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iuliia_yuyu's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.75
I really liked it surprisingly. Made me giggle and ghasp a few times. However what is that ending ? 🥲 sad that I'll have to wait for the next book
hollytimperley's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
chelsea_readz's review
4.0
I probably would have given it a higher rating if i had any idea what the hell was going on. Maybe audiobook wasn’t the best choice for this one. I was extremely lost for most of the book but the ending won me over tenfold. I’ll have to come back to this one day in the future when i manage to get a few more iq points.
nataliakrlna's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
snbarnett's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
westcoastbooklover13's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
readwkit's review
5.0
❛He saw Alex in the garden, a black-winged bird, night gathered around her like a silken shroud shot through with stars. His monstrous queen. His gentle ruler. He knew what she was now too.❜
Hell Bent was a hell of a ride. There is just so much oozing out of me that I need to put everything to words before I lose my thoughts.
General Overview:
The writing in Ninth House (NH) had held me in a chokehold, so I wasn't expecting anything less from Miss Bardugo. Expectedly, she delivered. The perspective choice adopted in NH between Alex and Darlington was discarded in this one, and while I was initially upset about it, I realised that it was actually very important for the plot to not have Darlington POVs.
As opposed to NH, HB had a very quick-to-business feel to it, which I was all game for. It tied up some very intentional loose threads left in NH while also leaving a few for the next book in line. Bardugo is such an artist with words, but most importantly she's an excellent storyteller. Not once did she manage to lose me throughout the book.
I think to a large degree, her characters feel authentic, real, and just human, because of the way she manages to humanize them. We see their ugliest parts while being surrounded by their most beautiful moments, and it's that balance that seems to strike perfection with me.
Darlington's return was dealt with in such an intriguing way that you really felt Alex's struggle. Alex EARNED that win through her relentless pursuit and undeniable tenacity. Her ugly parts are what makes her so beautiful, because she's fiercely loyal but not heroic; she's scared to death of the mysteries of death but also death-weilder who can travel between any or all relams of this world; she's a girl from the streets and the Queen of Darlington's dreams. She's been the archer, and she's been the prey. She's been the outcast, and she's found her family. She's lost that family and traveled through Hell to get him back. God, I love Alex Stern so much.
.
.
.
.
.
SPOILER-ZONE, you've been warned.
.
.
.
.
.
.
❛ He wasn’t sure what he expected: Laughter? Tears? A heroic demand that she take his place in hell? He had lost track of who was Dante, Virgil, Beatrice. Was he Orpheus or Eurydice? ❜
Something about Darlington mentioning Orpheus and Eurydice made me wonder...Alex has been Orpheus to Darlington's Eurydice. Eurydice died too early and too soon, just like Darlington did.
Orpheus mourned his wife with a despair so powerful that angels and spirits guided him to Underworld to get a second chance. He managed to get one too, but botched it at the last minute.
This is so much like their first descent into hell. They couldn't get Darlington back because their plans were ruined, and he had to stay back to protect them. They couldn't get him out. Alex felt as though she lost it all after that initial failure.
Their mutual feelings for one another (do we call it love? Or is it something way more than that? They're bound together for infinity and yet they dance around their feelings like they're in middle school) are beyond worldly emotions now. She's his Undine and his Queen, all at once.
❛ I'd be the voice that urged Orpheus
When her body was found (hey ya)
I'd be the choiceless hope in grief
That drove him underground (hey ya)
I'd be the dreadful need in the devotee
That made him turn around (hey ya)
And I'd be the immediate forgiveness
In Eurydice
Imagine being loved by me!
I won't deny I've got in my mind now all the things we'd do
So I'll try to talk refined for fear that you find out how I'm imaginin' you ❜
~ Hozier, 'Talk'
Darlington's return:
Every bit of Golgarot's trick with the Bible verses and murders was fantastic. I was truly terrified of Darlington being the one committing those murders, only for us to be duped once again. The choice to give a snippet at the very start and picking off from that place in the middle of the book was also excellent. It makes for great storytelling and engages you till the very last page of the book. I haven't felt that in so long.
His return felt like a war hero's homecoming. He's not entirely here in the mortal world, so there's something sinister about him as well. It's like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop in Book 3.
Darlingstern served me so well this time. We've known Darlington largely throigh nostalgic memories of Alex, and his POVs in NH, but seeing him interact with Alex after everything they've been through was like magic. She went to Hell to save him but she still feels shy waiting by his door. He was the torturer and the tortured in service of a demon in Hell but now all he wants is to put his face between her thighs. There's so much unaddressed sexual tension between them that I think I'll explode if I have to voice it another time.
Their relationship has always been so intimate in my head. They don't know each other anymore but they know each other best. She's carried his soul out of Hell but she doesn't know what she is to him. Half of him wants to terrorize her and other half wants to fantasize about her. The power dynamics that existed between them have collapsed in on themselves, and there's no telling what's going to happen anymore. But one things for sure: he's going to serve her until the end of days. He is forever bound to her.
Other Characters:
It was wonderful being in Turner's head for the first time. He's a perfect soldier, a hero in his own right, but still very human. If he wasn't capable to murder I would've thought that he's too good to be a part of this tainted group. It's the fact that he dances around the line of morality and survival that makes him such an easy character to root for.
Pammie was a delight. I loved how Bardugo wrote such a short paragraph from her POV and still made it so impactful. Pammie is that girl who was invisible, who was made fun of, who has been sexualised and desexualised, who has always been left at the corner such that she has owned that place now. Her fierceness and confidence has just strengthened over the course of these two books, and Darlington noticed it too.
I like how a part of him felt insecure of his stature in lethe after his return, as if everyone had suddenly seemed so independent that they no longer depended on him. While he focused on his Virgil duties, he knows that Alex no longer needs his mentorship. Pammie isn't the quiet kid he befriended last year. There's a unique camaraderie between Turner, Alex, Pammie and Mercy (and Tripp) and he isn't a part of it (yet). It's just so realistic and understandable.
Hell Bent was a hell of a ride. There is just so much oozing out of me that I need to put everything to words before I lose my thoughts.
General Overview:
The writing in Ninth House (NH) had held me in a chokehold, so I wasn't expecting anything less from Miss Bardugo. Expectedly, she delivered. The perspective choice adopted in NH between Alex and Darlington was discarded in this one, and while I was initially upset about it, I realised that it was actually very important for the plot to not have Darlington POVs.
As opposed to NH, HB had a very quick-to-business feel to it, which I was all game for. It tied up some very intentional loose threads left in NH while also leaving a few for the next book in line. Bardugo is such an artist with words, but most importantly she's an excellent storyteller. Not once did she manage to lose me throughout the book.
I think to a large degree, her characters feel authentic, real, and just human, because of the way she manages to humanize them. We see their ugliest parts while being surrounded by their most beautiful moments, and it's that balance that seems to strike perfection with me.
Darlington's return was dealt with in such an intriguing way that you really felt Alex's struggle. Alex EARNED that win through her relentless pursuit and undeniable tenacity. Her ugly parts are what makes her so beautiful, because she's fiercely loyal but not heroic; she's scared to death of the mysteries of death but also death-weilder who can travel between any or all relams of this world; she's a girl from the streets and the Queen of Darlington's dreams. She's been the archer, and she's been the prey. She's been the outcast, and she's found her family. She's lost that family and traveled through Hell to get him back. God, I love Alex Stern so much.
.
.
.
.
.
SPOILER-ZONE, you've been warned.
.
.
.
.
.
.
❛ He wasn’t sure what he expected: Laughter? Tears? A heroic demand that she take his place in hell? He had lost track of who was Dante, Virgil, Beatrice. Was he Orpheus or Eurydice? ❜
Something about Darlington mentioning Orpheus and Eurydice made me wonder...Alex has been Orpheus to Darlington's Eurydice. Eurydice died too early and too soon, just like Darlington did.
Orpheus mourned his wife with a despair so powerful that angels and spirits guided him to Underworld to get a second chance. He managed to get one too, but botched it at the last minute.
This is so much like their first descent into hell. They couldn't get Darlington back because their plans were ruined, and he had to stay back to protect them. They couldn't get him out. Alex felt as though she lost it all after that initial failure.
Their mutual feelings for one another (do we call it love? Or is it something way more than that? They're bound together for infinity and yet they dance around their feelings like they're in middle school) are beyond worldly emotions now. She's his Undine and his Queen, all at once.
❛ I'd be the voice that urged Orpheus
When her body was found (hey ya)
I'd be the choiceless hope in grief
That drove him underground (hey ya)
I'd be the dreadful need in the devotee
That made him turn around (hey ya)
And I'd be the immediate forgiveness
In Eurydice
Imagine being loved by me!
I won't deny I've got in my mind now all the things we'd do
So I'll try to talk refined for fear that you find out how I'm imaginin' you ❜
~ Hozier, 'Talk'
Darlington's return:
Every bit of Golgarot's trick with the Bible verses and murders was fantastic. I was truly terrified of Darlington being the one committing those murders, only for us to be duped once again. The choice to give a snippet at the very start and picking off from that place in the middle of the book was also excellent. It makes for great storytelling and engages you till the very last page of the book. I haven't felt that in so long.
His return felt like a war hero's homecoming. He's not entirely here in the mortal world, so there's something sinister about him as well. It's like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop in Book 3.
Darlingstern served me so well this time. We've known Darlington largely throigh nostalgic memories of Alex, and his POVs in NH, but seeing him interact with Alex after everything they've been through was like magic. She went to Hell to save him but she still feels shy waiting by his door. He was the torturer and the tortured in service of a demon in Hell but now all he wants is to put his face between her thighs. There's so much unaddressed sexual tension between them that I think I'll explode if I have to voice it another time.
Their relationship has always been so intimate in my head. They don't know each other anymore but they know each other best. She's carried his soul out of Hell but she doesn't know what she is to him. Half of him wants to terrorize her and other half wants to fantasize about her. The power dynamics that existed between them have collapsed in on themselves, and there's no telling what's going to happen anymore. But one things for sure: he's going to serve her until the end of days. He is forever bound to her.
Other Characters:
It was wonderful being in Turner's head for the first time. He's a perfect soldier, a hero in his own right, but still very human. If he wasn't capable to murder I would've thought that he's too good to be a part of this tainted group. It's the fact that he dances around the line of morality and survival that makes him such an easy character to root for.
Pammie was a delight. I loved how Bardugo wrote such a short paragraph from her POV and still made it so impactful. Pammie is that girl who was invisible, who was made fun of, who has been sexualised and desexualised, who has always been left at the corner such that she has owned that place now. Her fierceness and confidence has just strengthened over the course of these two books, and Darlington noticed it too.
I like how a part of him felt insecure of his stature in lethe after his return, as if everyone had suddenly seemed so independent that they no longer depended on him. While he focused on his Virgil duties, he knows that Alex no longer needs his mentorship. Pammie isn't the quiet kid he befriended last year. There's a unique camaraderie between Turner, Alex, Pammie and Mercy (and Tripp) and he isn't a part of it (yet). It's just so realistic and understandable.