Academia is hell, literally. In R. F. Kuang’s novel Katabasis, two rival Cambridge PhD students embark on a journey through the eight courts of hell to retrieve the soul of their academic advisor, both convinced they are responsible for his untimely demise. Alice Law and Peter Murdoch are doctoral candidates in the field of “magick,” a discipline that leans closer to philosophy than any Rowling-esque incantations. As the star pupils of Professor Grimes – simultaneously one of the world’s greatest magicians and a cruel, demanding, and abusive mentor – Alice and Peter draw on every scrap of knowledge and wit they have (as well as a surprising amount of math) to navigate the depths of hell, which presents itself to them as the quad of their own familiar Cambridge College.

Would the world be better off if Grimes stayed in hell?