Katabasis

Who knew a trip to the underworld could be so much fun? Not for the characters, but for me reading this. I enjoyed Katabasis so much. I don't read much fantasy so I only bought this because Yellowface is so fantastic I wanted to read something else by R. F. Kuang. The worldbuilding in this alternative history where magick is an academic discipline like other sciences and Dante, Orpheus, etc. provide actual literal reports about journeys to hell is great in this it just works seamlessly in the background so you focus on the complex characters and their struggles (mentally, magically, with each other and trying to survive hell).

The metaphysics of hell are surprising and make this feel more like a thrilling adventure narrative than you might think when you first hear "book about burned-out grad student going to hell." Have to read more of her books! Oh and because I keep mentioning this lately, I think the word count is like 160k, and I wouldn't want it any shorter.