Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
Hell Bent picks up not too long after the events of Ninth House: Darlington is gone, eaten up by a hell beast and likely sent down to hell. Alex Stern is determined to get Darlington, her friend and mentor back from hell or wherever he might be. And she will use the full might and magic of Lethe and the rest of the magical societies at Yale if she has to. The challenge is that there isn’t much information about descending to hell in any […]
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
I have never liked The Secret History; I will admit to seeing why it’s such a favorite based on the general aesthetic (practically inventing ‘dark academia’) but that’s about it. Don’t @ me; this is not a ‘convince me’ thing. This particular hill of mine is why I was a little surprised that I liked Ninth House (Alex Stern 1) and I still like her story in Hell Bent (Alex Stern 2). The plot is pretty basic: rescue Alex’s former mentor/friend Darlington from Hell. Alex, […]
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
This is the second book in the Alex Stern series. This review will contain some spoilers for the first book in the series, Ninth House because I’m not sure how to review it without referencing things that happened in the last book. So if you’re new to this series, start there. Darlington is still missing, “in Spain” to those not in the know, and in Hell, possibly dead to those initiated in the secrets of Lethe House. Galaxy “Alex” Stern doesn’t have a lot of […]
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
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 […]
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most […]
Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2) by Leigh Bardugo
Just like with the first book, I feel like I need to turn around and read this again from the beginning to really get a handle on my feelings about what happened. This book is even more intense, and is basically non-stop plot for its entirety. And, once again, Bardugo doesn’t write linearly, which adds an additional layer of intrigue and makes you want to turn the pages faster because she knows what to tease and when to explain. Yeah, it was really good. Spoilers […]
