Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

150 reviews

iamastraythought's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

God this book took me so long to read but it was incredibly good. It's just the kind of book that you have to sit down and really focus on to get going, and I don't usually have that kind of time. Hope there's a third, I love Alex dearly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Classism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

lynkera'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

Hellbent is a fantastic example of a second novel being better than the first. The characters get more complex, the magic gets bigger, and my need to give Galaxy Stern a big hug increased 10 fold. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

camiandkitread's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Yooooooooooooooooo!!!

I could not consume this story fast enough! Everything that happened had my mouth hanging open and going through the whole spectrum of emotions. 

Leigh Bardugo is a genius. 

How much longer until book three though???

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, and Suicide attempt

mscalls's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

prairieraven's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

silverthistle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

3.75 stars. 

I guessing that my lower than "average" rating is mostly a product of reading Ninth House and Hell Bent back-to-back. I am just now realizing there was roughly 5 years in between publication dates! That being said, Hell Bent did some things better than Ninth House and somethings didn't change at all and felt like recycled material. 

Two things I really enjoyed about Hell Bent--1. I was very happy that there's more fantasy/magical elements and dark academia themes. Not only is it enjoyable to read, it also helped ground and enrich the narrative. 2. I enjoyed having way less of Alex's backstory. I don't care for her as a protagonist. I find the female characters in this series rather one-dimensional. Alex's character is primarily defined by her trauma, and I find that utterly uninspired. (I'm sorry for this opinion, fellow readers and Leigh Bardugo.) Two primary things I didn't care for--1. The entire middle section of the book. I had the same complaint with Ninth House. The story just drags in the middle and doesn't feel purposeful. It's worth pushing through for the last third of the book, however, because everyone's favorite gentleman demon returns! 2. On that note--there wasn't enough Darlington! The entire sequel is focused on his return, and it came far too late in the story. From a structure standpoint, Ninth House was superior because we had more multi-perspective narration. I felt like CHEERING when Darlington returned and we had his first-person narration again. 

Overall, I enjoyed Hell Bent. The concept of a dark academia fueled "harrowing of hell" is simply fabulous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

alyssa_simard's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, and Sexual assault

auliarach's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

browniebby's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Technically I'm giving this one a 3.75, but goodreads made it a 4. Anyway! While there wasn't as much horrific sexual trauma in this one there was still a lot of exposition...and look I've read Six of crows so I'm not really surprised but here it really felt like it took FOREVER for this party to get started.

Honestly my favorite chapter was the first foray into hell. The glimpses into how they all got there was well done. (Although I definitely am side eyeing the shit out of Bardugo writing a POC in the situation Turner was in. I understand it from a narrative point but I'm not sure that as a non POC thus is her place).

Could have done without the dozen of mentions of Darlington's glowing dick too. Like after the first, maybe second time, it was too much.

I do hope we get to see more Mercy and the rest of this tiny found family. They are all messy and damaged but I think they all balance each other out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, and Blood

frantically's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Just like Alex and Daws in this book, Hell Bent felt a bit...lost without Darlington to help it along. 

I truly wish I could talk to Leigh Bardugo in 2019 and ask her what her plans for this series were because surely, it couldn't have been this. I don't know if it's the pandemic that hit her just as hard as it did the rest of us but this installment feels so disjointed from Ninth House. 

While we thankfully lose the false and overdone academic pretentiousness that so many dark academia novels bring with it (I'm sorry to destroy your dreams but I'm doing my history degree at one of the eldest unis in Europe and unless people have been hiding their dark pagan rituals from me, it's truly all not that deep), we also lose the fun that getting to know all the Societies and their own intricate histories was. While Lethe, and thus Alex, was very involved in the Societies' happenings in NH (...as they should be), we get close to none of that in the sequel which is really disappointing — why did I start making annotations in NH about all the Societies to keep them apart if it's all useless? 

But then sometimes it also feels like Bardugo used the basic dark academia tropes in NH to get us all invested so now she can bring out her fucked up version of Alice in Wonderland (complete with a rabbit!) into the world and if that's the case, respect to her. 

This book is very much character-focused ("but Hanna, you said it's plot-driven!" those are different things to me OK), we learn that — surprise! — Alex isn't the only one here with dark secrets and actually even "the good guys" like Turner (whom I absolutely loved in this book) have their own demons (sometimes literally...) to contend with. First, only Daws and Alex, then a bigger team of mischiefs, try to find a path into Hell on campus and I loved to see them figure all the clues out and how the history of the Societies was involved in it (at least some of my annotations were worth it!). 

There's another murder mystery that I (and the characters) honestly could've done without, faculty members dying with most everyone (even Alex and Turner) going "yeah that just seems like slightly weird but still regular murder :)" is what I want from my thrillers not from my Sci-Fi. 

Then, there were the trips into Hell, for which "trips" is honestly enough of a description. Just straight up wild. You can tell how much effort Bardugo has put into researching different religions and their descriptions of Hell/hell-esque realms/the afterlife and as a religious history nerd, I greatly enjoyed the more "theoretical" aspects of that and the discussions about it. What actually transpired in Hell is the fucked up Alice in Wonderland stuff I was talking about — just wait and see. 

Not to out myself once again as a white man's hoe but I have no shame in admitting that I'm mainly here for Darlington. Sorry but that man is exactly who I'd fall for (history nerd, you remember) and, not to spoil anything, but while Darlington may not be completely with Darlington 2.0, I, for one, am just loving him even more. 

While there's no explicit present romance, there are some surprisingly spicy thoughts from both Alex and Darlington (especially Darlington) about the other and I'm extremely ready to see where that goes. 

We get some more of Alex's "Lady of the Wheel" stuff (sorry, I listened in German!), not as much as I would've liked, especially because it was such a big revelation in NH, but after all, there was a guy to get back from hell, so I'll forgive it for now. 

I still love these characters dearly and even though it seems we're gonna keep going into weird territory with the ending, I'm still fascinated by the world as well, so even though this book was at times a mess and completely over the place, I will be warily looking forward to the next book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism