Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - Hell Bent

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Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

113 reviews

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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em_chata's review against another edition

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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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lauracthornton's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.25

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camiclarkbooks's review against another edition

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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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hnicole01's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

The way I will not be able to sleep peacefully until I read the 3rd book

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veeloucagraph's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

2.75

She'd never liked that phrase, diamond in the rough. All that meant was that they had to cut you again and again to let the light in.

That was all there was in this world. No heroes or villains, just the people you'd brave the waves for, and the ones you'd let drown.

I've been trying to figure out a way to start this review and I believe the easiest way is to say, I couldn't wait for the sequel after Ninth House, and now I don't know if I want another sequel.
The second book in this occult New Haven setting felt disappointing, like it was shy, not going all the way with any of its themes, unlike Ninth House, which impressed, shocked and enthralled me by the end. The story moves along quite slowly but at the same time, as though we don't get enough time to breathe with the characters. Things are happening because they have to, we take characters along for the ride and feel their burden through the boredom their plot points create. The writing feels too preachy or distanced at times and a lot of the supernatural doesn't really make sense either with the tone or the logic the characters come up with. The stakes don't really feel high even though they're meant to be higher than ever and so much tension was lost because of the repetition in the plot, making important moments or reveals anti-climactic.

Maybe all that really needs to be said is that there should have been more secret societies, more rituals, more creatures, more demons, more Alex and Darlington, more of the exciting elements, which Leigh Bardugo seems to keep like a delicacy when your will to read is about to leave you.

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hanna's review against another edition

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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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minchowski's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-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

4.75

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crlpedigo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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svblvna's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

hell is empty and all the devils are here

listen, as a Darlington girlie from day one, this book has given me so much and i am so very grateful.

all in all, the Yale lore, the academia, the magic, the gentleman demon, the yearning, the found family... all of the ingredients to make my heart full and to leave me satisfied! this book really took me by surprise with how much more 'fantasy' it felt than Ninth House and although i would've liked a deeper dive into the secret societies and the academic side of things, i was so engrossed in the twists and turns of the story that i don't even mind. i was already deeply attached to Alex, Dawes and Darlington so i was also just very happy to see more of them and that probably influenced my enjoyment of this book but i still think this is completely on par with the first one! it's different for sure and the vibe is spookier and somehow darker despite some moments of levity but it's such a good sequel.

here's to hoping we get news on the third book soon and that it will be as good as the first two were! (i'd also love some news about the adaptation once the strikes are over, pretty please) i trust you Leigh, do your worst.

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