Katabasis A novel

Alice Law is overcaffeinated, exhausted, and emotionally wrecked. But it's all worth it. Once dissertation advisor Jacob Grimes gives her his recommendation, she'll be well on her way to being one of the best academics in Magick. But then, he explodes. And it might be her fault. So she has only one option: go on down to Hell and retrieve him. Unfortunately, Peter Murdoch, her rival and former friend, has come to the same conclusion, and so the man who always seems to float through the world she has to claw through follows her into Hell. But as the two of them confront panicked shades, impossible choices, and bone-clacking monsters, their trust in each other (or lack of) will decide whether they survive. Kuang revisits dark academia (as she did in the award-winning, best-selling Babel, 2022), this time combining a Magick rooted in paradox with witty world building to give readers a simultaneous satire of and love letter to academia. At turns hilarious and sobering, Katabasis explores the hells we create for ourselves, as Peter and Alice consider the delusions they wrap themselves in and the sacrifices they've made to get this far. Witty, propulsive, feral, and clever. HIGH-DEMAND BACK STORY: After Kuang's Babel (2022) and Yellowface (2023) both became instant best-sellers, Katabasis will be in tremendous demand from fantasy and general readers alike.