Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

96 reviews

20sidedbi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Brilliant but WOAH check the content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Drug abuse, Murder, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Police brutality, Classism, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Physical abuse

Minor: Rape, Slavery, and Vomit

jeggert10's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Abandonment, Racism, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Police brutality, Classism, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt

greta_1251's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Death of parent and Murder

Minor: Slavery, Suicide, Vomit, and Sexual violence

_likethefruit's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As a sequel to Ninth House, Hell Bent is a fantastic book with an epic adventure to hell. Unfortunately, the epic level of this journey is so complex, and loaded with so much history and context, that the book is sometimes an information overload. I kept wondering if I missed too many details from the previous book, but in reality, the author was dropping more world building so casually that it felt pre-established. This made the book a little harder to read, but the adventure was totally worth it. Total book hangover after this one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug use

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual violence, Gore, and Classism

Minor: Slavery

constancet's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery

simplykatherina's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Once again I want to travel to Yale solely to see the architecture described in this book. I felt like we got really good character development from everyone in this story, and I connected with Alex way more in this book than in the first one. I also really enjoyed the snippets taken out of diaries and catalogues that were sprinkled throughout the book because they actually related to the story and weren’t used solely for world building purposes. 

This book had the ability to be dark and creepy without feeling overwhelmingly so, which I really appreciated. I felt that the pacing really worked in this book, and even though it took a while to get to the crux of the story it didn’t feel like anything was unnecessary along the way. 

I definitely thought that this was a duology so I feel a little bamboozled by that, but I’m anxiously awaiting book #3 now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, and Animal death

Moderate: Slavery

leexpenandpages's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

📝 SYNOPSIS:
I love you to Hell and back. Immersed in a world of occult magic, Alex vows to return her mentor from Hell with the help of her friends and a magical gift that is hers alone.
👩‍🏫⛪️👻📜💀🐇😈🧛‍♂️🎩

👍🏻 RECOMMENDATION:
💚 READ it! 

💬 FAVORITE QUOTES:
[PENDING]

👓 FORMAT: 
🎧

📑 COMMENTS:
• Um, this is a sequel? LOL I jumped in here, and it works fine.
• In the contemporary fantasy setting, Bardugo captures the dark academic aesthetic well. When it comes to the real-life setting, the northeast and California are believable (but I haven't spent enough time in Connecticut specifically to judge that). The magic system is convoluted, but the loose logic does fall apart at the end.
• The characters are complex, three-dimensional, and flawed. Their races and genders influence them in meaningful ways. Some are more lovable than others, but they are all understandable. Mercy & Turner are my personal favorites! The antagonists are rounded, too. 
• Apt imagery and metaphors flow into the prose. There's plenty to dissect if that's your thing. (It's mine!) I'd love to see it on the page, particulaely to see the tome excerpts.
• Why did they switch audiobook narrators so late into the story? It was jarring, and it pulled me out of the story! The character's voice is defined, but I also hate it. It adds nothing to the story. Overall, Part Two lags.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Classism, Blood, Sexism, Racism, Murder, Rape, Death, Drug abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Gun violence, Animal death, and Sexual content

Minor: Cursing, Colonisation, Body shaming, Drug use, Alcohol, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Slavery, and Vomit

itsheyfay's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Stalking, Vomit, and Gun violence

Minor: Child death, Slavery, Drug use, Racism, and Suicide attempt

wemilyebb's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Racism and Slavery

paula357's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Slavery