Hell Bent (Alex Stern #2) by Leigh Bardugo

Hell Bent is a solid offering that continues in the vein of Ninth House and explores a bit more of Bardugo’s universe.

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is back, and this time around, she’s preparing to walk the ‘Gauntlet,’ the magical path created by a bunch of misfits in order to descend to the underworld or hell (an inexcitable version too, but interesting nevertheless;

“Alex squinted out at the flat gray day. Could it even be day if there was no sun visible? The bruised sky stretched on and on, and wherever they were…No pits of fire. No obsidian walls. It felt like a suburb, a new one, for a city that didn’t exist. The streets were spotless, the buildings nearly identical. They had the shape of the strip malls that lived on every corner of the valley, full of nail salons and dry cleaners and head shops. But there were no signs over the doors here and no customers. The storefronts were empty.”) as it’s so often put, so that she can rescue the beloved golden gentleman of Lethe.

Thoughts

Hell Bent is a solid offering that continues in the vein of Ninth House and explores a bit more of Bardugo’s universe.

It’s also well-written and enjoyable, which, at this point, is starting to feel like a given with this author. We see a bit more of the characters introduced in the prior book and some more of their motivations and desires too.

Hell Bent is worth a read for fans of this genre. It is a bit of a mystery, a bit of literary fiction, a bit of fantasy and supernatural, with some dark academia thrown in the mix. 

Recommended.