Article contributed by Coline Pechberty-Pautal
Ninth House started and ended in an avalanche of catastrophes. The societies are full of self-serving people who care little about anything else but their own gain. The dean, overseeing the activities of Lethe and so supposedly on Alex’s side, is definitely not a good person, and neither is the cool French professor Marguerite Belbalm. Magic is not so magical and Alex is what is called a Wheelwalker.
Furthermore, Darlington is gone, but maybe not forever. Maybe there is a way to bring him back… from hell because Darlington might have become a demon.
Hell Bent, in the same style as the first book, goes back and forth in time, starting a few months after Ninth House’s events, in autumn, then returning to the summer months, and back again to the “present”, in a well-written time loop that leaves the reader consistently missing pieces to a foggy mind-puzzle, always having to wonder what’s happening.
In this second book, Alex Stern, Pamela Dawes, Abel Turner, and a couple of new members to their somewhat unwilling group of allies, are joining forces to go on a (very) dangerous journey. The story takes us on a deep dive into the minds and lives of these characters, and how far they are willing to go to reach their goals.
Alex has a lot to lose if anything goes (even more) wrong: her place at Yale, her chance at a better future, her life… But she also has a lot to prove, to herself first and foremost, and a lot to mend. As her powers grow, so does her control over them and the situations she finds herself in also become more and more life-threatening, danger coming from both humans and… others.
Dawes is grappling with what she’s had to do to save Alex, with having to step out of her comfort zone on the sidelines and standing up for what she believes is right in a world where there seems to be no good choices. She’s risking what she holds so dear, her work as Oculus, for a slim chance at getting Darlington back—and she’ll do it all again if needed.
Turner never wanted to have anything to do with “children playing with fire, looking surprised when the house burns down” but can’t extirpate himself from the societies either, especially as a series of murders happen on campus, seemingly related to magic. He’ll help the young women from Lethe, one last time, but the battle between good and evil might not be as straight-forward as that.
With so many moving pieces on the board, many mysteries to uncover and monsters to learn about, the story evolves like a maze and the reader is never sure what or who to expect at the next turn.
The end of the book lays out the direction the next one will apparently take, hinting at quite an unexpected and exciting adventure for the members of the Ninth House. While we’ll probably enjoy the ride, they might not as it sounds like a crazy, scary, bumpy one for them.
The Alex Stern series is dark, the topics discussed are heavy, the characters both moving, and fear-inducing, sombre and full of life.
Reading this story feels like a slow, neverending, winter day: the grey sky is hanging low above your head, but you’re comfortably curled up in an armchair in a cosy room and could stay there forever. Hell broke loose outside, but you are safe inside. For now.
Trigger warnings for this book includes, but not limited to, sexual assault and murder.
Hell Bent is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | 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.
