Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
"Two graduate students must set aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul, perhaps at the cost of their own. 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 same conclusion."
Is Katabasis appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 16 and up.
This academic fantasy involves a journey through Hell with supernatural dangers, moral dilemmas, and themes of obsessive ambition. The protagonist's mental health struggles and the professor's death are central to the story.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, no sexual content, and moderate language. Content notes include death, death of a loved one, and grief (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Readers who love magic school settings, academic rivals, and mythological underworld adventures will be hooked by this darkly funny quest.