Review: ‘Katabasis’ Could Be the Top Book of 2025

      August 27, 2025

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      We all have that one specific genre of books we can't resist devouring. Perhaps whenever you see "enemies-to-lovers" on a book cover, it’s an instant buy for you. Or your 2010s fixation on Twilight and The Vampire Diaries means vampire novels are always a must-read. For me, that genre is undoubtedly dark academia. Whether it’s due to post-college nostalgia or the lingering childhood fantasy of being Rory Gilmore, I can’t resist a campus novel filled with dark themes and a hint of magical realism; I’m all in every single time, particularly if it’s dark academia penned by one of my favorite authors, R.F. Kuang.

      I fell in love with Kuang's writing after reading Babel, and I've eagerly awaited the release of her latest book, Katabasis, since it was announced. When I discovered it featured academic rivals turned lovers, a chaotic journey to Hell, and, naturally, dark academia, I knew it would be perfect for me. After finishing Katabasis, I can confidently declare: this might be the best book of 2025.

      R.F. Kuang

      Dante’s Inferno meets Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy by R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, where two graduate students must set aside their rivalry and embark on a journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul—potentially at the expense of their own.

      What is Katabasis about?

      Alice Law has sacrificed everything in pursuit of becoming a leading scholar in the field of Magick. Her collaboration with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge was supposed to pave her way to a prized tenured position—the ultimate sign of success in Magick. However, after his accidental death—an event that may or may not be her fault—she’s determined not to graduate without a recommendation from him. This drives her to navigate Hell in search of him. Unfortunately, her rival and fellow Grimes advisee, Peter Murdoch, has the same plan.

      My review of Katabasis

      It reveals the harsh realities of academia

      When I first learned that this book followed two academics into Hell, I envisioned fiery landscapes, endless torture, and all the classic literary interpretations of the underworld. So, when I discovered that Hell was instead structured like a bureaucratic corporate office—where souls spend centuries drafting dissertations that will never be read and perform meaningless tasks without any hope of moving on—I was pleasantly surprised. Alice and Peter are just as taken aback to find that, in this narrative, Hell resembles a college campus.

      Many dark academia novels romanticize the academic world but fail to deliver on what the genre fundamentally aims to do: critique it. Katabasis doesn’t merely glorify late-night study sessions or portray academia as a realm of cable-knit sweaters, ivy-covered campuses, and cozy libraries filled with classics. It unveils the inaccessibility and toxicity of real-world education systems, where opportunities are reserved for a select few, and even among them, only those who are willing to make significant sacrifices graduate. We witness the characters’ obsession with accumulating knowledge at any cost, showing little concern for what they must sacrifice. The academics portrayed are indifferent to whom they trample over to advance; they disregard the inaccessibility of their world, the insatiable thirst for knowledge, and the fact that even if they somehow quench that thirst, they will have no one left to share it with.

      The characters are well-crafted and painfully relatable

      Other works that critique academia often immerse themselves so deeply in the theme that they cease to feel like escapist tales and instead read like textbooks. This leaves me feeling no more connection to the characters than to facts on a page. However, in Katabasis, R.F. Kuang successfully develops a complex magic system while also crafting fully realized characters. They don't come off as cold or distant, even though their world is both of those things, even when that’s the persona they project to others. Every action, even from the most reprehensible characters, rings true to their identities. No choice is made merely to drive the plot; every line of dialogue and every decision feels like what that character would authentically do.

      “Katabasis is unequivocally my favorite read of the year so far, and I’d be astonished if anything dethrones it in the upcoming months.”

      Alice is so young and insecure that she seeks validation in every sentence. She’s so eager for approval from her professors that she would literally journey into Hell to retrieve the worst man alive just to hear him say she’s doing well. We see how the