【 KATABASIS 】

Genre: Fantasy (low)
Audience: New Adult
Author: R.F. Kuang
Published: August 2025
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 550 (paperback)

I think I need to officially take a break (give up on?) reading Kuang books. Everything sounds so promising, and yet everything is overcomplicated and underdone. I am disappointed.

Nothing grinds my gears more than an author who guns hard for shock factor by introducing problematic themes, elements and plot devices with no content warnings or effort to comprehend the complexities of those problems with the reader and aim for a resolution. Grrr.

When I first finished this book, I was plain mad, but willing to convince myself I liked this more than I did. But I stewed on it for some time and realised that I was clinging onto the hope of what the premise promised and in denial of what was actually delivered.

There are some great reviews out there for this, and there are some absolutely scathing reviews. I lean more towards the latter. There is too much that is unresolved, problematic and just disappointing in this book for me to have had a good time. And there are people far more articulate than me able to convey these points, but I’ll try to summarise in a non-spoilery fashion.

Eating disorders are absolutely present and borderline glorified. That’s definitely problem number one. We ain’t living in a world where that’s something that an influential writer can throw into the pot without dissecting and understanding. So no, Alice, you ability to go without food is not a superpower but something you should talk to someone about.

Angry feminism. Big nope. I know this is set in a somewhat illusive period, but one that suggests post-war and not super modern, but jesus it would’ve been nice to not pitch every woman against each other. The whole plot and personality of Alice was steeped in the angst of women seeing each other as threats and being so ready to take them down. Not a vibe. Not needed in fiction. And while you could say books are a vehicle for exploring complex issues like this, Kuang doesn’t examine or resolve this, and so by that virtue it’s just a slap in the face.

I don’t even know what to label the relationship between Alice and Professor Grimes but 1000% ick vibes, and a concerning level of abuse (in nearly every sense) is present in an uncomfortable way. Once again, this isn’t examined nor pulled apart by Kuang – it just sits there like a bad smell in the book. I’m so disappointed by that. Like how is the contemplation of this toxic relationship not the actual focus of this book in a way that results in any degree of character growth for Alice? How did it leave her as such an unlikeable character when it should’ve been fuel for the reader for loving and supporting her?

There was a lot of potential for this is be a breathtakingly brilliant reimagining of Hell. I thought it would be exciting and awful (in a good way) to see what a great mind like Kuang could conjure up when two desperate students voyage into Hell to retrieve their professor’s soul. I thought this was so exciting – the selfish purpose of needing to go on such a dangerous adventure in order to secure your own success, just brilliant.

And yet it fell down at every hurdle. I have to give this two stars because the world that is created within these pages is very fun to explore. The scaffolding is there and is awe-inspiring. But the plot lost its legs so fast and left us wondering what the hell went wrong.

And the ending sucked. I don’t want to spoil anyone who’s reading this because they’re on the fence, so all I will say is that this is firmly in my bucket of books-whose-ending-was-a-total-pushover.

Title: Katabasis
Author: R.F. Kuang
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Two graduate students must set aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul, perhaps at the cost of their own.

Alice Law has only ever had one to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality—her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world—that is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.

Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands, and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the same conclusion.