Alessandra is reading…

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo – Review and Thoughts

On a mission to save Darlington from Hell, Alex Stern and Pamela Dawes must go to great lengths by finding the gateway to Hell, find others who will help them rescue him, and keep the magical societies of Yale University in check. Oh, and Alex needs to keep up with her classes and Dawes has her dissertation to work on. Nothing a couple of badasses can’t handle, right?

I absolutely love this series by Leigh Bardugo and I can’t wait for the third installment to come out (and you can tell there’ll be a third book from the ending). 

“That was the truth of magic – Blood and guts and seven and spit, organs kept in jars, maps for hunting humans, the skulls of unborn infants. The problem wasn’t books and fairy tales, just that they told half the story, offering up the illusion of a world shade only the villains paid in blood, the ogre stepmothers, the wicked stepsisters, where magic was just and without sacrifice.”

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

I felt somewhat detached from the story at the beginning, but this may have been for personal reasons and had nothing to do with Bardugo’s writing. Though either way if it did or not, Bardugo is an incredible storyteller because she was able to pull me back in with the action and gorgeous prose. Bardugo is an amazing writer – her story is so captivating, well written, and it’s beautifully told. 

Having finally finished after a week of reading and sometimes wondering if I didn’t love this book, I totally did. I may not have fallen head over heels as I had for Ninth House, but Alex’s journey into and out of Hell (several times) and everything in between was still phenomenal. 

Read on.