Hell Bent

 Leigh Bardugo is easily my favorite author that I discovered in 2022.  Before last year, I wasn't familiar with her work, but I checked out the Shadow and Bone trilogy due to a friend's recommendation.  I eagerly devoured that and the other four books in the Grishaverse before checking out Ninth House, her first book not primarily targeted at a YA audience.  Ninth House absolutely blew me away as Bardugo proved herself capable of bringing her same writing chops to a more adult and horror-based book.  After finishing Ninth House, I was eagerly looking forward to reading its sequel Hell Bent.    I am pleased to say that Bardugo continues to reward my faith in her as Hell Bent is a really strong sequel.  Generally fantasy sequels build upon their predecessors by expanding the world and raising the stakes.  Hell Bent does both, but in an unusual way.  Ninth House and Hell Bent both primarily take place at Yale University, but Hell Bent (fittingly) doesn't expand geographically, rather metaphysically as many characters literally go to Hell.  I really like what Bardugo does with Hell in this book.  She makes it more of a concept than an actual place and keeps it so that the idea of it is almost more frightening than the place itself.  Of course it still is plenty scary and Bardugo really gets to have fun with the creatures she designs here.  One thing that really stands out about Hell Bent compared to its predecessor is the imagery Bardugo uses.  Making the reader feel present is a key part of making a horror or horror-adjacent novel work and Bardugo's descriptions of the fire and corpses and other terrifying concepts really transplant the reader right next to Alex as she's experiencing everything this book throws at her.    Speaking of Alex, one thing that I really prefer in my sequels is character development and once again Hell Bent provides that.  The quartet of ‘pilgrims' in Alex, Dawes, Turner and Tripp all get a ton of really great stuff here.  Alex was already great, but she cements herself as a top-tier fantasy protagonist here.  Dawes and Turner make strong leaps to become main characters in their own right.  But the biggest pleasant surprise of this book has to be Tripp.  In Ninth House, Tripp is a doofy trust-fund kid with minimal stuff to grab on to, but Bardugo makes him a genuinely sympathetic character here.  Darlington also works really well throughout the book as someone who is always present even if not necessarily in the physical sense.  Every character here is just so good and they make Hell Bent something truly special.    I normally don't start book series before they are finished as I don't want to enter another ASOIAF situation where I am excited for a book that never comes.  I broke that rule due to how much I like Bardugo's writing and I'm glad I did because it allowed me to experience Ninth House and Hell Bent sooner.  Unfortunately it means I have to wait however long for the conclusion of the Alex Stern trilogy to come out.  Needless to say, I eagerly look forward to it.