“This was the key to flourishing in graduate school. You could do anything if you were delusional.”
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Katabasis | 
“This was the key to flourishing in graduate school. You could do anything if you were delusional.”
pickAlice Law, a postgraduate at Cambridge studying analytic Magick, decides to journey to Hell to retrieve her advisor, the brilliant and toxic Jacob Grimes. She is willing to pay a high price, but as she travels deeper into the realms of the underworld it becomes clear that she's already endured an incredible amount of pressure and self-imposed punishment just to follow her ambitions. Dark academia at its darkest and most academic. Loved it.
so-soUnpopular opinion:
I have mixed feelings. The book is very dark academia oriented, but I found the characters unlikeable, and Hell had a lot of boring moments. I wanted a scary, richly detailed, demonic Hell. This is not that, but it did make the professors look like monsters. It struck me as a little pretentious. I will have to sit with it for awhile.
pick4 Stars • R.F. Kuang‘s Katabasis (2025): Two rival Cambridge PhD students in analytic magick descend into a bleak, bureaucratic Hell to rescue their abusive mentor‘s soul after he dies without writing Alice‘s recommendation letter. A sharp, Dante-inspired satire of toxic academia, ambition, and self-destruction.
#Katabasis #RKuang #Bookish #suvataReads
so-soTwo “rival” graduate students descend into hell to rescue their advisor in order to get their letters of recommendation. Although I really liked the concept and found some of the pieces of academia very accurate, it took me forever to finish it and I realized that I just wasn‘t that excited to read it. I did find several parts pretty funny and I liked the literary references but it dragged a bit too much.
pickThis novel is weird and funny and original. I love the alternate-universe Cambridge and how Kuang incorporates different mythologies and literary traditions into the way Hell is built and how it operates. I also really enjoyed the relationship between Alice and her rival, Peter.
pickWhat began as a rescue mission in Hades turned into a story of finding the meaning of life while trekking through Hell and throwing in the most epic revenge tale since Edgar Allen Poe. A four-and-a-half star read only because I‘ve started rating R.F. Kuang novels compared to other R.F. Kuang novels
so-soDo you suffer from book fomo? I sure do. Katabasis is one of those “it” books this year, making all the lists. Is fantasy for me? Nope! Did I think this could work anyway? Not really but I travelled into hell with these graduate students anyway. I must admit, some of the philosophy and actual theories mentioned here were entertaining. But I didn‘t care about the romance and the fantasy elements were filler for my brain. But look at those edges!
This whole description of academia (starting with that paragraph) was so accurate to my experience being in academia.
'I made you.'
'Be that as it may...You should be kinder to your creations.'
bailedThis one is a big fail for me, not holding my attention at all. It saddens me because I had high hopes for this one.
Bailing at 21%
“We only need to get down.” One of them had to keep the cheer. One of them had to be delusional. This was the key to flourishing in graduate school. You could do anything if you were delusional.
I love this newish trend to paint the edges of the paper. So beautiful!! But of course it says “Hell is Other People “! Ha! Don‘t we all know that? 😂
BIRTHDAY BOOK! BIRTHDAY BOOK! 🎉🎉🎉
pickWhile I liked Babel better as an immersive fantasy novel, this trip into hell is pure fun and hijinks.
I took the worst picture of it, but a very pretty edition of Katabasis was the door prize at my local library‘s fundraiser tonight (I didn‘t win) 😍😩 but RF Kuang will visit us next year
pickThere‘s a lot to this book. Academic Analytical Philosophy is transformed into Academic Analytical Magick and many ideas, principles, and paradoxes are woven into the story. Yet, through all of that, the story is very simple: it‘s a story of trauma, academic or otherwise. I really enjoyed it. Honestly, it‘s a bit of a rollercoaster 😊
I'm thoroughly enjoying Katabasis, but I do on occasion wonder who R.F. Kuang's Oxbridge informant/researcher is. Wetherspoons is not really a student party spot, and considering Oxford's divide between "Town and Gown" I doubt a student would even set foot in one of them. Not to mention that in the 80s, when this book appears to be set, Wetherspoons was still confined to the London area.
I have the Barnes and Noble deluxe edition and this is page 68. So is mine correct? @LittlebearReads @seibelsays
What did we do to you to deserve this treatment Kuang? 😅 #modernwitch #hedgewitch
pickAcademia is hell, literally, in this one and I loved it! My only critique was that I got hung up ever so terribly on Professor Grimes being a famed wartime (WWII presumably magician) and still not sounding particularly old in the ‘80s descriptions.
pickFed up with trying to add images on here as I have to use the desktop on my phone, android, the app isn't supported.
So anyway! Worth the wait and hype, excellent weaving of every myth, faith and philosophical thoughts I could name and so academically done. R F Kuang does what she does in a unique and enviable ease.
It's taken me down rabbit hole and text book, such a brilliant book.
She‘s finally home. But I‘m not reading it until the rest of my preorders arrive. Yes, preorders with an S, because I bought four copies. Could be worse; could be dr*gs.
so-soSlow start, took me forever to read.
One of those books that I liked while reading but wasn‘t eager to sit down and read if you understand what I mean.
So…which flavor of the misprint did y‘all get? 😂 Or, if you got a non-misprinted edition, where‘s it from?
I went to an author event last night for R.F Kuang (moderated by Stephen Graham Jones*, hosted by @TatteredCoverBookStore and Trinity United Methodist church) and it was so fun! She had some fascinating points to make about magical systems, journeys to hell, logical paradoxes, and much more. I've read Yellowface, am partway through Babel, and will definitely be getting the Poppy Wars and the new book she announced last night. 🤩
pickI liked this, and like all of R. F. Huang‘s books it has beautiful writing. It just doesn‘t 100% hit, there are a few too many ideas. It definitely hits the pretentious hell that academia can be when it literally becomes hell. It also has a touch of romance which does not quite hit. There are also some other little elements that she squeezed in that I know had meaning to the author, but did not quite fit within the story.⬇️
pickThis ponderous, philosophical exploration of love, academia, rivalry, existence, magic, science (& more) will likely be a love/hate it read for many people. And then there will be those in the middle like me— it‘s well-written but in the story of Alice‘s journey to Hell to find the professor she killed, Kuang is more focused on philosophy & esoteric discussions than she is character development & emotional depth. In the end, a low pick for me.
so-soFinished this month‘s #TBRtarot right in the nick of time. This new Kuang satire? inspired by Dante‘s Inferno focuses on the perils of academia. Two students go into hell to save their professor but must go through every level. I wanted to care more about the characters but it was hard to get into. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well. This makes the trip to Costco worth it!
How exciting
Who had "3" in the sweepstake for how many copies of Katabasis would turn up unannounced? ??♀️??♀️
First, let me just say this book is really pretty. Gorgeous edition.
It‘s also really good. Kuang is a fantastic writer & 70 pages in, this is great…except for one thing that is really annoying. She borrowed the name of an object from another really well-known IP for something in her book & it is hugely distracting, pulls me out of the story distracting. It‘s not quite as bad as having the characters armed with lightsabers but it‘s close. Sigh.
pick#audiobook because my pre-order hasn't arrived yet
Loved the story, the characters, the writing! I'm in awe at all the research that went into this book.
panThanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advance review copy. While the beginning is slow, once the main character leaves her pretentious, hallowed walls of learning, Cambridge, the plot becomes more interesting. Barely. The satire regarding academia is cutting. This could have been an engaging fantasy novel. Instead, I spent much of the book admiring the author‘s literary knowledge and not much else.
I'm going to hell. So excited for this one!
It arrived. I'm going to hell
I've gone from pretty interested to read this, to can't wait to read this. I'm very excited. And now I know how to pronounce it. Bonus.
So nice to see you and C at this @TrishB
Even during a parade, I find time to read! 🤣📚
This past weekend was Founder's Festival in my town! 💕 Which means I got to be in the parade with the library! It was so much fun and definitely one of my favorite days of the year!
I read a lot of great books in March but Katabasis came out on top #ReadingBracket2025 #BookaBracket2025 @CSeydel
pickR. F. Kuang's done it again! She sure does know how to craft an unputdownable book. I will say, this is very much a book for and of writers and academia. I think lots of other people will like it regardless, but it's set in academia and clearly heavily influenced by Kuang's experiences with it. But a trip to hell to save your abusive advisor? Now come on, that's a premise! TWs hidden in a comment below.
