Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

114 reviews

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???

---

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

---

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

---

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

lisashelves'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Vomit and Death of parent

mbzoller's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, and Murder

veeloucagraph's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Cursing

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Drug use, Slavery, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

sarahsbooklife's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Rape, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Sexism, Vomit, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

hanna'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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

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

victoriamark's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Drug use, Murder, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Drug abuse

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death of parent, Addiction, Violence, Blood, Classism, and Death

Minor: Sexual assault