Reviews with content warning for Gore - Hell Bent

Well, I liked this one better than the first one, so that's not nothing. I will say I think the pacing is WAY better in this one; it didn't feel like I had to slog through half the book to get to the plot, but the flip side of that is that there was SO MUCH going on in this one that it was almost too much. There's literally an entire side plot that makes absolutely no sense if you think about it for a second longer than Alex does, but then at the end, surprise! Turns out it's just a loophole to fix a problem that didn't actually have to exist (or that at least could have been solved more creatively, because this fully just felt so lazy to me, not gonna lie.)

Some of the characters are marginally less flat than in the first book--specifically Turner, Mercy, and Tripp--but Alex, Dawes, and especially Darlington still are absolutely not working for me. Also the beginnings of a romance getting shoehorned in at the end is just...sure, this might as well happen I guess.

At the very least, this book didn't make me as actively angry as the first one; I was mostly just bored and annoyed with all of the characters and with Leigh herself. Like I said with the first book, her prose isn't bad, and I think this one did a marginally better job at actually saying something than the first one did, but it still was not for me. If I hadn't been bullied into reading these books by my sibling I absolutely would have DNFed. I'm glad other people can enjoy them, but they are absolutely not for me. (That being said I will be reading the third one when it comes out because I love to be a hater. ✌ Maybe she'll surprise me and stick the landing, but I'm not counting on it.)

Content Warnings

christinereads1823's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

Another excellent book from Bardugo; I couldn't put it down.
However. There are a number of new plot threads that seemed unnecessary at times, and I am honestly not sure how they will be tied up in a probable-but-not-yet-confirmed Book 3... or if they even can be. There is also more gore;

the continual references and visuals of the mangled dead rabbit

were viscerally uncomfortable for me.
I enjoyed the theoretical aspects; the themes of good, evil, and what you have to do to survive; and the found family and forging of relationships. Who wouldn't go to hell and back for their friends and loved ones?

Content Warnings