Hell Bent

The follow-up to Ninth House, Hell Bent tells the story of Alex Stern’s determination to restore the Virgil to her Dante at Lethe. Lethe is ninth house introduced in the first novel, the oversight house at Yale University, where long standing tradition means that eight powerful houses, or societies, use the arcane and magic to alter reality or prognosticate or otherwise guarantee their alumni continue to live lives of privilege and prosperity. Lethe observes their rituals and workings to keep them both unobserved by outside eyes, and also undisturbed by the occult, any ghostly forces that would interrupt or play havoc with the magic integral to the ceremonies and rites being conducted in secret by these eight houses inside Yale University’s venerable tombs and classroom buildings. Alex Stern’s mentor at Lethe,Daniel Arlington, is sucked through a portal of some kind in the middle of the first book. With the assistance of Lethe’s Oculus, Pam Dawes, Alex is determined to rescue Darlington and bring him home. The circumstances surrounding this random accident are suspicious and Alex isn’t having it. Working against this goal are many obstacles, ranging from past to present. There’s blowback from Alex’s lurid and unsettling past as a strung-out teen in California; there’s the distrust and resistance Alex and Dawes encounter from the adults in the Lethe organization, from the Lethe-liaison police detective with whom they worked to solve a murder in book one, Ninth House, to the faculty and university administrators within whose imprimatur they must work, who discourage investigation and sadly shake their heads and write off a young man’s loss—his assumed death—as an unfortunate hazard of the job. Determined as Alex and the reluctant team of other characters who join the quest are to bring Darlington home, their objective becomes enormously daunting, nearly unthinkable, when it becomes clear that they must steal back Darlington’s soul from hell itself, and that they won’t be the first Yale students to make the trip to the underworld and back. What price will they pay to save Darlington, Lethe’s “golden boy” who was intentionally sucked into the demonic realm? The action is fast-paced, urgent, and suspenseful. It cost me as a reader to go slowly, to savor the story instead of devour it. This novel builds a rich and layered world with a strong central narrative objective (getting Darlington’s soul back) which is further enriched by all sorts of extraneous and intertwined complications: —like the reappearance of Eitan, the West Coast Israeli drug kingpin who ensures Alex’s compliance in working for him by obliquely threatening her mom’s well-being; —like Alex’s realization that the spirits of the dead, the Grays she’s always seen, can speak to and through her and can even momentarily hijack her body to talk to living people; —like the fact that human souls can be ripped out of bodies, and a such a body can return to the regular world, sans soul, to hang out in a warded circle in his childhood home, naked, beautiful, bearing glowing golden badges of demonic indenture, featuring horns, and a robust erection; —like the fact that vampires actually exist(!); and —like the inclusion of Alex’s roommate, Mercy, who has not hitherto been aware of the magic suffused into the fabric of her university, into the elaborate Darlington rescue plan— all these twists and turns, make the story both more relatable—life throws complications at us constantly, even when we are in the midst of Big Things—and also more complex, lending the book the wonderful, fully-developed richness that readers so love and expect from Leigh Bardugo’s novels. This second Alex Stern novel is an easier read than Ninth House, I thought, because the time line is relatively straightforward. I reread Ninth House before launching into Hell Bent (I often reread a novel before I read its sequel), and I was once again struck by Leigh Bardugo’s use of a wildly fractured narrative time line. The reader has to piece together what has occurred to get to Alex’s enrollment at Yale, then figure out Daniel’s a sense and what caused it, and how the past has shaped him almost as much as Alex’s has shaped her. Reading it feels disjointed, complicated, disassociated, something like being in a fugue state—like waking up on a stained mattress and not knowing how one’s best friend could be no longer alive, or how the room around one became splintered and wrong and littered with the blood-splattered remains of people one knew, all while one was apparently unconscious. I loved this novel, its predecessor, and I am eager to find out what happens next, though the wait for book three will no doubt be agonizing. I recommend this novel—and this author—wholeheartedly. Hell Bent is 100% great read.

Dark, clever, and utterly immersive—Hell Bent delivers exactly what I was hoping for after Ninth House. The stakes are higher, the magic is messier, and Alex Stern continues to be one of the most compelling (and morally gray) protagonists I’ve read in a while. Bardugo leans hard into the occult side of Yale’s secret societies this time, and it’s both fascinating and disturbing in the best way. The plot is dense and sometimes a little chaotic, but it fits the story—this world isn’t meant to be neat or comfortable. There were moments where the pacing slowed and I had to reread sections to keep everything straight, which is the only reason this isn’t a full five stars. Still, the character development, the emotional weight, and that ending? Worth it. If you liked Ninth House, you’ll absolutely want to continue Alex’s story—just be prepared for a darker, more intense ride. Can't wait for the next book in September!!

I went into this thinking it would be the second and last installment of this series. If I had known I'd never have picked this up. The book is totally addictive and then it ends mid-air. And I'm thinking... Noooooo!!!!! She did not just do this. And no hint of a book 3 in sight. But the plot is amazing. The characters are mostly interesting - a couple of them are downright lovable, the evil forces are sadistically, cunningly, cruel. And I would love it all were it not for the heroine who is oh, so obtuse, oh, oh, oh oh, sooooooooo obtuse, she crashes through the walls into the kingdom of dumb. She is so dumb - there I've said it. And I hate main characters who are dumb. Call her an anti-hero, it's no excuse, she is dumb. The only thing interesting about Galaxy Stern is her untapped potential. The suspense that comes from watching her go from one bad decision to the next sometimes feels like a cheap, overused trick of authors the world over that need their characters to be dumb so they don't have to work as hard creating brilliant challenges to the level of brilliant characters. It's easier if a character causes her own obstacles - it requires less ingenuity for authors to cause mischief that way. Example - no spoiler: the heroine goes to the house of the big bad wolf, runs away, leaves her things behind. Doesn't tell anyone (not even those who share her home) - leaving everyone exposed to the big bad wolf, who anyone will tell you has a big bad nose and can follow you home. OR you discover you have magical powers and even discover there is a name for what you are, and you live in a house with a magical library, and yet... you do not look up what you are. OR you keep on repeating the same mistake, over and over, and over though people have told you it's a big mistake, and you know it's a big mistake, but you are lazy and can't be bothered to learn how to not make the same mistake again. OR.. and this is my pet peeve in any book that uses this move: you keep quiet for the most inane reasons, and withhold essential information from allies. I tell you, just dumb. And yet... I still love it and will be looking out for the next book in the horizon, hoping it comes soon.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 OMG what did I just read but also - OMG that was absolutely awesome. I loved Ninth House for the magic, the paranormal background, the supernatural intrigue, and the deadly creatures but more importantly the mysterious secrets that forced Alex Stern literally into hell and back to solve them. This book gave me all that and more. Alex is such an incredibly complex character, and I loved learning more about her in this instalment. I also loved seeing how she fights for her friends (especially Darlington) and never gives up. Darlington was lost in book one and left in Purgatory, but Alex is not happy to leave him there. She along with Dawes are willing to risk their jobs and future at Lethe and Yale to get him back. The institution of Ninth House refused to help and forbids Alex and Dawes from trying to rescue Darlington but that doesn't stop them in the slightest. Alex and Dawes must bring a group of mismatched, gifted, and weird people together in order to research arcane texts, decipher rituals and perform the exact combination of acts to get the Gentleman of Lethe back. What Alex doesn't bank on is that what she might bring back from Purgatory may not be the Darlington she has come to know. There were so many amazing moments in this book that it's hard to pinpoint a favourite scene or insanely addictive moment. The journey to hell was incredibly unnerving, the weird and horrific deaths that continue around New Haven were disturbing and the revelations about how they tie into the secrets hidden within Lethe was shocking. I loved the snarky banter between Alex (who is Queen of the sarcastic comment) and the Demon (who is strangely alluring and compelling). I think the relationships between all the characters and Alex were fascinating to read as she takes no crap from anyone but still gets people to do her crazy bidding. The magic and mayhem that ensues throughout the story was thrilling to the final chapter. Leigh Bardugo has once again kept me glued to the page and begging for more by the end.

It has everything you need in a fantasy/ mistery book. It is not repetitive, or including romance just to fill in some gaps. If you're into the occult, you have to read this 👌

Bought the hard cover on sale, fantastic deal. Good read, paper and cover is mid grade at best. At full price I would not be impressed.

Alles prima, vielen Dank.

There aren’t many series that I want to read any more, most just go on and on and bore me to tears. Book one and two I enjoyed and wanted to keep reading. A good story, interesting characters and a challenging and almost realistic plot. It is a fantasy after all, but well done.