Katabasis

Title: Katabasis
Author: R.F. Kuang
Publisher: HarperVoyager, 2025
Format: Paperback
Language: English
ISBN-13: 9780008501877

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang is a dark fantasy novel about ambition, rivalry, and a dangerous descent into the underworld. The story follows Alice Law, a graduate student determined to become a leading mind in analytic magick, even when the person who can secure her future is dead and inconveniently trapped in Hell.

To retrieve him, Alice must journey into Hell with Peter Murdoch, her fiercest academic rival. Their mission forces them through a strange and treacherous underworld where philosophy, magic, survival, and personal ambition collide in unsettling ways.

The novel blends fantasy, academia, mythology, dark humour, and emotional tension, making it ideal for readers who enjoy intelligent speculative fiction with sharp characters and high-stakes conflict. Fans of R.F. Kuang’s Babel and Yellowface will find another bold, thought-provoking story built around power, knowledge, and obsession.