Katabasis

A Novel

De: R. F. Kuang

Narrado por: Morag Sims, Will Watt

Dante’s Inferno meets Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul—perhaps at the cost of their own.

Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek:

The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld

Alice Law has only ever had one goal: 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 very same conclusion.

With nothing but the tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them, enough chalk to draw the Pentagrams necessary for their spells, and the burning desire to make all the academic trauma mean anything, they set off across Hell to save a man they don’t even like.

But Hell is not like the storybooks say, Magick isn’t always the answer, and there’s something in Alice and Peter’s past that could forge them into the perfect allies…or lead to their doom.

Finish it.

The first half of the book I hated the characters, felt stupid and single minded but I’m glad I pushed through. There is real character development here. I was drawn towards this book because review comparing it to Piranesi. This is an unfair comparison. Piranesi made the bland horrifying and this book makes hell bland and boring but the characters are the highlight. At first I could find nothing to like about either and that’s half the point. We’re human we make mistakes at every turn and the author highlights this like I’ve never read before. These mistakes shape the person, molding them in a way that highlights the depth of an individual. Worth the read.

Character

Kuang did such an amazing job of making the main character real. I liked, sympathized, was aghast at, hated, disliked, was disgusted with, then grudgingly sympathized again, pitied, was impressed with, back on board and filled with her resolve, fiercely cheering for her, and basically I am loving how the book took me on this crazy journey. Audio was nice, but this book is well beyond the worth of physical manifestation and a nice cup of tea pairs nicely.

Hysterically Good

This is the most realistic depiction of graduate school I've ever seen or read, and that includes the magic.

Amazing Storytelling

I love when books weave together back story with the story's current events and I think it's really well done in Katabasis. The magic system is so interesting too.

A bit too long

Very slow at start then fast at the end, seemed to drag in middle. Dante lovers will enjoy