Book Journal Portfolio Project

Katabasis

R.F. Kuang

Cover Art for Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

Something about this book didn’t quite hit for me, despite being nearly perfectly tailored to me as a person. This is a book about one woman’s inner journey coping with the abuses of academia through the lens of a journey through hell to resurrect her thesis advisor, who died very suddenly. Alice Law is an Analytical Magician, meaning she studies Magick through a linguistics perspective and her partner in the journey to hell is Peter, a Logician-Magician who shares the same late thesis advisor.

I think this book spoke to some very true feelings about being a woman in academia (in this case, Cambridge) and the world-building was well done. This is more of a character-heavy book than I initially thought I was getting into, so maybe that’s the reason for the disconnect I feel.