R.F. Kuang’s novel Yellowface was fantastic. It was engaging, smart, and tackled big issues like race, intellectual property, honesty, revenge and cultural appropriation all while offering a scathing look at publishing.
It is also a novel I talk about often and recommend all the time: One of the most important things, I believe, a book can achieve is to move into your brain and stay there.
Katabasis, Kuang’s latest, is even better.
In this story, Alice Law studies at Cambridge under the tutelage of Professor Jacob Grimes, who is widely regarded as the greatest magician in the world. He’s also a trailblazing scholar. Grimes is known for his harsh, abusive nature but Alice has happily put up with his antics, volatile personality, and even bullying because she knows that her considerable talents and dedication will only take her so far — and a letter of recommendation from Grimes is the thing that will push her to wherever she wants to go. Unfortunately, Grimes dies in a magical accident at their lab, an accident that could be Alice’s fault.
Motivated more by selfishness than guilt, Alice does her research and prepares to journey to Hell to get Grimes and lock in that recommendation. But Alice wasn’t Grimes’ only understudy. Peter Murdoch, a young man with the kind of talent, wealth and reputation that ensure a comfortable future also worked with Grimes — and also decides to journey to Hell and find him.
