Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Hell Bent

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Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

67 reviews

sauvageloup's review against another edition

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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itsalina's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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lisasbookselection's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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thearielleview's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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kimmykelly's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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renegades's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Hell Bent is a great follow up to a book that had so much packed into it, it nearly made my head spin. As a sequel, it has a strong plot and a strong sense of self and really benefits from all of the worldbuilding that had already been done in Ninth House. I didn’t remember a single detail of NH and as a result quickly realized I would have to read some in-depth summaries before proceeding here. It definitely helped, but NH has so much in it that is then referenced and recalled in HB that I was still left with gaps in knowledge. I would definitely recommend rereading NH before venturing into this sequel.

That being said, I overall enjoyed HB so much more. I thought the pacing was mostly great, the actual substance and details vs breathing room was balanced this time, and it really felt like coming back to a familiar world and familiar characters and learning to like them even more.

My biggest problem with this book (and this series I think) is just that while it’s so compelling and has all of the right ingredients, I can’t seem to form much of an emotional connection with the characters. I’m not sure why. I think Alex is mostly to blame. She’s a character who does a lot and has a lot of internal thinking, but I think her feelings/emotions are told more than they’re shown. The end should have felt more like a climactic gut punch but it really just felt like one thing happening after another. You know the characters are feeling some kind of way, but it’s never entirely clear what.

I also think that some of this book (mostly regarding the more adult themes such as drug use and sexual assault and sex) feels a bit contrived. It never feels like it’s a natural integration into the story, but someone who usually writes YA playing pretend with it to spice up the book. Leigh is a fantastic writer so I can’t say why these parts in particular feel so contrived, but they just do.

I do love Darlington and I love everything that happens with him especially near the end of this book. I’m invested in him and I want to see what happens with him and Alex. I would love for the last book to actually show the emotional resonance and attachment they have to one another because even though I’m told they are attracted to each other and they now have certain things binding them, the feelings don’t really appear to be one of them.

I don’t know! I just want there to be more feelings infused into this story. Romantic and platonic. There’s a found family happening here but I don’t feel the warmth I usually feel with literary found families. And I know Leigh is good at feelings bc she has written characters with plenty of heart in the past! So I’m slightly confused why it feels blocked in this series in particular.

Overall though, really cool components and I’m just so into [redacted] Darlington.

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sabmanosa's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.0

I enjoyed this book a lot. The first book took a while for me to warm up to, because of the timeline, setting, and general vibe was so different from her Grishaverse novels that I was a bit put off. This book was a lot easier to fall into, and it had me captivated from the first chapter.

I didn't expect a lot of the twists and turns, and I enjoyed working through it, and figuring things out with Alex. The story was very satisfying, and left me excited for the next part of the series!
Something about the way she writes just draws me in - I think it's because she creates very human characters who are put in very inhuman situations. Definitely recommend this series (and anything by her really) for people looking for very dark "YA" (heavy emphasis on the A) type books.

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