A review by carlyoc
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

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? It's complicated

4.75

An excellent second installment that sets up for a third. Alex Stern works for a magical secret society called Lethe at Yale whose job is to keep the other magical secret societies in line. It's now been a year since her mentor Darlington disappeared, swallowed by a Hell Beast. She is beginning to feel confident taking on his role of Virgil, as opposed to Dante, the one in training. But then her past comes back to haunt her when a big deal drug dealer whose brother she had murdered back home blackmails her into doing some jobs for him on the east coast. 
Meanwhile, Alex is determined to rescue Darlington from Hell, even if it means going there herself and dragging him out. But the only person in Lethe willing to help her is Dawes, a grad student who fills the role of Occulus, as the researcher and healer of the group.
To top things off, there are a series of murders of faculty on campus that seem to have a supernatural element, that Alex is tasked with helping to solve. 
Oh, and turns out vampires are real, too. 
Alex and her companions will each have to face their demons quite literally as they attempt a descent into Hell and clean up the chaos unleashed by messing with doors between the realms.
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