Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

65 reviews

bbooklight's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

3.5

the puzzles are the highlight of this book for me. i loved that it seemed to expand upon everything that needed expanding from the first book. there are, i would say, too many callbacks to lines made in the book; an exceptional amount of cheese toward the end. 

also, little slut demon boy darlington. i’ll serve you til the end of days is said way too much. we get it, he’s a raging sub.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Racism and Trafficking

arobear's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

I liked the way the narrative was structured in Hell Bent better than Ninth House, especially since I was expecting the shifting viewpoints.

I really love how the journey into hell was described by each of the players and delved into more of the complexity of side characters.

I'm even more invested in Darlingstern now (first het relationship that I've felt actual chemistry with in a LONG time) and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Blood

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Death, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, and Grief

Moderate: Racism, Torture, and Mental illness

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Cancer, Police brutality, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Drug use, Slavery, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Sexual assault

kproctor2's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.75

It was different from Ninth House but a good read. 
I didn’t mind the ending except the weird awkward tension between Alex and Mercy didn’t need to happen in the first place but then wasn’t resolved; there wasn’t as much emotion or vulnerability between the group as I would’ve liked or expected; and the tension between Alex and Darlington wasn’t even mentioned like ya girl fought for a year and went to hell twice for you and you’re now supernaturally bound to her bc she saved you from hell and will “serve her forever” but y’all can’t talk about that huh? I get being scared of the demon but you just got your friend back after life or death fights, where was the emotion??

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Murder, Grief, and Drug use

kassidyreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Death, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

helenferg's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death of parent, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Racism, and Drug use

kimschouwenaar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

5.0

leigh bardugo, you are my religion <3

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.

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Content Warnings

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

alisonkolonick's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Addiction, Death, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, and Animal death

hunkydory's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Cursing, Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Sexism, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, and Drug use

Minor: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Slavery, Suicide, Sexual assault, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

focus on animal death and violence in one graphic scene. the self harm is to do with cutting an arm for a magical ritual the suicide attempt/thoughts are a brief mention by a side character but do come up a couple times