Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Title: Hell Bent
Series: Alex Stern #2
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Fantasy; Mystery
Publisher/Publication Date: Flatiron Books; January 10, 2023

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell in #1 New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo's Hell Bent.

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.

The one sequel this year that I didn’t realize I should be anticipating was Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo. I happened to read Ninth House in April to get out of a bad reading slump, and I loved it so much that I purchased a copy of Hell Bent. And I loved this sequel as much as the first.

I was so glad to be back with Alex, Dawes, Turner, and the other characters as a daring, dangerous, and reckless plan was hatched to rescue Darlington.

One of the highlights of this series continues to be the characters. There were familiar faces, like Tripp Helmuth. With every heist there is a team, and Alex’s allies (and the way they tackled the needs for their quest) was fantastic. Dawes is just Dawes: studious, shy, and incredibly reliable. Her friendship and understanding with Alex wasn’t without some hurdles, but it was one of my favorite platonic relationships in Hell Bent. There’s Turner too, who could sometimes be more reluctant, but I liked how much more background was revealed about him.

In general, there’s something so dark and realistic (and horrifying) about these books, but the grit suited the overall atmosphere and the contents of the story. A literal heist that involved burglarizing hell, and I don’t mean that metaphorically either.

Less time was spent on describing Yale, but the locations didn’t deviate much from the last book. Basically, much of the world building was done in Ninth House, and its sequel just built on the ground rules that were already established. A lot of the book was devoted to the main quest-type plotline, but there were plenty of other mysteries—about the magic, the secret societies, and the characters as well as new cryptic deaths—that made every moment interesting.

Overall, Hell Bent was an excellent sequel.