Ever needed a job recommendation so bad that you would walk through hell to get it? Alice Law has. Literally.
R.F. Kuang’s greatly anticipated new book hits the shelves this coming Tuesday, on the 26th of August. Merging myth and magic, ambition and rivalry, the early reviews of Katabasis promise the dark, layered, and intense story that has by now become a signature of Kuang.
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 sacrificed everything to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world—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.
On the final countdown to the long awaited title, here are our top picks that are set in the depths of the underworld. May it guide you to navigate this mysterious land as Virgil once did for Dante (or prepare you for the epic journey of Katabasis before its arrival).
Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love – the Greek tale of Hades and Persephone gets a romantic modern update in the gorgeously illustrated, Eisner-nominated Lore Olympus, including a brand new, exclusive short story! An ingenious take on the Greek Pantheon, this is the modern update on the story of Hades and Persephone. Follow the propulsive love story of two Greek gods, told with lavish artwork and contemporary sensibilities.
A Short Stay in Hell – Steven L. Peck
An ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he’ll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter. Then, he dies. Soren wakes to find himself cast by a God he has never heard of into a Hell whose dimensions he can barely grasp: a vast library he can only escape from by finding the book that contains the story of his life.
In this haunting existential novella, author, philosopher, and ecologist Steven L. Peck explores a subversive vision of eternity, taking the reader on a journey through the afterlife of a world where everything everyone believed in turns out to be wrong.
And for a little bonus:
When it comes to a journey through hell, one of the first stories that come to mind every time is that of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is just so compelling, tragic, and frustrating at equal measures.
The bad news is that there are tragically few retellings of this Greek mythology classic. The good news, however, is that there is a most interesting British lai from the Middle Ages that was inspired by this tale and translated into modern English by J. R. R. Tolkien, the master of fantasy himself. In this version, Sir Orfeo (Orpheus) travels to the underworld to seek his wife Heurodis (Eurydice) that has been kidnapped by the fairy king of the Otherworld.
