Play Book Tag discussion

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
3.5 stars (round down to 3)

I was SO excited to read this! Ninth House was amazing, so much so that I recently reread it, and I could not wait to see how the story would end.

Or see how I *thought* the story was going to end.

I realized just before starting this book that it was not book two of a duology as I thought, but the second installment in a planned five (?) book series.

I am NOT a huge fan of series these days, and I went in with a slightly bitter attitude that after waiting years and years for this book it would not be the ending to the story that I was eagerly anticipating.

And, honestly, it should have been a duology. It felt like Bardugo perhaps planned for it to be a duology then got even more wildly popular than she had been before due to her Netflix deal and decided it would be better to drag out this series. And it showed.

I though the plot was all over the place and redundant. I wanted it to be more action and, instead, it felt like lots of talking about taking action. The plot connections were not well integrated into the story and I felt like resolution relied way too much on exposition.

We have clearly set up our next Big Bad though, especially as we conveniently got rid of our old Big Bad in a way that I am still not totally sure I followed.

But, despite that, you can wade through all of that and see how creative Bardugo is. Alex is this wonderfully complex character. And, she is not even morally gray, she is pretty much morally black, and you still root for her. The growing friendship between Alex and Dawes was fun, though I wish we would have gotten more from Dawes. Mercy, Tripp, and Turner were wonderful additions to the unofficial Lethe crew. I needed more Darlington, but what we did get of him was great.

I just don't know if I will pick up the next book. If it is the third and final book of the series, then I probably will. But if it ends up being just some book adrift in the middle of the series then I may not be searching for it on publication day.

Your own proclivities as a reader regarding series seem to align with mine, so this isn't high on my tbr but I need to read it to see where I fall because reviews are so mixed!

Meli wrote: "Your own proclivities as a reader regarding series seem to align with mine, so this isn't high on my tbr but I need to read it to see where I fall because reviews are so mixed!"

Ninth House was just so great! I loved the secret societies and the ghosts and this moved away from that. I don't know, perhaps I just had severely misaligned expectations.

Those are both things I loved about Ninth House as well so I don't love that she moved away from those themes.

Meli wrote: "Those are both things I loved about Ninth House as well so I don't love that she moved away from those themes."

Lethe is still involved, but the book is pretty much solely focused on saving Darlington, so we don't get the scenes about the other societies rituals.

And, while there are a few ghosts, the focus really shifts to demons and hell.

Ok so this has now dropped down my priority list. Like you, I adored Ninth House - more horror-style themes than I usually go for, but completely brilliant. It sounds like the things I enjoyed the most are missing though.

At least it doesn’t sound like another “Discovery of Witches” experience (first book un-put-downable: second book WTAF: third book DNF). 3.5 stars isn’t to be sneezed at … but other reading jumps that bit further ahead

KateNZ wrote: "Ok so this has now dropped down my priority list. Like you, I adored Ninth House - more horror-style themes than I usually go for, but completely brilliant. It sounds like the things I enjoyed the ..."

Oh Kate, do not even get me started on the flaming garbage that was DOW book two! lol

Though now I want to go reread my review because I am pretty sure it was harsh. lol

Flaming garbage is right. I *shouted* at that book. I am still emotionally scarred 🤣

I am so sorry it was not all you wanted it to be Nicole. I myself was at 3.5 stars until the ending, I really thought she closed things with a bang, and enjoyed that. I do think you are correct about her (and her publishers) dragging this out for popularity reasons. I will probably read book three, but if it drags in large spots like this I may end it there.

Nicole R wrote: "Lethe is still involved, but the book is pretty much solely focused on saving Darlington, so we don't get the scenes about the other societies rituals."

I'd have to refresh on the first book because I remember nothing about the characters and only vague on the plot.

LOL I agree with you about Discovery of Witches - I liked book 1, but book 2 was WTF DNF and I did not bother with book 3. My husband enjoyed the TV show, but I thought the actress playing Diana was a bit overdone, and I only caught bits and pieces as I usually was reading or playing on my computer while he was watching.