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elmet'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
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexism and Classism
molly_storm'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
5.0
I was definitely not disappointed in the plot! Three nights in a row, I stayed up past 4am listening to this audiobook after going to bed. It flows beautifully - I know a lot of people have said that it’s too fast or feels rushed but I disagree wholeheartedly.
I’m excited for the story to continue in the 3rd one!
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Classism
By and large, the above triggers I feel are present are handled appropriately and are not there for gratuitous reasons.carrotguilt's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Xenophobia, and Classism
jareadforfilth'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
4.5
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Slavery and Suicide attempt
cady_sass's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
The entirety of this novel is about Darlington, which, as I said in my review of Ninth House, we don’t know nearly enough about nor did we spend enough time with him in the first book to actually care about him. Everything else about the world they built falls away and the only thing that matters is finding Darlington and bringing him home, and the hell that comes along with it (pun intended). To that point, it’s completely nonsensical and out of character for any of these characters to care about Darlington too, except for Pam who is by far the best part of the whole book. Tucker has no reason to join them in their endeavors. The friend (I literally already forget his name) has no reason to risk his life here. ALEX has no real reason here either- they make a point, over and over again, to tell us how she feels nothing and everything she does is self serving. NONSENSE, all of it.
I get that this might do it for some people but for me it’s a let down. I’m sorry, I just don’t care about Darlington. Give me more secret society shady dealings and unsanctioned rituals and detective work and leave the hell portals at home.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
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: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism
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: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Torture
sauvageloup's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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.
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)
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
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 timesmeliemelo'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
4.5
Even though it didn't quite captivate me in the same way Ninth House had (and I had just reread it), I did thoroughly enjoy Hell Bent, and was delighted to get all the characters back. There are some great ideas in there, and I like the way the universe gets expanded, although I felt this same expansion could have been explored a bit more. As I already mentioned, I especially enjoyed the last part, and am looking forward to seeing where it'll go from there.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
black_cat_iiix'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
4.5
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Sexism, Blood, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail