Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.
Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she 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.
⤖ My Review ⬻
Where do I even begin with Hell Bent? I suppose I could start by saying that this was my most-anticipated book of the year, and I’m very very happy that it did not disappoint in the least. Not one bit! Over the past year or so, I’d been realizing more and more that I’ve been pushing myself to read more and more and more…and that this self-implemented pressure was pulling me away from my actual love for reading.
So for the last third of 2022, I really worked on catching up so that I could go back to a pace of reading where I didn’t feel like I had to rush, and really let myself enjoy. Why am I going into this here? I’ll tell you why! I’m happy to share that I reached my goal just before picking up Ninth House and was therefore able to immerse myself in this book in a way that I haven’t let myself in a long time.
I really let myself take my time to savour every word, paragraph, chapter…absorb everything in Hell Bent—really let myself spend quality time with these characters I had missed for more than two years. I won’t mention any names because spoilers, but I was so so happy to read about all of them again—to learn more about their pasts, follow along as they developed as characters, developed their relationships with each other. I was also very happy to return to the setting as well and almost see it as a character all on its own—and like with the other, actual characters, I loved how some of the layers were peeled back here as well.
Lastly, the atmosphere was perhaps one of my favourite things. Or maybe it was the dark academia aspects, or maybe the detail Bardugo uses in her writing (not too little, not too much) for my taste. I just loved this book! I don’t typically enjoy the middle books in trilogies, but I have to say that I loved Hell Bent and Ninth House equally! I neeeeeed the next book and really hope that the wait will be shorter for it…because I’ll be in my own personal hell until it’s in my hands!
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Thank you for reading my review! Have you read this book? What did you think? And if you haven’t read it yet, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!
if you’re in your own personal hell, I’m there with you! book three now pleeeeease.
Ahhhhh well I’m glad I’m not alone but also sad that you’re in hell with me haha. Hoping we get book 3 STAT!