Academics – The Unseen Library

Publisher: Harper Voyager (Trade Paperback – 26 August 2025)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 549 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Acclaimed author R. F. Kuang produces one of the more distinctive and intelligent fantasy novels of 2025 with her elaborate and compelling Katabasis.

Rebecca Kuang, who mostly goes by R. F. Kuang, is a very interesting author who has been making a big impact on the fantasy scene in recent years. Known for her elaborate and dark fantasy novels that often feature strong Chinese inspiration, Kuang has written some intriguing novels over the years, including her bestselling Poppy War trilogy, as well as the standalone novels Babel (also released as Babel, or the Necessity of Violence), and her contemporary satirical novel Yellowface. I have been meaning to read something from Kuang for a while, especially after seeing a lot of love for her works online, so I made sure to seek out a copy of her 2025 release, Katabasis. An intricate read with some excellent academic twists, Katabasis was a compelling novel with a very unique plot.

Plot Synopsis:

Dante’s Inferno meets Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in 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.

Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek:

The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld

Alice 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.

That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.

Grimes 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….

Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the very same conclusion.

With 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.

But 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.

Katabasis was an outstanding novel from Kuang, who presents a highly academic and moving journey into the underworld. Featuring a very distinctive style, Katabasis was a thoughtful and intricate fantasy read with some outstanding character moments, which really draw you in with its drama and complexity.

Kuang envisions a compelling standalone narrative for Katabasis, which combines an intelligent adventure into the afterlife with some great character-driven story elements. Following protagonists Alice and Peter as they journey together into Hell to recover the soul of their recently deceased professor, Katabasis has a bit of a slow start to it, primarily due to the highly theoretical nature of this world’s magic system and the various ideas of Hell. Kuang is forced to explore a lot of this in the early part of the book, but it serves as an excellent basis for the rest of the novel, especially when combined with hints at the troubled relationship between Alice and Peter, as well as their own dark histories. Once the story gets going in earnest, it proves to be a lot more exciting, especially when exploring the different planes of Hell, and Kuang soon adds in some other dark threats that further imperil the protagonists.

The second half of Katabasis is particularly good, as the protagonists continue their journey down the various levels of Hell, now being hunted by murderous constructs and their sinister masters. Kuang really amps up the risk factor for this part of the book, and there are some great scenes here, including one that completely changes the trajectory of the narrative. At the same time, the author fully reveals the traumatic pasts of both protagonists, which really alters the way you see them and their motivations for undertaking this adventure. Following some dark tragedy and excellent searches for self-discovery amongst the other trapped souls in Hell, the big threat of the story is eventually resolved, and the goal of the protagonists is reached. Kuang does an excellent job wrapping the book up, with the final decision of the main protagonist serving as a great full-circle moment for the entire proceeding plot. I quite liked the hopeful note that the author left her fantastic novel on, which I felt was quite fitting and allowed the reader to come away very satisfied and moved.

I felt that Kuang utilised a very distinctive, and personal style for Katabasis, that really helped her to make the classic journey into Hell story her own. A powerful, character-driven book, Kuang brings together a great adventure narrative that is constantly enhanced by a range of academic elements and the author’s own complex magick system. There is a substantial dive into both the concept of Hell, and the study of the novel’s archaic magick, and Kuang cleverly dives into the deep detail of both as the book continues. Fans of Dante’s Inferno and other classic texts about Hell will love the constant references and comparisons that occur throughout the course of the story, and it was fun to see the differences between what the protagonists expect and what they experience. I felt that this mixture of homages and the author’s own imagination was very impressive, and the author went above and beyond to set up this setting and her magick system, including with several great maps of Hell that appear in the version of the book I got. I also felt that the author’s compelling dive into the torture that is advanced academia and the various pressures, lies and rivalries that formed was particularly gripping. Kuang clearly adds a lot of her own experiences with academia, especially in the elite British universities, into the protagonist’s past, and it gave a gritty bit of academic realism to the plot. It does need to be said that Kuang made her novel a little too complex at times, and there are a few sections which drag as the protagonist’s dive into obscure lore, elaborate equations, or complicated logic. Still, for the most part Katabasis was a well-written and addictive standalone read, that will really appeal to established fans of the author.

I think that another major highlight of Katabasis was the excellent character work that Kuang featured throughout the plot. Focused primarily on the main characters of Alice Law and Peter Mudoch, both protagonists are initially portrayed as brilliant and highly ambitious academics whose journey into Hell only seems to enhance their own rivalry. However, as the book continues, Kuang does a masterful job of diving deeper into their backstories and showcasing more of their pasts to give their current adventure and motivations more meaning. It turns out that both characters are a lot more damaged than you’d initially realised, due to their own experiences in academia, their interactions with their supervisor, and the crippling rivalry that has formed between them. The slow reveal of the full extent of their damage, which also includes both characters reevaluating previous information and conclusions they’ve made, is very impressive, and each revelation adds some greater emotional heft to the plot. Combine that with the gradual evolution and repair of the relationship between Alice and Peter as the book continues, and this was quite a powerful journey for the two protagonists, especially as they experience even more tragedy, betrayal and uncertainty in Hell.

While most of the book is focused on Alice and Peter, I do have to also highlight how well Kuang set up supporting character Professor Jacob Grimes in the Katabasis. Despite being dead and appearing mostly in flashbacks and the memories of the protagonists, Professor Grimes serves as an influential figure in the plot, primarily for the impact he had on his various students. Initially shown as a brilliant and supportive academic, the flashbacks shown throughout the course of Katabasis soon reveal a more malicious side to Grimes, which really changes your view of the protagonists’ journey to save him. Kuang’s slow burn reveal of all of Grimes’s flaws and manipulation was just perfect, and I loved how your perception of this shadowy figure the plot is chasing changes the more honest and open the protagonists become. The full extent of Grimes’s actions, and his students’ complicated feelings for him, is such a compelling part of the Katabasis’s plot, and I liked how well it’s tied into the larger problems with academia. I really do appreciate how well Kuang set up Professor Grimes as a dark supporting figure in this book, whose influence has major implications to the story, even if he only actually appears in the present adventure once. Throw in some other intriguing denizens of Hell, including a twisted family doing their own dark experiments on the dead in brutal fashion, and Kuang really showcased her ability to write complex and damaged characters in Katabasis.

Overall, Katabasis was a highly compelling and deeply intricate fantasy novel that was a distinctive highlight of the 2025 reading year. I certainly got the full experience of Kuang’s intriguing imagination with this elaborate book, and the resulting story was an interesting take on dark academic fantasy. Clever, moving and full of some unique features, Katabasis was an outstanding read that is really worth checking out.

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Esther's Children Cover

Publisher: Allen & Unwin Australia (Trade Paperback – 3 May 2022)

Series: Standalone

Length: 361 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Amazon Book Depository

Prepare to read about one of the more unique experiences of World War II with an excellent and moving historical drama, Esther’s Children by fantastic Australian author Caroline Beecham.

Plot Synopsis:

Inspired by the extraordinary life of Esther Simpson, Esther’s Children is a powerful novel of love and courage.

Austria, 1936: Esther ‘Tess’ Simpson works for a British organisation that rescues academics from the cruel Fascist and anti-Semitic regimes taking hold in Europe. On a dangerous trip to Vienna to help bring aid to Europe’s threatened Jewish scholars, Esther meets Harry Singer, a young Jewish academic and musician.

Tess works tirelessly to rescue at-risk academics and scientists from across Europe, trying to find positions for them in Britain and America. In 1938, she secures employment for Harry at Imperial College, London, their love affair intensifying as the world heads into war, yet they are separated once again as Britain moves to intern European refugees.

With Harry detained on the Isle of Man while still waiting for news of his parents, Esther and the Society plead with the government for the interned scientists’ release. When Harry is eventually liberated, his future with Esther is by no means secure as he faces an impossible choice.

Confronting the horrific dangers of World War Two with remarkable integrity and bravery, Esther Simpson is revealed as an exceptional heroine.

This was a rather great read from Caroline Beecham, who once again plumbs the highs and lows of history’s greatest struggle to produce an excellent read. Beecham, who has written several other intriguing historical dramas, including 2020’s Finding Eadie, is a talented Australian author whose novels usually feature an intriguing hook around World War II. Her latest novel, Esther’s Children, is probably my favourite one of her books so far, and tells another powerful and intense story about love, survival, and the evils committed during war time.

In Esther’s Children, Beecham has written a particularly clever and compelling story that follows the life of real historical figure Esther Simpson. Adding in some fictional and dramatic details, Esther’s Children turns into a multi-year tale that showcases Esther’s work as she attempts to rescue academics from Nazi controlled countries in the lead-up to the war and beyond. In particular, it follows her interactions with fictional character/love interest Harry Singer, as she attempts to get him out of Vienna and into England. This forms the basis for an intense and heartbreaking story as these two ill-fated lovers are forced to ] contend with the obstacles placed before them, including the encroaching war, the machinations of the Nazis, the bureaucracy surrounding asylum seekers coming to England, and subsequent prejudice faced even after Harry has reached safety. Told using a split perspective between Esther and Harry, you get an intense inside look at both characters as they attempt to overcome the odds keeping them apart, while also experiencing some of the horrors brought on by the Nazis and others, with the reader hit by constant frustration at everything that happens to these characters. This entire story moves at a brisk and intense pace, and you will be swiftly drawn into the clever and touching narrative that is driven by these two characters’ experiences. The way everything turns out is both poignant and heartbreaking, and I felt that this was a great and captivating read.

Esther’s Children’s dramatic story is greatly enhanced by the captivating and fascinating historical details that Beecham has set it around. The author has clearly done a ton of research to pull her story together, and I was very impressed with some of the unique elements it contains. Not only do you have some fantastic, if very disturbing, depictions of the Nazi movement taking over Austria, but the story goes out of its way to highlight the work done to get certain (primarily Jewish) academics out of Europe. Focusing on the work of Esther Simpson, a unique figure from history who I was pleased to learn a lot about in this novel, you see the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning attempt to help these academics emigrate and find them jobs in England’s educational and government settings. This novel really focuses on the impact that Esther had for many famous academics (her children, many of whom appear in the plot) and I found it fascinating to learn about her work and the people she helped.

However, I personally thought that the most fascinating historical aspect of this book was the subsequent imprisonment of these scholars and scientists by the English once the war broke out. I must admit that I was unaware of just how widespread and unfair the interment of German nationals in England was during the war, and I was very surprised to find out that so many refugees and fleeing Jews were also incarcerated in places like the Isle of Man, often alongside Nazi sympathisers. Shown directly through the eyes of one of her protagonists, Beecham paints a pretty grim picture of the terrible life that these incarcerated people would have experienced, and it was pretty heartbreaking to see all these people who had already lost everything get locked up by the country they were trying to help. I really appreciated the powerful emotional weight that the author loaded into all the historical scenes, and they really work to expand on the dramatic and romance elements of the entire novel. I cannot wait to see what unique historical element Beecham will explore in her future novels, but I am sure it will be fascinating.

Overall, Esther’s Children is a particularly powerful and captivating read that really highlights Caroline Beecham’s great skill as a historical drama author. Expertly combining intriguing and dark elements of history with a dramatic tale of love, loss and regret, Esther’s Children becomes harder and harder to put down as the story progresses and you are drawn into the character driven narrative. An excellent historical drama that is really worth checking out.