Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

126 reviews

skylar5385's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Even though I found this book sort of confusing, I very much enjoyed it. I couldn’t stop reading it. I think the first book set my expectations for how this world/ storytelling is, where things just don’t quite make sense. But that’s okay because Darlington is out of hell! Looking forward to the third book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Death, Murder, Animal death, Death of parent, and Addiction

mitchelldavis1997's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Animal death, Blood, Addiction, Body horror, Suicide, Death of parent, Drug use, and Suicide attempt

jesshart8's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

jeggert10's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Abandonment, Racism, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Police brutality, Classism, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt

frawst_disasta_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I have read this book three times.  I absolutely love this book.  Alex brings us back to Yale.  She’s now Dante.  Sure, she still presides over rituals.  But she’s focused on saving Darlington.

And that’s this book.  A book about what lengths a person will take to save someone else and the maybe just maybe a person will go too far.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Gore, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Misogyny and Sexism

haave's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, and Animal death

_likethefruit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As a sequel to Ninth House, Hell Bent is a fantastic book with an epic adventure to hell. Unfortunately, the epic level of this journey is so complex, and loaded with so much history and context, that the book is sometimes an information overload. I kept wondering if I missed too many details from the previous book, but in reality, the author was dropping more world building so casually that it felt pre-established. This made the book a little harder to read, but the adventure was totally worth it. Total book hangover after this one! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug use

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual violence, Gore, and Classism

Minor: Slavery

aus1an's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I preferred this book to the first in the series— which I had enjoyed a lot. 

Some of the twists, or connections between characters felt a little to convenient but overall it was extremely fun read! I am already looking forward to the third book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, and Addiction

ashwiebe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Grief, Addiction, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Police brutality

notsohopelessromantic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

*Spoilers Ahead*

The kindling romance between Darlington and Alex is just that. Kindling. If you wanted romance, boy howdy let me tell you it's a slow burn. A very confused, hesitant flame, with a very eager wick, on a willing candle. That might not make sense to you but it does to me.
Anyway, the book was very good. Much like the first where it just seems to be one thing after another, after another. Nonstop misfortune, bad luck, catastrophe. It really makes you wanna tear your hair out. But, to be fair, they did manage to get Darlington back from the Underworld, something I truly did not believe would happen until the 3rd book with the way things were looking. I am grateful to at least have that issue resolved, if only temporarily.
There is most definitely something off about the current Praetor. He knows more than he's letting on, I'm just not sure why. I probably won't know until it's literally spelled out to us in the next book.
I loved the character development on all fronts. Learning that Turner wasn't as straight-laced as we all thought, that Tripp isn't all that harmless or innocent, that Mercy is stronger than she seems. And speaking of Tripp, I do love what was done with his character at the end of the book. That will be interesting to see play out in the next one. Dawes has grown even more as well, becoming less timid, more sure of herself, confident in her abilities; very much the witch Alex saw her to be. I know that there is even more to unpack with Alex and why she's been described as sitting on a throne with a crown on her head, Darlington her faithful servant (and lover 👀). I can't wait for it all to unfold.
The book truly twisted and turned at all of the unexpected, and expected, moments, making this one helluva ride (read). I cannot wait to receive news on the final book in the trilogy and can only hope that I won't have to suffer for very long. Though if Darlington can survive over a year in hell, then I can certainly wait that long to be saved too.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gore, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Drug use, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Torture, Cancer, Cursing, and Grief