Boston-area novelist R.F. Kuang’s newest novel features two doctoral student rivals traveling to the depths of hell to save the soul of their advisor.

“Hell is other people, I’ve heard,” says Alice Law, the main character of “ Katabasis ,” Kuang’s sixth novel, which hit shelves Tuesday.

But, Tuesday night at the Wilbur in downtown Boston, hell wasn’t other people. Kuang, 29, nearly sold out the thousand-seat venue to launch the new book and her U.S. book tour.

Fans of her fantasy novels like “Babel” and “The Poppy War” trilogy, as well as her satirical “Yellowface,” bubbled with excitement, wrapped in a line around the corner. Each was handed a hardback copy of the new fantasy book, adorned with a design on the sprayed edges, and Kuang took questions at the end from a few readers.

Ku

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