R.F. Kuang is a master and though Katabasis was both what I was expecting and also not...I'm in awe of her craft. I laughed. I cried (multiple times). I can't wait to reread it (which I will be doing immediately upon publication). Now onto the nitty gritty...

Important context for this book: it takes place in the 1980s. I haven't really seen this discussed anywhere, but this is a crucial expectation to set for the vibes of this book. A book set in the 1980s borders on historical (which pains me to say as someone born in the 80s bc does that mean I'm also historical? *cries*). I digress...

Similar to Babel, we enter the hallowed academic world (this time at Cambridge) slightly altered by the existence & study of magick (yes spelled with a k - please Rebecca explain why you made this choice? I trust she has good reason). While magick is seemingly widely known to exist in the world, we are still otherwise culturally similar to life in the 1980s and more importantly in academia.

Overall story/plot: two phD students travel to hell to save their professor because without him their careers as students at Cambridge (and in magick academia) are over. The simple tagline-type premise describes literally what this book is about, but a lot of the book happens in flashbacks to Alice and Peter's time at Cambridge leading up to the events that sent their professor to hell. While there are trials and tribulations to be had in hell, in all honestly this book uses hell as a metaphor to draw comparison to a lot of things (discussed further down). It's still a harrowing journey, but so have been their careers as students. What happens in hell is really only a portion of what this story is really about.

Preparation: I've seen discourse around whether certain texts (namely Dante's Inferno, The Aneid, The Odyssey etc) are necessary to read before this. While I did read Inferno in advance, and also have basic working knowledge of Greek mythology - I certainly did not have familiarity with all the referenced texts. I think the references made are explained well enough that no preparation is necessary. I did enjoy the jabs she took at Dante, and having a general idea of Greek mythology is helpful as a general fantasy reader bc it inspires so much. There's lots of literary references throughout this book (the main characters are named Alice and Peter!).

The love story: this is NOT a romance forward book. One should not read this book for the romance as there is SO MUCH else going on. I'll actually scream if I hear anyone call this romantasy. If you are a long time fan of Kuang's books you'll know that she notoriously has only ever given us crumbs of a romance before, and often has us reading subtext to hold together our hopes and dreams of characters being together. Katabasis is the most blatant love story she's written, and the 'romance' connecting our two main characters only enhanced the (incredible) character development. To me it's a bonus plotline. That being said, Kuang was able to write some incredible interactions and I was definitely kicking my feet at some parts. I enjoyed the way she built the romance and how it weaves into the overall story.

The magic system: was really cool! Combining logic problems with geometry and pentagrams. As someone who is not math-brained I was a bit nervous knowing that she had studied these things in preparation for writing this book. But again, everything is explained in a clear and interesting way. My tiny not math-inclined brain was fine, it mostly focuses on logic problems. If you don't like to learn new things, honestly Rebeca's books just aren't for you. I personally love the way she weaves historical facts and knowledge into the story.
I also really loved how different culture's depictions of hell/mythology are weaved into the journey through hell. It's not just the Christian-typical Hell. Again, teaching us beyond what the average person might know.

Writing style/themes/etc: especially compared to Babel, her writing style is much more casual and humorous at parts. We really jump right into the action and humor in the first half, but absolutely there's heavy topics covered here as the character's pasts unfold. While there are for sure denser areas where she's explaining logic etc, the style of writing is easy to read.

At it's core Katabasis is about the lengths to which academic students will go in order to get ahead in the grueling, competitive and downright abusive higher education system. Kuang is not new to the dark academia subgenre, and I personally don't think anyone else is writing criticisms of academia like her. Those who are part of academia will surely relate to the relentless obstacles, bureaucracy, and utter exhaustion required of students to "succeed." 

And if you're not an academic (I'm not) but rather are just a woman, or particularly a woman of color, trying to excel in any male dominated field. Yup THIS ONE IS FOR YOU.

Kuang's character work here is her best yet. Alice is by NO means a likable character. Writing morally gray/unlikable characters is also not a new vein for Kuang, but what she's able to do here with Alice's character development is a masterpiece. Alice is a deeply complex and flawed character, yet still human and relatable in so many ways. 

Katabasis is a story about depression. About the dual edged sword of being a woman. About contradictions. About power. What it means to have a physical body. About the will to live and keep going despite all the obstacles set before you.


Thank you SO MUCH to the publisher Harper Voyager for this arc.