Professor Jacob Grimes is chair of the Department of Analytic Magick at the University of Cambridge; a Nobel laureate; and the twice-elected president of the Royal Academy of Magick.
Professor Grimes' advisees go on to tenured jobs at top-tier programs, and a recommendation letter from Grimes as good as secures a post anywhere. That's why graduate students Alice Law and Peter Murdoch elect to study under Grimes - to secure rosy futures filled with great opportunities.
Alice and Peter's plans are upended when Professor Grimes is killed in a gruesome laboratory accident. On the fatal day, Grimes has Alice chalk a pentagram for him, but Alice - who's overtired and overcaffeinated - accidentally leaves a tiny opening. Thus when Grimes steps into the pentagram and utters an incantation, howling winds rush in.
Grimes' eyeballs pop like grapes, his intestines spool out of his body, he turns upside down and spins, and his body flies apart in all directions, splattering every surface with blood and bone and guts.
Alice is anxious to finish her research, defend her dissertation, and get a recommendation from Professor Grimes. So she prepares to rescue Grimes' soul from Hell.
Alice consults tartarology texts, chalks the appropriate transportative pentagram, and is about to start her trip when Peter Murdoch shows up and joins her.
Both magick students know the venture will cost half their remaining lifespans, but they step into the pentagram, intone the appropriate chants, and descend to Hell.
Hell turns out to resemble a dark distorted version of the Cambridge campus, and Alice and Peter set out to find Professor Grimes. There's friction between the twosome because they were VERY COMPETITIVE RIVALS for Grimes' favor, and - unknown to them - he played one off against the other.
Alice and Peter find that Hell is a dangerous place full of trouble, risk, shades, and killers. Dying in hell is especially dire because it's not just your mortal body that disintegrates, it's your soul too. There's total annihilation of the self, and no chance for reincarnation.
In their search for Professor Grimes, Alice and Peter make their way from one part of Hell to another. It's fatal to eat or drink anything from the underworld, so the searchers ration their supply of Lembas Bread (stale, cardboard-y nutrition strips) and only drink from their perpetual flasks of water, that refill themselves.
Alice and Peter's major exploits in Hell begin with a climb up a fifty-meter-high vertical wall of bones.
They then encounter the courts of Hell. The first is the Court of Pride, a huge library with stacks and stacks of shelves stretching in every direction.
Here Alice and Peter meet a shade called George Edward Moore, whose office contains a massive desk; plump armchairs; porcelain tea sets; memorabilia from overseas trips; framed diplomas on every wall; etc. Alice decides Grimes isn't confined in 'Pride' because he hated peacocking and could legitimately boast of his accomplishments.
The second court is the Court of Desire, which is populated by shades who were gluttons; sex addicts; drug addicts; etc. Here, Alice and Peter observe ALL SORTS of physically pleasurable exploits (ewwww), but Grimes isn't trapped here either, because overindulgence wasn't among his flaws.
Alice and Peter move on to the other courts in Hell, their goal being to get to the eighth court and bargain with King Yama, Ruler of the Underworld, for Grimes' soul.
As the searchers continue their long journey, they encounter the river Lethe - whose water erases memories; the Weaver Girl whose Prisoner's Dilemma game causes a breach between Alice and Peter; Elspeth Bayes - a student of Professor Grimes who committed suicide; Nicomachus and Magnolia Kripke - magicians who kill creatures and drain their blood to do warped magic; bone-creatures that attack and kill; and other denizens of the abyss.
The lives of Alice and Peter are repeatedly threatened.....and worse!
On the bright side, Alice and Peter are joined by Archimedes, Cambridge's Department of Analytic Magick cat, who can freely move between the living world and Hell. Archimedes turns out to be an asset in the searchers' quest.
During their sojourn in Hell, Alice and Peter share secrets, and they come to know more and more about Professor Grimes. It's clear that Grimes is an exploiter who steals his students' research, and a sexual predator who pressures females in his group. If the women complain to school personnel, they're advised to keep mum, for themselves and the institution.
Alice and Peter discover that Hell is a parody of graduate school at Cambridge (or anywhere), with punishing hours; pressure to do research; worries about the dissertation defense; etc.
There's a tiny smidge of romance in the story. After Alice and Peter comprehend that Professor Grimes deliberately drove a wedge between them, the sparks of attraction - which previously flared and died - are reignited. This isn't a love story though.
Does Grimes soul get saved? It would be a spoiler to tell.
The book is filled with interesting characters, and liberally sprinkled with esoteric literary references and allusions to monsters, demons, and real-life writers, scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, and scholars who've contributed to knowledge and civilization.
I admire author R.F. Kuang's imagination, and commend the prodigious amount of work that went into this novel.
The story is well worth reading. Highly recommended.
Rating: 4 stars
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