Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

87 reviews

cre8withcait'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Torture, Police brutality, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism

mads_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

elise_ellen's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

Loved this book!! Was kind of disturbing and hard to read at times but overall really enjoyed. 

Was SUPER emotionally distraught with the rabbit story scene…and giving 4 stars because I’m still so confused about Darlington and his partial demon self and who killed who. Unsure if this will be explained further, but at this point it is very incompletely elucidated.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

klsreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

*Extremely long sigh* I made a mistake because I thought this was the final book, not the second in a trilogy. I read it thinking it was going to wrap everything up and ended up pretty disappointed. I was wrong!! That being said, I don't think Hell Bent hit it out of the park like I thought it would. There was so much action and (dare I say) extraneous plot devices that I got whiplash. This isn't the first time I felt that way with Bardugo's writing. I think it worked in Six of Crows, but not as much here. The darkness requires some sitting, some stewing. I think Bardugo needs to fully commit to the audience - is this adult? Mature YA? There's sexual violence, but no sexual autonomy or processing. There's physical and emotional violence, but it doesn't settle. There's urgency, but less understanding. Things aren't reckoned with. College kids don't always act like college kids, cops don't act like cops, people are just kind of...off? I wanted to sit more in the big moments and implications, but found myself getting rushed along despite the first ~300 pages dragging. 

I'm giving this a 4 because I love the premise of the series, and I hope that Bardugo can pull it off with the final novel. There are SO many interesting things going on, and I think she can recapture the balance of the first book, answer the big questions, and actually explore power, class, racism, sexism, colonialism, and violence in academia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

zannayo's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment

20sidedbi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Brilliant but WOAH check the content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Rape, Slavery, and Vomit

mitchelldavis1997's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

I still really enjoyed this book, but the major themes differed greatly from what I loved and what intrigued me in the first book. This book was less dark academia/Yale and secret society lore, which I missed. And while the plot had plenty to twists and turns, some parts were slow and I didn’t really see where the book was going. This book takes the series in a different direction than the first, and I’m not sure if I will like that direction as much as the first book. Though I’m excited to read more in the series and see how it goes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, and Medical content

_likethefruit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

4.5

As a sequel to Ninth House, Hell Bent is a fantastic book with an epic adventure to hell. Unfortunately, the epic level of this journey is so complex, and loaded with so much history and context, that the book is sometimes an information overload. I kept wondering if I missed too many details from the previous book, but in reality, the author was dropping more world building so casually that it felt pre-established. This made the book a little harder to read, but the adventure was totally worth it. Total book hangover after this one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug use

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Sexual violence, and Classism

Minor: Slavery

chasinggrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

I’m gnawing at the bars of my enclosure waiting to talk to someone about this series. I love these characters, the found family, the setting, the mystery that all comes together at the end, the banter, the LORE, the history, the badassery of it all. How FERAL a certain someone gets during the last third of this book. I need to get Miss Leigh Bardugo on the phone expeditiously because what do you mean you’ve put the third book of this series on the back burner?? Get to work ma'am or I’m sicking Tripp on your ass. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Murder