Publishers Weekly
★ 10/31/2022
Bestseller Bardugo, best known for her YA Grishaverse novels, returns to the more adult struggles of Alex Stern, low-level L.A. drug dealer turned Yale scholarship student thanks to her ability to see and corral ghosts (“Grays”), in this thrilling sequel to 2019’s Ninth House. Now employed as a Virgil by Lethe House, the Yale body that oversees the magical rituals of the campus’s many secret societies, Alex is pulled in several directions as she tries to fill the role left empty when her upperclassman mentor, Darlington, was sent to Hell by a diabolical dean. Ignoring her patrons’ instructions to move on, she persists in digging into the secrets of Lethe’s past, searching for a way to open a portal and bring Darlington back. Alex’s own past will not stay hidden either; her L.A. supplier, Eitan Harel, having learned of her ability, comes calling with jobs for her, including intimidating a strangely unaging former Yalie. Bardugo surrounds Alex with fascinating supporting players, among them a damaged New Haven cop and a naive roommate excited by the lure of the supernatural, while keeping the story’s drive firmly in Alex’s grip for another scrappy underdog tale. The taut plot, often grisly magic, lavish scene-setting, and wry humor combine to make this just as un-put-downable as the first installment. Readers will be wowed. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
Praise for Hell Bent
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2023 by The New York Times, The Week, Kirkus Reviews, PopSugar, Distractify, Booklist Queen, The Nerd Daily, and more!!
"A tour de force of suspenseful pacing and empathetic writing... The beauty of Hell Bent is that for all the bleakness, the sense of wonder somehow still remains." —The New York Times
"All hail the queen of dark academia!... Ninth House and Hell Bent may be Bardugo's first books for adults, but you'd never know it, or care, because you're so busy following all of the action... you'll want to capture your copy quickly." —NPR
"[T]he return of protagonist Alex Stern and her mystical version of the Ivy League is very welcome... Watching this damaged loner bring together a squad of ride-and-die friends is endlessly fun, and Bardugo finds new depths to most of her supporting cast." —The Washington Post
"Gut-wrenching and deeply human, this book will tug at your heartstrings even as it chills you to the bone.... Standing head and shoulders above the already impressive Ninth House, Hell Bent is one of the best fantasy novels of the year.." —BookPage (starred reviewed)
"Thrilling ... fascinating supporting players ... The taut plot, often grisly magic, lavish scene-setting, and wry humor combine to make this just as un-put-downable as the first installment. Readers will be wowed." –Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Bardugo doesn’t flinch from the dark sides of magic and human nature….This portrait of a survivor’s dogged determination to accomplish her goal will appeal to readers of dark academia, urban fantasy, and horror.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Vivid, intelligent, and funny at just the right moments, but best of all are the complex characters.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Hell Bent is a taut, complexly plotted headrush, stocked full of complicated monsters, entitled academics, and grifters big-time and small." —Book of the Month
"Hell Bent is just as outrageously good as Ninth House, if not better... This mystery runs on vibes, and the vibes are unparalleled." —Chicago Review of Books
"Hell Bent is everything fans of Bardugo’s Alex Stern series could have asked for: It’s thematically richer, its characters are more complexly rendered, the darkness lurking at the edges of its New England-set world of privilege is more frightening, and its wit more biting." —Paste Magazine
"Although Hell Bent is one of my first reads of 2023, I can confidently see it being a top read of the year by the end of it." —SFF World
Library Journal
★ 12/01/2022
As a freshman at Yale, Alex Stern was introduced to the school's secret societies that use occult rituals to gain wealth and power and cemented her place in Lethe house, the clandestine group tasked with keeping the others in line. In this sequel that lives up to its predecessor, Ninth House, she begins her second year with a demanding course load and a past that won't stay buried—not to mention her mentor Darlington is trapped in hell. Determined to rescue him from his fate, Alex places her future at Yale and in Lethe in danger by defying the board's instructions to move on, instead using magical artifacts of dubious origin and teaming up with questionable allies to achieve her ends. Adding in faculty members dying of unnatural causes, angry ghosts, and a blackmailing mob boss, makes for an exciting second installment in this hit series that mixes real New Haven history with a world of magic only Bardugo could imagine. VERDICT Fans of the series will be thrilled to reenter the world of Lethe house, and the current popularity of dark academia will send it to the top of TBR piles.—Portia Kapraun
FEBRUARY 2023 - AudioFile
Lauren Fortgang and Michael David Axtell return to narrate the second audiobook in the Alex Stern series. Determined to break her mentor, Darlington, out of the underworld, Alex teams up with unexpected allies in a forbidden ritual. Fortgang, the primary narrator, voices Alex with overconfidence that masks her dark secrets, emotionally connecting with her distress and sorrow as she confronts the ugliest parts of her guilty past. The gravelly timbre Fortgang gives the demons is full of believable menace. Axtell voices Darlington with outward poise and inward passion as he wrestles with the dark desires of his own demons. This fervently delivered audiobook engrosses the listener through every twist and turn, making this sequel nearly impossible to pause. A.K.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-11-16
A Yale sophomore fights for her life as she balances academics with supernatural extracurriculars in this smart fantasy thriller, the second in a series.
Galaxy “Alex” Stern is a member of Lethe House, the ninth of Yale’s secret societies. And not just any member—she’s Virgil, the officer who conducts the society's rituals. In the world of Bardugo’s Alex Stern series, Yale’s secret societies command not just powerful social networks, but actual magic; it’s Lethe’s job to keep that magic in control. Alex is new to the role. She had to take over in a hurry after the previous Virgil, Darlington, her mentor and love interest, disappeared in a cliffhanger at the end of the first book. He appears to be in hell, but is he stuck there for good? Alex and Pamela Dawes—Lethe’s Oculus, or archivist/administrator—have found a reference to a pathway called a Gauntlet that can open a portal to hell, but can they find the Gauntlet itself? And what about the four murderers the Gauntlet ritual requires? Meanwhile, Alex’s past as a small-time drug dealer is catching up with her, adding gritty street crime to the demonic white-collar evil the Yale crowd tends to prefer. The plot is relentless and clever, and the writing is vivid, intelligent, and funny at just the right moments, but best of all are the complex characters, such as the four murderers, each with a backstory that makes it possible for the reader to trust them to enter hell and have the strength to leave again. Like the first book, this one ends with a cliffhanger.
Well-drawn characters introduce the criminal underworld to the occult kind in a breathless and compelling plot.
