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makenziefockler's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
rovertoak's review against another edition
4.0
Pee and poo play a pretty central role in Hellbent, as does a whole lexicon of foul language! The British slang woven amidst the constant stream of obscenities makes for quite an entertaining, and funny reading experience. What could have been a straight up bore of a feel-good-buddy-movie-in-hell is completely avoided by McGowan gifting Conor with an obscenity laced narration and wry, witty remarks throughout. The questions as to why one ends up in hell and if one actually can “fight city hall” are explored and bathed in disgusting, delightful detail. This one will definitely take readers by surprise
library_brandy's review against another edition
2.0
It had its moments. The basic premise: a kid gets hit by an ice-cream truck and finds himself in hell. He's in a very boring room, surrounded by books on gardening, philosophy, history. The radio only gets classical music or educational programming. But surely somebody must like this, right? So it stands to reason that somewhere in hell there's a room full of video games and punk rock. And all he has to do is convince his guard-demon to help him find it. It should have been a very funny book, and in parts it was--but the constant scatological "humor" wore thin pretty quickly. I get it. Hell is shitty in every sense of the word.
owlnation99's review
2.0
So I don't usually right reviews but this is one of the few books I've had no desire to finish and will remain on my do not finish list. It was gross, and just not funny, at least to me. I was 16 when I read it and still didn't feel like the target audience. The description sounded so interesting but the execution was just not good. One of the only positives was that I got it used for a dollar. Also seeing the author try to argue negative reviews have me an impression that he doesn't want to see valid criticisms.
meghanlew_'s review
2.0
Over all I found this book extremely difficult to read. I know that it was written in a different english than my own, but I feel that the author used an absurd amount of slang words. Over time these words and phrases began to feel unnecessary and just made me dislike the book more.
The characters were bland and one sided and I felt that there was no development through out the story. Near the end of the story it felt as thought the character did a complete 180 and turned into a different person, which did not fit with the rest of the story. Than at the end of the book he reverts back to who he was at the beginning. IT felt very rushed and unorganized.
The plot line was even more pitiful than the characters. The author tried following a plot, but in the end was left with a jumbled mess. The main character went off on so many tangents that at times I wasn't really sure what I was reading. I also found my self skipping over them in order to get back to the actual story. They were extremely long ways of trying to show who the character was, but in the end just made we want to put the book down. The concept of the story was there and the small world building that it did have was good and that is why I am giving this book 2 stars instead of 1.
The characters were bland and one sided and I felt that there was no development through out the story. Near the end of the story it felt as thought the character did a complete 180 and turned into a different person, which did not fit with the rest of the story. Than at the end of the book he reverts back to who he was at the beginning. IT felt very rushed and unorganized.
The plot line was even more pitiful than the characters. The author tried following a plot, but in the end was left with a jumbled mess. The main character went off on so many tangents that at times I wasn't really sure what I was reading. I also found my self skipping over them in order to get back to the actual story. They were extremely long ways of trying to show who the character was, but in the end just made we want to put the book down. The concept of the story was there and the small world building that it did have was good and that is why I am giving this book 2 stars instead of 1.
pandemoniumpizza's review
Hellbent is a really funny book and I really enjoyed reading it. As well as humour and the whole adventuring through heaven aspect there is some philosophy lessons taking place throughout the book. I think that anyone who is interested in philosophy would like this book as it mentions several philosophical theories. On a lighter note there is a lot of humour so that someone who isn't a fan of philosophy can also enjoy the book. There were several occasions when I burst out laughing at parts in the story.
There was also a lot of gory descriptions so if you don't like that kind of thing then Hellbent probably isn't for you.
Hellbent had me dreaming about my own hell and what it was like and made me think about what there is in the afterlife.
Overall, I thought Hellbent was quite a good and interesting read with quite a lot of funny parts. I'd recommend this one to anyone who wants to give it a go and is looking for something out of the ordinary to read.
There was also a lot of gory descriptions so if you don't like that kind of thing then Hellbent probably isn't for you.
Hellbent had me dreaming about my own hell and what it was like and made me think about what there is in the afterlife.
Overall, I thought Hellbent was quite a good and interesting read with quite a lot of funny parts. I'd recommend this one to anyone who wants to give it a go and is looking for something out of the ordinary to read.
rovertoak's review
4.0
Pee and poo play a pretty central role in Hellbent, as does a whole lexicon of foul language! The British slang woven amidst the constant stream of obscenities makes for quite an entertaining, and funny reading experience. What could have been a straight up bore of a feel-good-buddy-movie-in-hell is completely avoided by McGowan gifting Conor with an obscenity laced narration and wry, witty remarks throughout. The questions as to why one ends up in hell and if one actually can “fight city hall” are explored and bathed in disgusting, delightful detail. This one will definitely take readers by surprise
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