you only introducing this now where the only purpose is to save them and then after it’s irrelevant!!! i don’t know if that makes sense but i don’t want to be too specific because i want to make this (mostly) Spoiler Free.
ok there’s two last things im gonna comment on because i seriously can just yap forever. i love love loved the academia in this book. idk why but reading this whilst in my third-year was so fucking funny because yeah. all of it is so silly yet also so soul consuming. and idk i felt like i could relate. and plus the whole concept of magick? HELLO? so unique, so fleshed out, so fresh…
oh r.f. kuang. your mind. yet another banger. it’s defo not my favourite book of hers, as the poppy war will always stay winning, but damn was this good. a beautiful love child of babel and yellowface.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Excrement, Sexual harassment
Minor: Child death
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 rounded up
What does Hell look like? The answer varies on whom you ask. R.F. Kuang brilliantly weaves together different versions of Hell—from various religious & mythological texts and philosophical travelogues across cultures, Eastern and Western, to even students’ claims that academia itself is hellish—in a creative and fascinating way that scratched a part of my brain.
WRITING
I was surprised that the story immediately plunges us into action, unfolding in a nonlinear narrative, shifting between past and present timelines, making for an engaging read. Considering how dense this book is, it surprised me that I didn’t really mind the pacing. I’m not the biggest fan of alternating timelines, but I didn’t have a problem with it in Katabasis for some reason.
While this book required a significant amount of brainpower to get through—given that its subject matter is vastly different from my academic background—I found it considerably more accessible than my experience with Babel. That said, my brain still needed a break after finishing it. However, recognizing some of the philosophers and notable figures Kuang name-dropped from my high school days was definitely a big help. It was the math and logic puzzles that almost had my brain disintegrating. Please don’t ask me anything about it because I have no idea what I read. If you’re just like me, don’t worry too much because I didn’t really feel like I was missing anything by not knowing nor understanding what the characters were talking about academic-wise.
Kuang employs didactic exposition through the characters’ monologues and dialogues, which I appreciated. However, I can see why some readers might not, as similar critiques were made about Babel for doing the same, though through footnotes.
READING PREP
In terms of preparation, Dante’s Inferno was referenced the most, so I’m glad I read it prior to Katabasis. That being said, you don’t need to read any of the suggested books to supplement your reading, but it certainly enhances the experience. I didn’t have time to explore other works such as The Aeneid, The Iliad, and The Odyssey, but I watched videos of summaries and analyses on YouTube. I will consider getting to them before the release date, though, in preparation for a reread.
PLOT & WORLD-BUILDING
Again, I was surprised that the story doesn’t waste any time getting into the plot. But I think it helped because although the first couple of chapters were pretty dense (I think she named five philosophers in one sentence in the first chapter), I didn’t have a hard time getting into the book.
One thing that I truly loved about this underworld Kuang created was the fact that she combined different versions of hell into the Circles of Hell in Katabasis. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t this so I respect the creativity and the research that must’ve went into it. I think it wove together seamlessly.
R.F. Kuang also recommended Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in an interview citing books to read before Katabasis and I can see why. This book was quite literally Alice but in the courts of Hell. I can’t describe it but the way Kuang reimagined Hell reminded me so much of Alice in Wonderland.
To me, the magic system is pretty straightforward. Granted, I don’t understand all of it, but I know enough. A lot of it was based on logic and theoretical mathematics, both of which were never my strongest. But again, not knowing doesn’t take away from the reading experience in my humble opinion.
ROMANCE
If you’re picking up this book because it was marketed as a romance, I’d advise managing your expectations early on. It’s not a romance, but it does have romance. The romance is a very minor subplot—one that I honestly believe the book could have stood just fine without. I can’t really pinpoint what was missing that I wasn’t completely sold. That said, I did love Alice and Peter’s black cat x golden retriever dynamic, and I enjoyed them both as individual characters that I don’t really mind the romance all that much.
Still, I think their relationship and their chemistry could have been further developed. I might be in the minority here, but I expected just a little bit more than what was given. I went into this not expecting some sort of contemporary romance, but I can’t help but compare Alice and Peter to how Kuang portrayed Rin and Nezha in The Poppy War, which wasn’t even explicitly a romance, yet The Drowning Faith still has me in shackles to this day.
There’s also a particular moment in the book that I won’t go into too much detail about, but essentially the gist is that Alice resents Peter for something he did, and I really wish she had confronted him about it at some point. I mean, they were two lone people stuck in Hell for an indefinite amount of time—so I wish that had been acknowledged (or maybe it was, and I just missed it, in which case, this part of my review will be embarrassing if someone points it out).
CHARACTERS
This might just be R.F. Kuang’s best character work yet. I adored both Alice and Peter as individuals, and they felt like real people to me.
Alice Law is ambitious, yet unhinged (I mean, she quite literally went to Hell for the sake of her career.) She’s fascinating—and, to some extent, relatable. I, too, would spiral over a failed talking stage. I, too, would probably follow my professor to Hell to get what I want. Deep diving into her thoughts was interesting and I loved seeing her change throughout the book.
Peter Murdoch is just as driven, traveling to Hell for his own reasons—though I won’t talk about him in detail, as I think the best way to figure out who he is in this story is through Alice’s POV.
As I continued reading, I had a newfound appreciation for both characters, seeing fragments of myself in them. More than their list of items to bring to Hell (chalk and bread, among other things), they carried the weight of their pasts—both equally heartbreaking and layered. Chapters 13 and 22 stood out as some of my favorites in the entire book. Beyond the main characters, I also enjoyed how some of the side characters were written.
One of the things I love about Kuang’s writing is how masterfully she depicts characters’ descent to madness—I eat it up every time. As expected from a dark academia novel, none of these characters are perfect. You will question their decisions. You will question their integrity. You will question their beliefs. These are people who would do anything, in whatever way possible, to serve their own interests. I love how Kuang critiques various aspects of academia through the lenses of morally gray individuals.
OTHER NOTES
To answer the inevitable question: yes, there were some tears at some point. But, more surprisingly, I laughed—a lot. The last thing I expected was for this book to contain an ounce of humor because I was honestly expecting this to be depressing for some reason. Well, actually, it was a bit depressing but also funny so I definitely let out a chuckle more than once while reading.
Now, for me, a book’s ending can make or break the entire reading experience. I'm still processing this one—it needs a reread before I can fully articulate my feelings about how it ended. Did it deliver emotional satisfaction? Was it rushed? Was it fulfilling? I won’t dive into spoilers here, but I’ll definitely explore it more in a spoiler-filled review in the future.
Overall, I had a fantastic time reading my sixth R.F. Kuang book. While it delves deeply into philosophy, logic, and maths, the action-packed scenes and the characters kept me engaged. At its heart, this book is really about finding your identity and what truly matters in life. If you strip away all your accolades, your genius, the recognition and praise from your professors, who are you?
Ultimately, my takeaway is that I truly am not made for grad school, and if I ever do go, I hope to find an advisor I wouldn’t have to follow to Hell just to get a recommendation letter.
Katabasis won’t be for everyone, but I’m confident that it will deeply resonate with some readers, becoming their new favorite book. I can’t wait to read the final version in August!
Might add some spoiler-filled thoughts later on.
A big thank you to Harper Collins International for sending a digital galley my way. As always, all thoughts are my own.
What does Hell look like? The answer varies on whom you ask. R.F. Kuang brilliantly weaves together different versions of Hell—from various religious & mythological texts and philosophical travelogues across cultures, Eastern and Western, to even students’ claims that academia itself is hellish—in a creative and fascinating way that scratched a part of my brain.
WRITING
I was surprised that the story immediately plunges us into action, unfolding in a nonlinear narrative, shifting between past and present timelines, making for an engaging read. Considering how dense this book is, it surprised me that I didn’t really mind the pacing. I’m not the biggest fan of alternating timelines, but I didn’t have a problem with it in Katabasis for some reason.
While this book required a significant amount of brainpower to get through—given that its subject matter is vastly different from my academic background—I found it considerably more accessible than my experience with Babel. That said, my brain still needed a break after finishing it. However, recognizing some of the philosophers and notable figures Kuang name-dropped from my high school days was definitely a big help. It was the math and logic puzzles that almost had my brain disintegrating. Please don’t ask me anything about it because I have no idea what I read. If you’re just like me, don’t worry too much because I didn’t really feel like I was missing anything by not knowing nor understanding what the characters were talking about academic-wise.
Kuang employs didactic exposition through the characters’ monologues and dialogues, which I appreciated. However, I can see why some readers might not, as similar critiques were made about Babel for doing the same, though through footnotes.
READING PREP
In terms of preparation, Dante’s Inferno was referenced the most, so I’m glad I read it prior to Katabasis. That being said, you don’t need to read any of the suggested books to supplement your reading, but it certainly enhances the experience. I didn’t have time to explore other works such as The Aeneid, The Iliad, and The Odyssey, but I watched videos of summaries and analyses on YouTube. I will consider getting to them before the release date, though, in preparation for a reread.
PLOT & WORLD-BUILDING
Again, I was surprised that the story doesn’t waste any time getting into the plot. But I think it helped because although the first couple of chapters were pretty dense (I think she named five philosophers in one sentence in the first chapter), I didn’t have a hard time getting into the book.
One thing that I truly loved about this underworld Kuang created was the fact that she combined different versions of hell into the Circles of Hell in Katabasis. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t this so I respect the creativity and the research that must’ve went into it. I think it wove together seamlessly.
R.F. Kuang also recommended Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in an interview citing books to read before Katabasis and I can see why. This book was quite literally Alice but in the courts of Hell. I can’t describe it but the way Kuang reimagined Hell reminded me so much of Alice in Wonderland.
To me, the magic system is pretty straightforward. Granted, I don’t understand all of it, but I know enough. A lot of it was based on logic and theoretical mathematics, both of which were never my strongest. But again, not knowing doesn’t take away from the reading experience in my humble opinion.
ROMANCE
If you’re picking up this book because it was marketed as a romance, I’d advise managing your expectations early on. It’s not a romance, but it does have romance. The romance is a very minor subplot—one that I honestly believe the book could have stood just fine without. I can’t really pinpoint what was missing that I wasn’t completely sold. That said, I did love Alice and Peter’s black cat x golden retriever dynamic, and I enjoyed them both as individual characters that I don’t really mind the romance all that much.
Still, I think their relationship and their chemistry could have been further developed. I might be in the minority here, but I expected just a little bit more than what was given. I went into this not expecting some sort of contemporary romance, but I can’t help but compare Alice and Peter to how Kuang portrayed Rin and Nezha in The Poppy War, which wasn’t even explicitly a romance, yet The Drowning Faith still has me in shackles to this day.
There’s also a particular moment in the book that I won’t go into too much detail about, but essentially the gist is that Alice resents Peter for something he did, and I really wish she had confronted him about it at some point. I mean, they were two lone people stuck in Hell for an indefinite amount of time—so I wish that had been acknowledged (or maybe it was, and I just missed it, in which case, this part of my review will be embarrassing if someone points it out).
CHARACTERS
This might just be R.F. Kuang’s best character work yet. I adored both Alice and Peter as individuals, and they felt like real people to me.
Alice Law is ambitious, yet unhinged (I mean, she quite literally went to Hell for the sake of her career.) She’s fascinating—and, to some extent, relatable. I, too, would spiral over a failed talking stage. I, too, would probably follow my professor to Hell to get what I want. Deep diving into her thoughts was interesting and I loved seeing her change throughout the book.
Peter Murdoch is just as driven, traveling to Hell for his own reasons—though I won’t talk about him in detail, as I think the best way to figure out who he is in this story is through Alice’s POV.
As I continued reading, I had a newfound appreciation for both characters, seeing fragments of myself in them. More than their list of items to bring to Hell (chalk and bread, among other things), they carried the weight of their pasts—both equally heartbreaking and layered. Chapters 13 and 22 stood out as some of my favorites in the entire book. Beyond the main characters, I also enjoyed how some of the side characters were written.
One of the things I love about Kuang’s writing is how masterfully she depicts characters’ descent to madness—I eat it up every time. As expected from a dark academia novel, none of these characters are perfect. You will question their decisions. You will question their integrity. You will question their beliefs. These are people who would do anything, in whatever way possible, to serve their own interests. I love how Kuang critiques various aspects of academia through the lenses of morally gray individuals.
OTHER NOTES
To answer the inevitable question: yes, there were some tears at some point. But, more surprisingly, I laughed—a lot. The last thing I expected was for this book to contain an ounce of humor because I was honestly expecting this to be depressing for some reason. Well, actually, it was a bit depressing but also funny so I definitely let out a chuckle more than once while reading.
Now, for me, a book’s ending can make or break the entire reading experience. I'm still processing this one—it needs a reread before I can fully articulate my feelings about how it ended. Did it deliver emotional satisfaction? Was it rushed? Was it fulfilling? I won’t dive into spoilers here, but I’ll definitely explore it more in a spoiler-filled review in the future.
Overall, I had a fantastic time reading my sixth R.F. Kuang book. While it delves deeply into philosophy, logic, and maths, the action-packed scenes and the characters kept me engaged. At its heart, this book is really about finding your identity and what truly matters in life. If you strip away all your accolades, your genius, the recognition and praise from your professors, who are you?
Ultimately, my takeaway is that I truly am not made for grad school, and if I ever do go, I hope to find an advisor I wouldn’t have to follow to Hell just to get a recommendation letter.
Katabasis won’t be for everyone, but I’m confident that it will deeply resonate with some readers, becoming their new favorite book. I can’t wait to read the final version in August!
Might add some spoiler-filled thoughts later on.
A big thank you to Harper Collins International for sending a digital galley my way. As always, all thoughts are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Self harm
Minor: Alcohol