Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Hell Bent

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Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

76 reviews

deedireads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

4.75

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Hell Bent was an awesome sequel to Ninth House. I loved diving deeper into these characters and their relationships, all while happily along for the plot ride Leigh Bardugo is famous for.

For you if: You like dark fantasy/academia (and already read Ninth House).

FULL REVIEW:

Hell Bent is the long-awaited, much-anticipated sequel to Ninth House. It’s the second book in the Alex Stern trilogy (although until I read this book I totally thought this was a duology 😅) , an adult dark academia/fantasy series about Yale’s secret societies by our queen, Leigh Bardugo.

We knew from Ninth House that this was going to be a wild ride, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. No spoilers here, but I will say that the story picks up a few months after the last book ended. And whereas Ninth House was more of a world/character introduction by way of mystery (“what happened to Darlington?”), Hell Bent is all about deepening our relationship with those characters while we ride along on the unputdownable plot journey Leigh is famous for (“OK, so how do we save him?”).

I loved getting more time with our motley little crew: fierce but loving Mercy; soft but strong Dawes; moral but loyal Turner. I also felt like Alex kept her badass, unapologetic nature while also growing a bit more mature, but in a way that felt organic for us as we’ve gotten to know her. And of course, Leigh’s skill at using a non-linear timeline to keep us engaged and guessing without making things confusing was on full display.

So the good news is that this was totally worth the wait. But the even better news is that it doesn’t look like we’ll have to wait as long between books 2 and 3, because she’s already hard at work on the finale.

And finally, for those of you who’ve already read this, I’ll just say: glow sticks. #IYKYK.

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lindsayerin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

4.75

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rc_boxnut's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? N/A

5.0

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briguy992's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

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sauvageloup's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

while slow to get started, hugely enjoyed this, especially after half way

pros:
- the ingenuity and originality of the magical system is fab, I love the dark rituals and magic that the societies come up with.
- the plot is intricate and intriguing, with plot twists, but theres always hints that the reader can spot afterwards

like with Michelle wearing turtlenecks to show shes in league with the vampire, and Anselm suddenly changing personality because hes possessed. they were both clear but subtle and I didnt see it till after the reveal

- I do really like the characters, they're all so different and their own people, Alex, Darlington, Turner, Dawes and Mercy, but also all the side characters have their own motivations
- the writing is very good, with some rly vivid imagery and turns of phrase that I wish I'd marked
- I love the extremely grey morality in how we have a lot of compassion for Alex, but she is a dark soldier of a character and so is Darlington. that's never minimalised and actually takes front stage in the book.
- the setting is basically a character itself and while I didnt really fall in love with it, I still appreciated the research and beauty of it all
- I also liked how it didnt shy away from linking magical exploitation to real life, like with the runaway slaves map, and how it was never brushed aside. it showed the dark side of the magical and wealthy.

cons:
- it's a dense book, with a lot of time switches near the start, which threw me. keeping track of characters can be tricky and I definitely needed the summary of the 1st bk to remember a lot of things. the complexity if the book all comes together near the end but it takes some getting your head round and was partly why it took me a longer time to read.
- I do kind of wish the series had started at a different point. leigh mentioned it might have been a much longer series and I kind of wish we'd seen the events with hellie and Alex's introduction to lethe by Darlington first hand, rather than in erratic flashbacks. it was hard to feel very invested in Darlington's return for a lot of it because we dont get to view himself ourselves, only through glimpses through Alex.
- sometimes things happened in the plot that felt a bit random, too much out of nowhere.

like when they got the tattoos of the salt animals that would repeatedly save their lives, it was just snuck in there as a little ritual they did like on a whim. why didnt they do some more protection earlier on? while some plot points came together nicely, sometimes it did feel kind of episodic and thrown from one plot point to the next, rather than a tightly woven web. but that also sort of fits the chaos of Alex's character so idk

but overall I did really like it, especially the badass last scene and I very much want to read the next one. (it was also amazing to meet and see leigh talk, would do that again also)

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meliemelo's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

It's hard to follow up a masterpiece such as Ninth House, and I get the feeling that Hell Bent might have been difficult to read. I found the pace a bit lacking at the start, but it does catch up towards the end of the book, and I preferred the second half overall.

Even though it didn't quite captivate me in the same way Ninth House had (and I had just reread it), I did thoroughly enjoy Hell Bent, and was delighted to get all the characters back. There are some great ideas in there, and I like the way the universe gets expanded, although I felt this same expansion could have been explored a bit more. As I already mentioned, I especially enjoyed the last part, and am looking forward to seeing where it'll go from there.

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