Katabasis is made for academia lovers, but not for love-birds.
Best-selling fantasy author R.F. Kuang returns with Katabasis, a darkly academic epic in the vein of her hit novel, Babel. This time, the story follows Alice and Peter—academic rivals and “magick” students at Cambridge—on a perilous journey to Hell to recover their advisor’s soul (and, crucially, their recommendation letters). Along the way, romance simmers, but whether they end up kissing or killing each other is anyone’s guess.
If this romance aspect is enticing, don’t fall for it. While Alice and Peter had a lot in common, their romantic relationship didn’t feel very believable.
Through the premise of Alice and Peter’s competitive relationship, Katabasis teases a compelling slow burn that eventually falls flat, lacking subtlety. Despite elements of romance, the story is at its core an entertaining fantasy that satirizes academia. Katabasis is the first explicitly romantic novel that Kuang’s written, yet, romance is the element of the story that feels the least developed.
Where Kuang’s earlier fantasies leaned on the“found family” trope—mutual support Katabasis marks her first foray into overt romance. Yet the love story lacks the depth of her previous relational dynamics, with the novel’s strongest moments instead rooted in its sharp portrayal of academia.
In Katabasis, Hell takes a different form for each character; for Alice and Peter, it appears as a university campus of ivy-clad towers reminiscent of Queen’s. From students reserving study rooms in Hell just to cry, to pompous scholars who refuse submissions unless they’re self-cited, Kuang cleverly satirizes the vanity and pretension of academic culture.
However, Katabasis can’t seem to decide who it wants to be. On the one hand, Kuang’s portrayal of Hell is engrossing and creative—with walls made of bone, rivers that make you forget who you are, and dungeons of drugs and sex. Meanwhile, the romance between Peter and Alice feels stale, leaning on tired BookTok tropes—like the clichéd one-bed scenario in Hell without offering anything new.
Though undeniably popular, the trope feels like low-hanging fruit for an author who, before Katabasis, crafted ambiguous, cursed love affairs with far greater complexity. Here, the romance is too straightforward, missing the slow-burn anguish that once made her relationships so haunting.
No, Katabasis isn’t perfect. But it’s a perfect companion for the return to academic life—reading it between rushed classes and endless readings makes Kuang feel like a scholarly older sister who understands.
The book is many things, just not your swoon-worthy next lovey-dovey read for the shelf, despite what its marketing may say.
Tags
Book review, BookTok, enemies to lovers, Fantasy, Katabasis, Literature, R.F. Kuang, romance
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