Katabasis

‘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’ Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author

‘A spellbinding and poignant story that had me riveted to the pages, R.F. Kuang’s KATABASIS is more than a novel to savor. This book is an experience. I envy those who get to read it for the first time’ Rebecca Ross, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals

‘This is a book of ideas, and as such, Kuang’s creativity shines, her vehicle for story a prose that’s smooth as butter. Katabasis is a formidable, timeless work, destined to be a modern classic’ Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six

‘This journey to the underworld is delivered with heretical glee’ Guardian

‘Kuang’s latest is a sprawling, erudite tale of magic set in Dante’s Inferno-esque underworld, teeming with intelligence, ideas and humour’ Marie Claire

‘Mind-bending fantasy’ Grazia

‘It’s Dante’s Inferno meets The Secret History and it’s at the top of our read-next pile’ Elle

‘The unrolling of a daring concept’ Daily Mail

‘An arresting and deeply affecting novel’ SFX

‘A rich novel of romance, history and magic’ i Paper

Katabasis is a Radio 2 Book Club Summer Selection, Elle’s Book of the Month, and included in the Guardian’s round-up of most anticipated 2025 fiction.

Praise for Babel:

‘Absolutely phenomenal’ Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of THE EMPIRE OF GOLD

‘A monumental achievement’ Samantha Shannon, bestselling author of THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE

‘A masterpiece’ Rebecca Roanhorse, bestselling author of BLACK SUN

BABEL WAS A BRITISH BOOK OF THE YEAR, BLACKWELL’S BOOK OF THE YEAR, A WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR FINALIST AND THE DAILY MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2022

Rebecca F. Kuang is a Marshall Scholar, Chinese-English translator, and the Astounding Award-winning and the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award nominated author of the Poppy War trilogy and Babel. Her work has won the Crawford Award and the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel. 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.