Book Review of Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang: What If Graduate School Literally Sent You to Hell?

There are plenty of jokes about academia being hell.

R.F. Kuang apparently looked at that metaphor and thought: Okay, but what if it actually was?

Katabasis is a dark academia fantasy following two Cambridge graduate students who descend into Hell to retrieve the soul of their dead professor.

And yes, one of their primary motivations is that they still need him for their academic careers.

That probably tells you everything you need to know about the tone of this book.

What is Katabasis about?

Alice Law has sacrificed nearly everything to become one of the best scholars in the field of Magick.

Her health.

Her relationships.

Her sanity.

All of it has been in service of studying under the brilliant Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge.

Unfortunately, Grimes dies in a magical accident that Alice may have caused.

Which creates a problem.

His soul is now in Hell—and Alice still needs his recommendation.

So she decides to go get him.

The situation becomes even more complicated when her academic rival Peter Murdoch arrives at exactly the same conclusion.

Now two people who can barely tolerate each other have to descend into the underworld together and somehow retrieve the soul of a professor neither of them particularly likes.

Academia!

Dark academia taken literally

The premise is wonderfully absurd, but underneath it is a very recognizable criticism of academic culture.

Alice has convinced herself that all of her suffering will eventually be worthwhile.

If she succeeds.

If she earns the right position.

If Grimes approves of her.

If she gets the recommendation.

If all those years of sacrifice finally mean something.

That makes the literal descent into Hell almost too perfect.

How far are you willing to go for the institution you’ve built your identity around?

Alice and Peter

The relationship between Alice and Peter gives the story much of its tension.

They’re rivals.

They’ve competed for recognition from the same professor.

And both have their own complicated history with the academic system they’re trying desperately to succeed within.

Forcing them together on a journey through Hell means the rivalry can’t remain purely academic for very long.

The result mixes adventure with questions about ambition, power, exploitation, intellectual obsession, and what happens when your mentor may not deserve the pedestal you’ve placed him on.

This is a very R.F. Kuang book

If you’ve read Babel or Yellowface, you already know Kuang likes using genre to dig into institutions and the people trying to succeed inside them.

Katabasis does the same thing with academia.

There’s magic and mythology, but there are also philosophical arguments, scholarly rivalries, academic politics, and people who have spent far too much time convincing themselves their suffering is intellectually meaningful.

Some readers will love the density.

Others may wish Alice and Peter would stop discussing things and just keep walking through Hell.

Both reactions seem entirely reasonable.

Final thoughts

The premise alone sold me:

Two graduate students go to Hell because they still need a recommendation letter from their dead professor.

It’s funny until you realize how seriously both characters take that motivation.

And that’s really where Katabasis gets interesting.

Underneath the magic and mythology is a story about ambition and the institutions that teach people to sacrifice themselves in exchange for the promise that someday it will all have been worth it.

Dark academia doesn’t get much darker than literally going to Hell.