Katabasis
ISBN: 9780008501860
Description
Grad student Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become the brightest mind in the field of analytic magick. But the only person who can make her dream come true is dead and – inconveniently – in Hell. And Alice, along with her biggest rival Peter Murdoch, is going after him. But Hell is not as the philosophers claim, its rules are upside-down, and if she’s going to get out of there alive, she and Peter will have to work together. That’s if they can agree on anything. Will they triumph, or kill each other trying?
Reviewed on 14th September 2025
I was super prepped to really love this book, which ultimately meant I was disapointed when I realiased halfway through that I wasn't enjoying myself any where near as much as I had wanted.
This is the story of Alice, a Cambridge graduate student of magic. After having a very normal / entirely terrible time, she opts to go to hell to retreive the soul of her professor.
From here the story progresses slowly through various aspects of hell from a wide range of cultures. Which could be fascinating, except for the academic nature of the storytelling, which made me feel like it was being pretentious and condescending, and made me feel stupid for not having any of the knowledge that Alice seemed to have at her fingertips. I can't tell whether I'm meant to feel this way, or if I'm meant to reflect on the character because she is making me feel this way, or if this is just my own approach to learning not being met.
I found it slow and hard going. I felt like I was fighting through the narrative to find the story, and am still not sure whether this is satire or a damning exposé of the academic life. I can't tell who I'm meant to like, hate, or feel neutral towards (with some exception on the hate side). And I don't think I could really empathise with the main character. Obviously other readers' experiences will vary.
So for me this was a miss, but I can't expect everything that Kuang writes to be for me, and given I've enjoyed her previous works, I'll continue to look forward to what comes next.