Katabasis
core novel 2025 Katabasis
Record
| First published | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.71 (204,398 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780063442078 |
Synopsis
Katabasis, published by R.F. Kuang in 2025, follows Alice Law, a postgraduate student of arcane magic at Cambridge, whose renowned thesis advisor, Professor Jacob Grimes, is killed when a piece of magical research goes catastrophically wrong. Rather than lose the letter of recommendation she needs to secure her own academic future, Alice resolves to descend into Hell itself to retrieve Grimes's soul, opening a gateway that demands a steep price in exchange, half of her own remaining lifespan. Her plan is immediately complicated when Peter Murdoch, her resentful academic rival and the department's other favored student, forces his way into the descent alongside her. Bound together by necessity rather than trust, Alice and Peter must navigate the underworld's supernatural obstacles and rival practitioners of magic to find their advisor before either of them runs out of time.
Where it sits
- Universe: Katabasis
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: R.F. Kuang
Awards (verified)
- Nebula Award for Best Novel (Best Novel), 2025: finalist; Confirmed directly via nebulas.sfwa.org's own results page; the 2025 award went to Stephen Graham Jones's The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.
Sources
← Katabasis dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.