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A review by incipientdreamer
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
How to make a hell heist tedious as fuck, a lesson by Leigh Bardugo.
That is honestly the first thing that came to my mind when I finished this book. Ninth House was a book that made me appreciate Bardugo's writing as an Adult author, but Hell Bent just made me want to take all of it back. The Oleader Sword by Tasha Suri has raised my standards for 2nd books in trilogies and Hell Bent is way below the mark.
My main issue was this book was how circuitous and repetitive the entire ~500 page novel was. It's one of those books where nothing happens but everything happens. So much so that you stop really caring about what happens next. Oh, the first portal to hell summoned something bad, no biggie we'll keep trying until we either fuck up so bad or we somehow fix it. That's literally how the plot works. And the issue is that it removes the sense of danger or thrill when you can open a portal to hell on any old full moon.
Another issue I had was how Bardugo flirts with the New Adult Paranormal Romance genre but never really commits to it. Either go full SJM or don't! Make up your mind so I can make up my mind about whether to read your damn book. The most detested trope in Adult Straight Fantasy books for me is the monster-fucking-smut trope. You all know what I'm talking about. The one that involves this super hot demonic dude, who the heroine is attracted to because he's so monstrous and the dude's "lust" is likened to animal attraction (I'm cringing as I am typing this eurghh). I hate that trope with every fibre of my being. If you like it, that's great. But duping readers by skirting around the topic just because you want to market your book to the SJM fanatics over on tick tock, but also not lose your initial audience is a glowing dick move (yeah I said it). Because I feel like that's what the series is ultimately building to with the finale and if that is true, count me out.
What I did like was the stuff that was good ol Ninth House. Yale's turbulent history with power and privilege. How powerful men have been using magic as another form of oppression. To lift themselves up, and another way for them to dodge the consequences of their actions. I loved Bardugo's intricate research into the Gauntlet and Sterling. Reading about it made me feel like I was solving the puzzle with the characters. Something that would have improved my reading experience was if the book had pictures of Sterling's inscriptions and the entire Gauntlet because at times it made it difficult to imagine for someone who's never been to Yale. I know the probability of that being included was nil, but a girl can dream. I also thought the bunny rabbit symbolism would be something deeper (think Alice in wonderland, down the rabbit hole to hell type symbolism) but I guess it was still nicely tied in to flourish Alex's character.
It is very less likely that I'm going to read book 3 of the series. For sure, going to wait for reviews before pre-ordering it as I did with Hell Besnt. If you enjoyed Ninth House I would recommend leaving it at that because the ending to Ninth House isn't that big of a cliffhanger and can serve as a stand-alone if you want. Though I could be wrong and Hell Bent is just another one of those books stuck in middle book purgatory.
That is honestly the first thing that came to my mind when I finished this book. Ninth House was a book that made me appreciate Bardugo's writing as an Adult author, but Hell Bent just made me want to take all of it back. The Oleader Sword by Tasha Suri has raised my standards for 2nd books in trilogies and Hell Bent is way below the mark.
My main issue was this book was how circuitous and repetitive the entire ~500 page novel was. It's one of those books where nothing happens but everything happens. So much so that you stop really caring about what happens next. Oh, the first portal to hell summoned something bad, no biggie we'll keep trying until we either fuck up so bad or we somehow fix it. That's literally how the plot works. And the issue is that it removes the sense of danger or thrill when you can open a portal to hell on any old full moon.
Another issue I had was how Bardugo flirts with the New Adult Paranormal Romance genre but never really commits to it. Either go full SJM or don't! Make up your mind so I can make up my mind about whether to read your damn book. The most detested trope in Adult Straight Fantasy books for me is the monster-fucking-smut trope. You all know what I'm talking about. The one that involves this super hot demonic dude, who the heroine is attracted to because he's so monstrous and the dude's "lust" is likened to animal attraction (I'm cringing as I am typing this eurghh). I hate that trope with every fibre of my being. If you like it, that's great. But duping readers by skirting around the topic just because you want to market your book to the SJM fanatics over on tick tock, but also not lose your initial audience is a glowing dick move (yeah I said it). Because I feel like that's what the series is ultimately building to with the finale and if that is true, count me out.
What I did like was the stuff that was good ol Ninth House. Yale's turbulent history with power and privilege. How powerful men have been using magic as another form of oppression. To lift themselves up, and another way for them to dodge the consequences of their actions. I loved Bardugo's intricate research into the Gauntlet and Sterling. Reading about it made me feel like I was solving the puzzle with the characters. Something that would have improved my reading experience was if the book had pictures of Sterling's inscriptions and the entire Gauntlet because at times it made it difficult to imagine for someone who's never been to Yale. I know the probability of that being included was nil, but a girl can dream. I also thought the bunny rabbit symbolism would be something deeper (think Alice in wonderland, down the rabbit hole to hell type symbolism) but I guess it was still nicely tied in to flourish Alex's character.
It is very less likely that I'm going to read book 3 of the series. For sure, going to wait for reviews before pre-ordering it as I did with Hell Besnt. If you enjoyed Ninth House I would recommend leaving it at that because the ending to Ninth House isn't that big of a cliffhanger and can serve as a stand-alone if you want. Though I could be wrong and Hell Bent is just another one of those books stuck in middle book purgatory.