I enjoyed Hell Bent ( Alex Stern #2) by Leigh Burdago= the urban fantasy follow-up to The Ninth House.
Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.
Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.
Review
Hell Bent by Leigh Burdago continues Alex Stern’s journey from magical outcast to a member of the Ivy league’s magical circle and is a worthy follow-up to The Ninth House. So of course, I had this book pre-ordered.
Alex is obsessed with rescuing Daniel Darlington from hell and will do anything to achieve this with reluctant assistance from Dawes and Tripp. But Alex’s life is never easy, so she has to try and rescue Darlington while trying to deal with her former dodgy drug dealer, an old-fashioned and anti-woman leader of the Ninth House, weird murders and trying to keep up with college work.
Alex continues to be a strong anti-heroine, undefeatable despite her past tragedy and everything life continues to throw at her. She also becomes more powerful with her own magical abilities and can use this to her own advantage.
The book comes alive with its description of a hidden, magical world and society of Yale- a world filled with power and privilege for the selected few. Burdugo writing is vivid, her description of a captured half human demon literally pops out of the page.
The plot races along with plenty of action,magic,twists and tragedy and drama, This book is a must for anyway who loves a good urban fantasy.
Content Warning
References to drug misuse
Perfect for fans of
The Ninth House, The Magicians ( review here)
Series Book Lover 