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kimschouwenaar's review against another edition
- 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
a little dubious about some turns the story took, but in the end there is nothing — NOTHING — I would want to see done differently. this was such a treat and is one of my new all-time-faves.
Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Addiction, and Slavery
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Vomit
morganish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I don't typically have a lot of books that I anticipate, but I've been waiting for this one since I closed the pages on the last one. I hate that this is true, but it's actually pretty rare for me that I finish one book and then immediately feel the need to read the next (if it's available). So when it happens, it's just... a next-level positive reading experience for me. Ninth House gave me that, and I'm happy to report that, for the most part, Hell Bent did, too. This second entry in Leigh Bardugo's Alex Stern series finds our main protagonist building a tentative alliance with some familiar names (and dealing with some mysterious/dangerous subplots) as they work to figure out how to save fan-favorite Darlington from Hell.
What Worked For Me
The Worldbuilding: I don't have anything especially grand to say, and I don't know that I think other people will love how the magic functions here, both literally or as metaphor. Magic is very much a metaphor for power here, a tool that is utilized to help the privileged accomplish their goals. There are some moments throughout the series of people doing casually horrific things tied to real-world brutality and exploitation. The metaphor at times becomes intentionally thin, so that you're not really looking at magic at all, just at people with power behaving in predictable yet awful ways, without much in the way of growth or clean justice. But I do like how Bardugo writes magic, as something that even the powerful don't really know how to use, but something they hoard. It works in a very academic sense, too; knowledge of ritual and language and incantation which builds upon itself. There's an interesting sense that magic (and knowledge) is meant to be safe, but that actually there are no rules, and no one is really in charge, but that there are a lot of scholars and rich people and bureaucrats that think if they establish organizations like the societies, they'll get a grasp on it. It also allowed magic and what exists in the sort of magical sphere to feel much, much bigger than the books suggest, but to show you very little of it; only what our protagonists care about pursuing, and what they accidentally interact with.
The Characters: I just like them! This isn't some sort of objective statement about how all characters should be like this (although I've made my feelings about a preference for protagonists like Alex Stern known in other reviews before). I just like them, they all worked well together, and they all felt realistically gray and flawed enough to feel three-dimensional and real, which is probably one of the things that helped me sink into the world so easily.
What I Have Mixed Feelings About
What Wasn't My Thing
Who This Is For/Content Warnings
The Alex Stern series really does earn the moniker "dark fantasy" in a more traditional, classic sense. Lots of really fucked up stuff happens, the characters absolutely morally gray (at times walking the knife's edge of believability). While there's sexual content and hints of romance, I'd say this isn't the kind of "dark fantasy" you see in the type of fantasy romance books for adults that are popular right now. It might have the same types of archetypes and tropes, but I'd say this leans a bit more toward the ASoIaF side of content - most of the violence (including sexual violence) exists in this series to highlight the themes. The grimdark elements here do NOT exist here as primarily tonal choices. The goal doesn't seem to be, at least to me, to shock or titillate the audience only for its own sake, or to create cheap stakes. There is theme work happening here. On the flip side, so far the way the dark elements work in this story have been what I would call expository, rather than conclusive. Which means, it's trying to draw stark, unflinching attention to the horrific realities of ivy league academia, not really in trying to offer solutions. If you like that (or can hang with it) and you like dark academia, urban fantasy, and/or a series with a lot of dangling mysteries/questions, jump right in. And if you're a fan of the first, I have a hard time imagining you not liking this one... unless the only thing you care about is Darlington being immediately returned to the real world on page 1.
Warnings for:
Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Sexual violence, Racism, Gore, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Violence, Gun violence, and Rape
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Slavery
mjscooke's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Minor: Death, Racism, Slavery, Blood, Murder, and Violence
pencilspeaker's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Drug abuse, Animal death, and Drug use
Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Slavery
rachelcotter1's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Violence, Animal death, Grief, Rape, Toxic relationship, Death, Drug use, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Animal cruelty, and Blood
martinatan's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
ok ok some thoughts that ran through my head, but not a cohesive review because I will always be too insane and biased about her writing to write something balanced:
- she strikes again with the calculated development of
- Also I am enjoying this crew becoming
- She did a great job of introducing antagonists into the story and slowly revealing and resolving conflicts throughout. This is something that was done well in the first book and I was pleasantly surprised that it was still so satisfying and fresh in this one.
- I was similarly worried about attempting to replicate the mixed timeline format from the first book but it was just as effective, just made me wary at first because the opening to this series was such an immediate draw for me and to see it attempted again felt like she was setting myself up for disappointment. but it did NOT disappoint.
- I was also anticipating more backstory and development for characters introduced in the first book. This met my expectations and I found their histories to be really compelling, if not admirable or enviable.
- The book deals with issues of race and exploitation in an okay way.
I could say more but I’m done ranting for now. This book truly thrilled me and I was happy to delve into this world again.
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Body horror, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Classism, Confinement, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Sexism, Slavery, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm
piratesandprophecy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
1. book of the year. book of the fucking century. leigh threw her whole spookussy into this one.
2. i never expected to be willing to fight a goddamn adult hippopotamus, the most life-threateningly homicidal animal i know of, for tripp helmuth, but here were are.
3. if darlington and alex don’t get it on in the next book i’m suing. the level of mutual pining and horniness here breaks the scale.
Graphic: Grief, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Suicide attempt, Rape, Drug abuse, Slavery, and Sexual assault
risemini's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Slavery, Death, Murder, Misogyny, Drug use, Colonisation, and Suicide attempt
tanishah's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Grief, and Cursing
Minor: Slavery and Police brutality
laurenvoice's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Bullying, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Confinement, Death of parent, Classism, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Slavery, Torture, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Mental illness