Katabasis

Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek. The story of a hero's descent to the underworld.

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?

Review

'Rich with allusion and illusion, Kuang crafts a witty, gory, harrowing ride that thoroughly roasts the perils and power structures of academia, while never losing sight of what it means to have a fragile, human heart' Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author

'A spellbinding and poignant story that had me riveted to the pages, R.F. Kuang’s KATABASIS is more than a novel to savor. This book is an experience. I envy those who get to read it for the first time' Rebecca Ross, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals

'This is a book of ideas, and as such, Kuang’s creativity shines, her vehicle for story a prose that’s smooth as butter. Katabasis is a formidable, timeless work, destined to be a modern classic' Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six

'This journey to the underworld is delivered with heretical glee' Guardian

About the Author

Rebecca F. Kuang is a Marshall Scholar, Chinese-English translator, and the Astounding Award-winning and the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award nominated author of the Poppy War trilogy and the forthcoming Babel. Her work has won the Crawford Award and the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel. She has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford; she is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale.