{"product_id":"katabasis-1","title":"Katabasis","description":"\u003cp\u003eby R.F. Kuang\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHarper Perennial\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e6\/2\/2026, paperback\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSKU: 9780063021488\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDante's \u003cem\u003eInferno\u003c\/em\u003e meets Susanna Clarke's \u003cem\u003ePiranesi \u003c\/em\u003ein this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003ebestselling author of \u003cem\u003eBabel \u003c\/em\u003eand\u003cem\u003e Yellowface, \u003c\/em\u003ein which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor's soul--perhaps at the cost of their own. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKatabasis, noun, Ancient Greek: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe story of a hero's descent to the underworld\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality: her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGrimes is now in Hell, and she's going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams....\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the very same conclusion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith nothing but the tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them, enough chalk to draw the Pentagrams necessary for their spells, and the burning desire to make all the academic trauma mean anything, they set off across Hell to save a man they don't even like.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut Hell is not like the storybooks say, Magick isn't always the answer, and there's something in Alice and Peter's past that could forge them into the perfect allies...or lead to their doom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReviews:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Rich with allusion and illusion, Kuang crafts a witty, gory, harrowing ride that thoroughly roasts the perils and power structures of academia, while never losing sight of what it means to have a fragile, human heart.\" -- \u003c\/span\u003e#1 \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling author, Leigh Bardugo\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is a tightly constructed novel that aims a clear lens on academia, with both its faults and its virtues. The heady draw of discovery is ever-present, even if what Alice is discovering is Hell. A learned, literary manifesto on academia--and its darkness.\" -- \u003cem\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\"There can be no other explanation: Kuang is a wizard. Each character, each sentence, each chapter of \u003cem\u003eKatabasis\u003c\/em\u003e is like an exquisitely crafted incantation that only Kuang herself could have cast. I was ensorcelled from page one, and once I started reading it I found myself unable to think about anything else until long after I turned the final page. That's when I realized that Kuang had me right where she wanted me all along: Completely spellbound... and loving every minute of it.\" -- John Joseph Adams, series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRebecca F. Kuang\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the #1 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and #1 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/babel-or-the-necessity-of-violence-an-arcane-history-of-the-oxford-translators-revolution-1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eBabel: An Arcane History\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eYellowface\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Burning Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52437956886811,"sku":"Katabasis Standard","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0466\/5121\/files\/9780063021488.jpg?v=1782935160","url":"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/katabasis-1","provider":"Burning Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}