Katabasis by R.F. Kuang is a philosophical fantasy that explores the concept of hell. Hell is not fire and brimstone. In Katabasis, hell is gray and smoky. This is a thinking man’s hell, you will not be tortured with labor or a task, you will be tortured with self judgement meant to reflect on your life and the choices you made. Hell is primarily influenced by Dante’s Inferno, with a touch of Paradise Lost by John Milton added. Katabasis is a novel made to make you think and self reflect. The word choices and the indeterminate time setting make this story read like a classic. This is a novel that will divide some, reminding them of the classic novel in school they were forced to read, while others will crave every philosophical challenge and discussion. The power of Kuang’s writing makes deep philosophical discussions make sense for the most part. I don’t know if Katabasis will make you smarter, but I feel a little bit. Katabasis is a little challenging. I know I was intimidated going in. The story is a work of literature in the genre of fantasy. I feel like there was a little controversy on Katabasis being in the fantasy category, but I feel it has the structure of a fantasy. It is a scholarly novel combining magic and dark academia in a classic setting. The book for me was Dante’s Inferno meets Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland with a little bit of Spirited Away thrown in. The plot is of two grad students worried about their future after their professor/advisor dies. Decides to go to hell to rescue him. That plot is the driving force of the novel, but this book has some twists and turns. The pace of the novel is up and down almost the whole way through. Something exciting will happen, then the characters have a 10-20 page philosophical discussion. I think a hundred pages could have been cut from this book in philosophical discussions alone. But some people will cling to those discussions. I feel like this is a good book that I can clap myself on the back for having read it, but I don’t want to read it again. Katabasis was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award in Fantasy for 2025. Katabasis by R.F. Kuang was first published on August 26, 2025, by Harper Voyager.

Why did I read Katabasis by R.F. Kuang? I loved Yellowface by R.F. Kuang so much. Yellowface was my book of the year in 2024. I loved the writing and looking at all the angles of an issue. I loved the questions she asked me as a reader of the text. I want to read more from Kuang in the future.

Plot Summary: Alice has spent days researching a way into hell to save Professor Grimes. She is all set up to take the journey when Peter, her rival and main competition, stops her. He stops her because he wants to return to their professor. Peter and Alice make the journey to hell. They don’t see their professor, so they need to go through the 7 layers of hell. The seven levels are very similar to the seven deadly sins. The first level is pride, followed by desire. The deeper they go into hell, the more they bond and work together. They find out they are not the only people who are alive in hell, and the others are to be feared. Their road to hell is paved with good intentions. But the road out will be harder. 

What I Liked: The writing is good. Kuang is very talented in explaining complex philosophy to a layman. I still think a good portion of the philosophical talk could have been reduced, but I do have a better appreciation of it. The magic system, being based on logic, was very interesting. I could have had more magic talk. I love the idea of the magic creation of paradoxes. With the paradoxes the user creates based on logic. The stronger the logic, the more powerful the spell is. I did love Yellowface and the discussions that book led to, since it looks at it from all sides. Katabasis has two great chapters, 20 and 22, that analyze abuse of power so freaking well. I got excited reading it. I thought Kuang was going to give me that feeling for the rest of the book, but it was not enough.  After these two chapters, I did enjoy the lead characters a lot more. I did enjoy the scenes with the villains of the story, the other people that are alive in hell. They were scary and had a good character arc. I did enjoy the small, magical text chapters that explained chalk and paradoxes. I think there were only 3-4, and they were great, and I could have had more. I loved the characters of Elpeth and Gradus. When they had philosophical discussions, it worked for some reason. I wish they were in the book more. I did enjoy the bone creatures. The battle toward the end was awesome.

What I Disliked: Too many long philosophical debates. Some were good and not too long. But others were a little bit of torture. The ending was way too long. There’s a great battle scene towards the end that I really enjoyed. I thought, okay, now we can wrap it up. But there’s still 60 pages left. I predicted the entire ending, and it did not need 60 pages, maybe 25-30 pages. I thought the book over-explained some of the emotional scenes. This is a very smart book that doesn’t hold your hand when it is deep in philosophical ideas, but this emotional scene at the end tells you why this character changed instead of thinking the audience is smart enough to notice the change. If we didn’t notice you changed when you almost killed someone in the last battle, you have a problem. The book could have easily cut 100 pages. The book is 567 pages and would have been a solid 450 pages. The beginning felt a little episodic, but once Elpeth enters, it stops being episodic.

Recommendation: Katabasis by R.F. Kuang is a divisive book, which I think is perfect for book clubs. There’s a lot to discuss, both good and bad. I think if you are in grad school, you will get a lot out of this book. I know that world a little bit through my dad, and I got some of the inside jokes. R.F. Kuang is a grad student and wrote what she knew. People who are really into philosophy, there’s a lot to sink your teeth into. I recommend you give Katabasis a try. I think you will find out very fast if this is a book for you or not. I felt the best parts of the book were in the middle, sadly. I will not fault anybody for DNFing this book. It is a lot, and it can feel long at times.

Rating: Katabasis by R.F. Kuang. I rated 3.5 out of 5. I bounced back and forth between a 3.5 and a 4. So it is more of a 3.7.