Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

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

em_chata's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

Leigh Bardugo’s writing is incredible. Easily some of the best fantasy I’ve ever read. I love her books. The way she wrote Ninth House and Hell Bent is knowing, almost. It’s like the solution to the mystery is on the tip of your tongue the whole time, but you can’t quite find the words to describe it. She weaves together stories so effortlessly, and does it in such a unique way that I haven’t been able to find in many other books I’ve read. Galaxy Stern is an incredible main character and utterly real—she doesn’t try to make herself the hero, doesn’t try to be anything she’s not. There’s no ~grand revealing~ of Alex suddenly changing herself for the greater good, it’s just Alex being Alex. I loved how Bardugo wove several different stories into one grand plot—Eitan, Darlington, and the murders—it made the ending that much more satisfying. 

In addition, I’m really excited to see more of Darlington and Alex’s relationship. It kinda feels like how it does when you’re reading the book—a mystery, on the tip of your tongue…IDK how to explain it. I just love that their relationship goes so much deeper and that there’s still so much to unravel. I love how Bardugo set this book up perfectly for the next book, leaving dealings with Reiter and Hell’s open door for Galaxy and Darlington to handle in the next one. 10/10. Cannot express how much I adored this book and how excited I am for the third one. 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Animal death, and Drug use

Minor: Suicide attempt

phighum's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

A strong follow-up to Ninth House, with good development to the cast of characters surrounding Alex. Looking forward to future installments. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, and Animal death

camiclarkbooks'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, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death, and Violence

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

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

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

laraloops's review against another edition

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

4.5

A great sequel to Ninth House - I don't think it's better than the first book but I enjoyed it more and felt that I could read it much faster. The book was not as graphic or dark as the first one but I honestly felt a small amount of relief at that. 

I felt that the first book mainly dealt with Alex figuring out how to survive in a world she was powerless in but this book was focused on her finding friends and peers to relate to and rely on and I enjoyed it. I've seen some complain that she has too much plot armor in this one but I have to disagree. I don't necessarily need to see Alex getting the sh*t beat out of her each chapter so I didn't mind if she had a little more power in this one - I feel like she's deserved some and it is not necessarily not hinted at throughout the story. 

There were some really fun parts in this book that I can't go into without spoilers but I found them fun and the character dynamics were fun to observe in those situations. I found the new powers/magics that they dabbled in to be interesting and gross at times as always with this series. 

I don't consider this book at 5 out of 5 but it's closer than some other books I've read and it was still an enjoyable and fitting sequel to Ninth House. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

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 death and Animal cruelty

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