A Much-Anticipated Sequel: Read Our Review of Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell.

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 artefacts 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.

Leigh Bardugo is the number one bestselling author of fantasy novels and the creator of the Grishaverse. And when she published her long-awaited adult debut novel, Ninth House, in 2020 it became a global and instant Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller. Now, Bardugo returns with Hell Bent the much-anticipated sequel to Ninth House.

A mission from hell – literally. In this instalment, we see Alex and Dawes on a quest to find Darlington and bring him back from hell. But danger awaits at every corner, and although they’re determined to not give up, Alex and Dawes quickly learn they’ll need a bigger team than two. So Dawn puts a plan in action and assembles a team to help them, igniting a riveting, page-turning read.

We met Alex in Ninth House, getting to know her raw, fierce and badass personality. While her unapologetic attitude was mostly admirable, she was quite closed off. In Hell Bent, we get to see her come out of her shell more. While her past comes back to haunt her, we still see Alex letting her guard down and her friends in; this makes her even more admirable.

With a well-drawn plot and compelling characters, Bardugo is clearly a master at world building and character development. Hell Bent delves deeper into Alex’s back story, but also Darlington’s and other supporting characters’. And while it’s still hardly there, we see the romantic tensions between Alex and Darlington continue to brew… and I’m completely here for it.

Throughout both Ninth House and Hell Bent, Bardugo seamlessly blends in secret societies, ghosts, demons and murder mysteries with important themes of racism, class, privilege and misogyny. It makes this world feel completely real and immersive, and I couldn’t put it down. The book’s end (no spoilers here) left me in a daze, and waiting in anticipation to see what happens in book #3.

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. Both Hell Bent and Ninth House are necessary additions to your TBR pile.

Buy a copy of Hell Bent here.

Synopsis

Alex Stern returns in another tale of murder and dark magic set among the Ivy League elite.

Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell.

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.

Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Grisha Trilogy (Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising).She was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University, and has worked in advertising, journalism, and most recently, makeup and special effects. These days, she’s lives and writes in Hollywood where she can occasionally be heard singing with her band. Her new book, Six of Crows, arrives fall 2015.

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