Published: August 2025
Pages: 559
Series: Standalone
Summary
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 same conclusion.
My thoughts
I think my review is going to be controversial and I say that as someone that was so incredibly excited to get this book. I had this on pre-order as soon as I could, I picked it up on release day and I got a free Katabasis t-shirt that is not my go to pyjamas (so comfy) and I cracked that spine and got reading as soon as I was home. But I was so disappointed.
“Meteorologically, Hell didn’t seem much worse than an English spring.”
Let’s start with what I loved. Babel was one of my top reads last year, I devoured that book, and in Katabasis we get more of Kuang’s brilliant writing. She knows her stuff. She has clearly researched incredibly thoroughly, her expertise and knowledge shines through. Her comprehension of very delicate and complex topics are conveyed in such an easy to digest way. I went into this book not knowing much about Hell and the sciences behind but I came out having learned a lot.
I also enjoyed the glimpse of mental health. Our characters have very strong emotions and Kuang captured them beautifully. The complexity of feelings and the downward spiral. Our characters deviate from self awareness to denial which in itself is a very realistic view (at least from my own experience). I felt it was handled with care and I’m sure you could look into many universities today and see glimpses of this.
“Now all that was gone. This was the unbelievable fact of death. This was a paradox her mind could not accept, that someone could be in the world one moment and simply be gone the next.”
I think the plot of this book is also something rather new, or at least new to me. There were concepts I hadn’t seen, decisions were made with characters/ environment which felt like a breath of fresh air. It’s always nice to read something a little different, it helps breaks things up.
But this was so different from the blurb that I felt I was misled. Reading the summary I was expecting a full on adventure into the depth of hell. That was to be the main focus, the main priority of these two students that were desperate for their dreams to come true. Sadly, this story line took a back burner to what this actually was – a romance. I don’t mind romance, I am not a romance hater, I love a sprinkle of romance amongst a heavier plot 100%. I don’t think this book was that. There were times I just completely forgot what is was they were doing because there is so much stuff on the romantic side. I found myself getting rather bored.
“I feel sometimes it is so difficult to be conscious.”
The characters are not entirely unlikable, I could relate to them on some ground and I understood their actions even if I didn’t necessarily agree. They offered different perspectives which is important. But I was so infuriated by their miscommunication I wanted to rip my hair out. Many things could have been solved with one conversation and that is what winds me up. Even on the journey they take together they didn’t think to just talk? Get things out in the open? Who knows, they’re in Hell, death is a real possibility but still they are so stubborn.
This book is filled with side characters that just felt bland. They were flat, created for a specific purpose and offered no depth or realness. There were some in particular which acted out of turn. Their behaviour just made no sense. Perhaps the fault lies with me and some of the messaging went over my head but my personal view is that these characters didnt get enough air time. We didn’t get enough to make them real, to understand them truly to where their actions made plausible sense. We are on the outside looking in through our main characters point of view so there is much we don’t get to see or touch.
“And if falling in love was discovery, was letting yourself be discovered the equivalent to being loved?”“
Would I recommend?
Yes and no. Even amongst the academic community I have seen such split reviews, either a love or hate. So I think it comes down to expectations. If you go in expecting a romance amongst the depths of Hell, with some great research backing it up and offering a semi-realistic view of academic life then I think you will really enjoy this. If you go in expecting an adventure with that being their sole purpose and mission, you may be disappointed as I was with this. I did like it but I didn’t love it and I don’t see myself picking it back up for a re-read.