A Dark Academia Fantasy of Hell, Ambition, and Self-Discovery
Katabasis is a 2025 fantasy novel by R.F. Kuang, known for The Poppy War, Babel, and Yellowface. The title refers to a descent into the underworld a classic mythic motif found in ancient epics like The Odyssey and Aeneid that symbolizes confronting inner and outer truths.
Alice Law, a brilliant but tormented postgraduate student of analytic magick, dedicates her life to impressing her mentor, Professor Jacob Grimes, whose recommendation is crucial to her future. After a deadly magical accident that kills Grimes, Alice decides to descend into Hell to retrieve his soul and secure her academic career.
Reluctantly joined by her rival Peter Murdoch, whose own ambitions mirror her own, Alice traverses the Eight Courts of Hell—each reflecting a different vice or facet of human suffering. Along the way they must survive demons, philosophical challenges, and their own psychological wounds, all while confronting the toxic realities of ambition, guilt, and academic life.
