Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Hell Bent

This installment gave us a much more thorough exploration of the side characters in the story. I did miss Darlington being explicitly present throughout the story, but I feel like Bardugo made up for it with how interesting everyone else was. I appreciated that we got more one on one interactions between Dawes and Alex. Both of them are connected by how much they care for Darlington and their association with Lethe. However, as the story progresses, it is clear that both of them have more in common about their past than meets the eye. They also form a more solid trusting friendship as they go through the ups and downs of the plot. This sequel leaned in more to the horror aspects of the world. There are moments that delve into the dark history of Lethe and how magic has been used in the past for less than honorable goals. I found the plot points to be creative, but still neatly interwined. I'm looking forward to seeing how some of the seeds planted in this installment become relevant in the next part of the story. I think the first book is still my favorite between the two of them. However, I think this was still a solid sequel and I'm looking forward to see what comes next.

Content Warnings

jakobmarleymommy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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msradiosilence's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

TLDR; 2 rating, Bardugo somehow included more racist stereotypes, and this is more dark contemporary fantasy than dark academia.
Content warnings at the bottom. :)

Once again, I don’t like authors writing outside of their lane. And not only is Alex a racist stereotype, but also Detective Turner.

Per my last review, there’s been a ton of criticism about Leigh Bardugo, a white person, writing from the perspective of a Latina woman, and now in the sequel she’s written in the perspective of a Black cop. And not only is Det. Turner a Black cop in the wake of everything that has happened between 2019 (when Ninth House was published) and now (read: police shootings [sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States, https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/]), but he’s

a cop that has murdered his white partner, albeit a racist man.

And it’s incredibly ironic considering Bardugo specifically has a scene where

Det. Turner and Alex use a table to track down a murderer for their ritual and he demands they break the table becuase of its origins to track down escaped slaves DESPITE THE FACT that the police as an institution in America were created to track down escaped slaves [source: https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/origins-modern-day-policing#:~:text=The%20origins%20of%20modern%2Dday,runaway%20slaves%20to%20their%20owners.] but I digress.

Another gripe, this one much smaller after the major dislike reason, is the part

with the rabbit.

My running theory is that Bardugo mentioned the rabbit much earlier than it was in the final draft and moved it around, but no one caught it so it just reads like the reader missed something, when in fact they were never given the information about Babbit Rabbit in the first place to miss.

I don’t think I’m going to waste my time or money on another one of the books in this series. If I desperately need to know how

Alex and gang defeat the big bad vampire demon things,

I’ll google it.

Rating: 2
Would I recommend? No. I refuse to recommend books I disagree with on a morality issue.

Content warnings: Death, Violence, Murder, Racism, Blood, Vomit, Police Brutality, Animal Death (on page), Drug Abuse, Drug Use, Overdose, Suicide Attempt, Slavery (discussed), Sexual Assault/Rape (from last book, discussed)

Content Warnings