Katabasis

Preview

Failed to add items

Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.

Add to basket failed.

Please try again later

Add to wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Remove from wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Adding to library failed

Please try again

Follow podcast failed

Unfollow podcast failed

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.

Try for £0.00

More purchase options

Katabasis

By: R.F. Kuang

Narrated by: Morag Sims, Will Watt

Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £22.67

Prepare for one hell of a journey…

'A big, bold fantasy romp' GUARDIAN

'R.F. Kuang is making magic' ELLE

'[A] truly original and spellbinding hero's-journey story' VOGUE

' I devoured it' RED

One of the BBC's 25 best books of 2025

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?

2025’s most unexpected love story is going to be hell in the new No.1 Sunday Times bestselling novel by R.F. Kuang.

'Literary super-stardom doesn't seem too far out of her reach' THE HERALD

‘Mind-bending fantasy’ GRAZIA

R.F. KuangMorag SimsWill WattHarperVoyager

Action & Adventure

Asian Creators

Dark Fantasy

Editors Select

Epic

Fantasy

Witty

Action & Adventure Asian Creators Dark Fantasy Editors Select Epic Fantasy Witty

Editorial Review

A descent I longed to stay in

R.F. Kuang has been an auto-download for me ever since The Poppy War trilogy broke my little soul, so I knew Katabasis would hit hard. But I didn’t expect it to stay with me like this. A dark, cerebral descent into the underworld, the story is layered with mythology, philosophy, and academic tension so sharp it hurts in the best way. Alice Law accidentally kills her mentor in a magical mishap and will do anything to bring him back, including venturing into literal Hell. Unfortunately for her, Peter Murdoch—her academic rival and former crush—is on the same path. What follows is a spellbinding blend of dark academia, mythic horror, and enemies-to-lovers romance in which every level of suffering mirrors the sins they are trying to outrun. Narrators Morag Sims and Will Watt deliver powerful performances that amplify the stakes and intimacy. Intense, brilliant, and emotionally consuming, Katabasis has easily become one of my favorite listens of the year.—Patty R., Audible Editor

Critic reviews

‘It’s Dante’s Inferno meets The Secret History and it’s at the top of our read-next pile’ Elle

'A novel to savour … I envy those who get to read it for the first time' Rebecca Ross

'A witty, gory, harrowing ride' Leigh Bardugo

'A formidable, timeless work, destined to be a modern classic' Olivie Blake

‘A sprawling, erudite tale of magic … teeming with intelligence, ideas and humour’ Marie Claire

'The unrolling of a daring concept' Daily Mail

'An arresting and deeply affecting novel' SFX

' A rich novel of romance, history and magic’ iPaper

'An immersive, worldbuilding adventure … I devoured it' Red

'Profound … Linger[s] on the mind' New Statesmen

'Bitingly funny dark academia' Arts Hub

KATABASIS IS A RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB SUMMER SELECTION, ELLE'S BOOK OF THE MONTH, AND INCLUDED IN THE GUARDIAN'S ROUND-UP OF MOST ANTICIPATED 2025 FICTION.

BABEL WAS A BRITISH BOOK OF THE YEAR, BLACKWELL’S BOOK OF THE YEAR, A WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR FINALIST AND THE DAILY MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2022

Most relevant

As someone who toiled through a doctorate and was also at Cambridge, a lot of this was close to home. It captures the desperation for recent students trying to start out in academia and how easily the isolated, pressured and anachronistic culture of academic institutions can give rise to very dysfunctional working relationships and power dynamics. I appreciated Kuang’s references to the American protagonist needing to adapt to British culture, e.g. by learning that we say ‘maths’ not ‘math’. I was therefore surprised how many differences she missed though. Kuang herself did an MPhil at Cambridge, I believe. While that’s not a full doctorate, I would have thought she’d know that we have “supervisors”, not “advisors”, and that British doctorates are funded for 3 years not the American 5 years plus. These are minor quibbles. Comparing ‘analytic magic’ to analytic philosophy was very entertaining. I just feel like her editor was asleep at the wheel. The first half of the book is painfully slow. Hell, as described, is very derivative of every other fantasy depiction out there. This wouldn’t matter if the plot had pace, but instead it takes ages for the character flashbacks to unpack enough context for you to give a hoot about the main characters and their goal. If key character cruxes were introduced earlier, and if we lost 25% of the length, it would be a good book.