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A review by archaicrobin
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
3.0
Overall I enjoyed the second book in the Stern series but not as much as Ninth House.
Problems:
-This book is WAY too long. The main plot of the novel is getting Darlington back from Hell and it takes the ENTIRE book to do it. In order to make it more complex Bardugo throws in some murder mystery that honestly just fizzles out and makes no sense. Described as “a distraction” by the characters comes off more as a ploy to extend page count to the reader. The murder mystery doesn’t really make any sense, the motives were weak and they move in so quickly.
-you have to suspend your belief ALOT. Characters in this book make choices that don’t make sense or are unreasonable. Like Turner and Tripp agreeing to go to hell to retrieve a person who is basically an acquaintance for honestly no reason was a big one. Also Alex’s decision to include Mercy and her automatically being ok with EVERYTHING is another example of unrealistic behavior by characters. Along with these examples are the way too convenient solutions to conflicts in the novel. Everything always wraps up nicely due to some “lucky circumstance” it gets a bit tiring.
-typos GALORE. There were so many grammatical errors and typos in Hell Bent, it was ridiculous. I’d catch one every chapter amongst!
-repetitive. Alex has the same inner dialogue about being a bad person every chapter and it’s unnecessary. It felt like Bardugo would write this in chunks after extended amounts of time because every chapter had the same inner monologue recap. I can only read about Alex blaming herself for everything so many times before it gets beyond irritating.
Good:
-the characters. Honestly I enjoy this series mainly for the cast of characters Bardugo has crafted. They’re all lovable in their own way and despite some of the plot driven choices they make, they do all feel like real people.
-the setting! I love this magical dark side of Yale and some of my favorite parts of the book involve the societies and the magic that each house holds. Unfortunately, there was much less of that aspect in this book since the focus was getting Darlington out of hell.
Will I continue? Yes, I definitely will. I hope the next book tightens up a bit and doesn’t display the same YA leaning plot devices and solutions, like Hell Bent did. Overall I did enjoy this book but I didn’t it love it, which is why 3/5 is my final rating
Problems:
-This book is WAY too long. The main plot of the novel is getting Darlington back from Hell and it takes the ENTIRE book to do it. In order to make it more complex Bardugo throws in some murder mystery that honestly just fizzles out and makes no sense. Described as “a distraction” by the characters comes off more as a ploy to extend page count to the reader. The murder mystery doesn’t really make any sense, the motives were weak and they move in so quickly.
-you have to suspend your belief ALOT. Characters in this book make choices that don’t make sense or are unreasonable. Like Turner and Tripp agreeing to go to hell to retrieve a person who is basically an acquaintance for honestly no reason was a big one. Also Alex’s decision to include Mercy and her automatically being ok with EVERYTHING is another example of unrealistic behavior by characters. Along with these examples are the way too convenient solutions to conflicts in the novel. Everything always wraps up nicely due to some “lucky circumstance” it gets a bit tiring.
-typos GALORE. There were so many grammatical errors and typos in Hell Bent, it was ridiculous. I’d catch one every chapter amongst!
-repetitive. Alex has the same inner dialogue about being a bad person every chapter and it’s unnecessary. It felt like Bardugo would write this in chunks after extended amounts of time because every chapter had the same inner monologue recap. I can only read about Alex blaming herself for everything so many times before it gets beyond irritating.
Good:
-the characters. Honestly I enjoy this series mainly for the cast of characters Bardugo has crafted. They’re all lovable in their own way and despite some of the plot driven choices they make, they do all feel like real people.
-the setting! I love this magical dark side of Yale and some of my favorite parts of the book involve the societies and the magic that each house holds. Unfortunately, there was much less of that aspect in this book since the focus was getting Darlington out of hell.
Will I continue? Yes, I definitely will. I hope the next book tightens up a bit and doesn’t display the same YA leaning plot devices and solutions, like Hell Bent did. Overall I did enjoy this book but I didn’t it love it, which is why 3/5 is my final rating