Reviews round-up
Katabasis
by R. F. Kuang
1 of 3 critics positive
4 reviews: 1 positive, 1 mixed, 1 pan; 1 not stating a verdict in public
What the critics said
Positive
Read the review ↗“a very smart descent into academic hell”
Review: R.F. Kuang’s ‘Katabasis’ is a very smart descent into academic hell
Mixed
Read the review ↗“far from perfect, but this journey into the underworld is delivered with heretical glee”
Katabasis by RF Kuang review – a descent into the hellscape of academia
Pan
Read the review ↗“struggles to satirise chronic illness and pain”
RF Kuang’s descent into the abyss
Verdict not stated
Read the review ↗In ‘Katabasis,’ R.F. Kuang Takes Readers to Hell (Published 2025)
Verdicts are read from each outlet's own headline and summary; quotes are their words, credited and linked. Where a paywalled summary does not give the critic's view, we say so rather than guess. How it works.
