Katabasis
by R. F. Kuang
★ Top 5 book of 2025 · #2 on Best Books of 2025
Alice Law has given everything to succeed as a doctoral student in analytical magic at Cambridge, including her energy, time and mental health. The title refers to a hero's descent into the underworld.
Best for: Readers who like dark academia mixed with fantasy.
Katabasis is #20 on BookWard's Rising chart for October 2026: the hottest new books published in the past two years.
What Katabasis is about
Alice Law is a postgraduate student at Cambridge who practises a dangerous, archaic form of magick. When a spell goes wrong and kills her adviser, Professor Jacob Grimes, his spirit is sent to Hell. Alice decides to go after it, because she needs his letter of recommendation to save her academic future. Opening the way to the underworld costs her half of her remaining lifespan.
She does not go alone. Her rival Peter Murdoch, the department's favoured student, forces his way into the descent, and she resents every step of it. Along the way the pair meet other figures with their own agendas, including magicians hunting an object that can create a True Contradiction. The tone is dark, witty and intense, with ambition, rivalry, power and sacrifice at its centre. Reviews were mixed, with some critics finding it overlong and meandering.
Why Katabasis is on the Rising chart
Its Wikipedia page had 15,412 views last month. The Rising score blends six public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 against the other new books and weighted as shown.
| Signal | This book | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reader pace | 51 | 28% |
| Buzz | 77 | 24% |
| Growth | 8 | 18% |
| Being read right now | 64 | 12% |
| Reader love | 60 | 10% |
| Newness | 76 | 8% |
Holding strong Wikipedia attention is steady (within -20% to +25% of the two months before).
The numbers behind it
- Wikipedia: 15,412 page views last month, against an average of 18,152 in the two months before (down 15%). Read the article.
- Open Library readers: 44 want to read, 3 reading now, 5 have read it.
- Ratings: 4 out of 5 from 5 Open Library ratings.
Katabasis on the Rising chart: history
First on the chart this month. The history grows with every monthly update.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | #20 | 54 |
Katabasis on the Best Books of 2025
Katabasis came out in 2025. Of the 30 books first published in 2025 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #2 on our Best Books of 2025 list.
Why it made the list: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 17,239 views a month recently. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2025 list
- The Secret of Secrets Dan Brown, #1
- Atmosphere Taylor Jenkins Reid, #3
- Onyx Storm Rebecca Yarros, #4
See all Best Books of 2025 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2024.
Questions about Katabasis
Is Katabasis a new book?
Yes. Katabasis by R. F. Kuang was first published in 2025, and BookWard's Rising chart only includes books published in the past two years.
Why is Katabasis on the Rising chart?
Its Wikipedia page had 15,412 views last month.
More new books readers are finding
- Sunrise on the Reaping Suzanne Collins
- Onyx Storm Rebecca Yarros
- Alchemised SenLinYu
- The Knight and the Moth Rachel Gillig
Prefer proven favorites? See the Top 100, or all Rising books.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views. The description is paraphrased from real source text (Open Library or Wikipedia). A book is on the Rising chart only if it was published in 2025 or 2026 and its readers are active and its interest is not falling. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales. Read the full methodology.
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