Hell Bent
Ninth House, Book 2
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Hell Bent
Narrated by:
Lauren Fortgang, Michael David Axtell
Buy Now for €21.99
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Narrated by:
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Lauren Fortgang
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Michael David Axtell
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By:
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Leigh Bardugo
THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FANTASY OF 2023
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Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell.
Galaxy 'Alex' Stern is determined to break Darlington out of hell - even if it endangers her future at Lethe and at Yale.
But Alex is playing with forces far beyond her control, and when faculty members begin to die off, she knows these aren't just accidents.
Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if Alex is going to survive, she'll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university's very walls.
Thick with history and packed with Bardugo's signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.
PRAISE FOR NINTH HOUSE:
'Impossible to put down' STEPHEN KING
'One of the best fantasy novels I've read in years' LEV GROSSMAN
'Ninth House rocked my world' JOE HILL
'I wouldn't blame you for taking the day off to finish it' KELLY LINK
'Mesmerising' CHARLAINE HARRIS
'Compulsively readable' KIRKUS
'Atmospheric' BOOKLIST
'The fantasy novel of the year' THE I
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Leigh Bardugo's book 'Ninth House' was a No. 7 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 14-10-2019.
Leigh Bardugo's book 'Hell Bent' was a No. 2 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 09-01-2023.
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Continue the series
I imagine that in this second book L. Bardugo is setting things up for the next installment in the series, but all it did was leave me wondering why add the murders subplot in the first place? Not only did it not add anything of substance to the plot but it actually distracted from the main event - getting Darlington out of Hell, which brings me to my next points.
The big reveal, which was supposed to be Darlington himself, was very anticlimactic and he rarely made an appearance afterwards. Because of this, the few cute romantic lines had no effect (😭). The concept of Hell and demons could have been very interesting but the way it was left unexplored (along with others such as corruption in academia, greed, good and evil) is almost criminal.
Overall, there’s a lot of superficial trauma dump, repetitiveness and circularity, and without any moments of stillness or reflection, the plot becomes nothing but a group of people in loggoed (is that even a word?) sweatpants (because that’s what every secret society needs- matching outfits) chasing after random clues to solve problems that materialized out of thin air with all too convenient solutions. There was a lot of “oh so this person did that because of X but now there is Y stopping us but no worries, I’ve always had Z to fix it! To the Batmobile!”.
There were a couple of things that weren’t explained and I’m hoping they’ll be addressed in the next book. There is still no explanation as to Alex’s source of magic. It’s all too chaotic yet convenient and useful, which makes it boring. The hyper focus on opening portals was equally boring, and it would have been nice for the rabbit theme to make an appearance in the first book because right now it just feels pulled out of a hat (pun not intended).
Didn’t enjoy it as much as Ninth House
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