In Hell Bent, the second installment of Leigh Bardugo’s Alex Stern series, the gates of Hell are not merely metaphorical—they’re real, and Galaxy “Alex” Stern intends to walk through them. Set in the cloistered, elite, and arcane world of Yale’s secret societies, this sequel escalates everything Ninth House began: the mystery, the horror, the urgency—and the cost of wielding power without permission.
This book is not just about magic—it’s about consequence. Where Ninth House introduced a reluctant underdog grappling with trauma and responsibility, Hell Bent offers a hardened Alex, willing to break every rule to rescue the one person who believed she was worth saving. What unfolds is a genre-bending, soul-haunting journey through death, duty, and dangerous ambition.
Overview of the Plot: The Price of Loyalty
Picking up almost immediately after Ninth House, Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo plunges us into the fallout of Darlington’s disappearance into the underworld. Everyone else has given up on him—except Alex Stern.
Yale’s Lethe society forbids her from mounting a rescue. So, Alex creates her own fellowship of the damned. Alongside Pamela Dawes (the meticulous, brilliant Oculus), a skeptical homicide detective, and some unlikely student allies, Alex embarks on a perilous mission to retrieve Darlington’s soul from literal hell.
But things spiral quickly. As faculty members turn up dead under suspicious circumstances, Alex begins to uncover a web of occult history buried beneath Yale’s polished stones and hallowed traditions. The rescue mission grows into something much darker—a reckoning with what Darlington has become and what Alex herself is capable of.
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo is a descent narrative, a retrieval quest, and a confrontation with monstrous legacies—personal, magical, and institutional.
Characters That Burn Bright and Dark
Alex Stern – Our Reluctant Reaper
Still haunted by her past and her ability to see the dead (known as Grays), Alex is harder-edged, more decisive, and increasingly dangerous. Her arc is shaped by guilt and grief, but also a fierce need to protect her chosen family. Bardugo writes Alex with jagged tenderness—her strength feels earned, her darkness authentic.
Darlington – The Gentleman Transformed
Darlington is no longer just a charming scholar cursed by demonic circumstances. In Hell Bent, he becomes a symbol of what’s at stake—innocence, identity, and the soul’s malleability. His time in Hell has changed him in ways both chilling and tragic.
Pamela Dawes – The Archivist with a Backbone
Dawes gets her moment in this book. The quiet researcher from Ninth House emerges as Alex’s emotional anchor and tactical partner. Her growth, courage, and integrity make her one of the most quietly compelling characters in the narrative.
The Others:
Tripp provides comic relief and surprising reliability.
Turner represents skeptical law and rationalism.
Mercy and Lauren, Alex’s suitemates, remain emblems of normalcy she can never quite reach.
The Grays—restless spirits—are not just aesthetic additions. In Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, they embody unfinished business, foreshadowing, and sometimes terrifying prophecy.
Writing Style: Gothic Elegance with Teeth
Leigh Bardugo continues to refine her tone in Hell Bent—less fantastical than her Grishaverse work, more philosophical and eerie. Her prose is evocative without being overwrought. She balances lush gothic imagery with psychological insight.
Her narrative structure is tight, with parallel timelines and interludes that deepen the stakes. The language is purposeful—each spell, chant, and ghostly encounter crackles with both metaphor and real-world dread. Bardugo uses Yale’s elite setting as both character and cage, wrapping every page in academic rot and hallowed corruption.
Themes Explored in the Underworld
1. Hell as a Construct
The hell Alex descends into is symbolic—layered with personal guilt, social commentary, and historical blood. Bardugo’s Hell is less about fire and more about memory, regret, and impossible choices.
2. The Ethics of Necromancy
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo raises moral questions about using the dead for knowledge or power. A particularly disturbing ritual involving a reanimated corpse (used to extract military secrets) becomes a centerpiece for ethical reflection.
3. The Cost of Power
Everyone in this novel pays something—identity, morality, life. Bardugo doesn’t shy away from showing that magic, like privilege, demands a price.
4. Institutional Corruption
Through Lethe and the other secret societies, Bardugo critiques elite academia. The book asks: Who gets to define what knowledge is sacred? And what will the powerful hide to maintain that control?
Highlights and Merits
A chilling, unique version of the underworld: Alex’s journey into Hell feels genuinely mythic, borrowing from multiple religious and cultural frameworks without feeling derivative.
Excellent female dynamics: The Alex-Dawes relationship grows into a nuanced portrait of intellectual and emotional sisterhood.
Moral ambiguity: Unlike typical hero’s journeys, this book doesn’t end in glory. It ends in negotiation—with loss, with rage, with compromise.
Brilliant atmosphere: From the tombs of Yale to blood-slick basements and ash-filled cathedrals of Hell, the settings drip with dread and awe.
Criticisms and Fractures in the Stone
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo is richly imagined, but not without flaws:
Exposition overload: At times, the narrative pauses for world-building that feels like it should have been woven more seamlessly.
Secondary villains lack depth: While Alex’s inner demons are compelling, some of the real-world adversaries feel like placeholders.
Pacing in the middle lags: There’s a stretch where the preparations for the descent drag, especially compared to the electric start and visceral ending.
Still, these are minor against the novel’s towering strengths.
Series Continuity: Ninth House and Beyond
In Ninth House, Bardugo seeded the roots of Alex’s power and pain. That book was about initiation—being pulled unwillingly into a world governed by secrets. Hell Bent is about agency—Alex choosing her fate, regardless of the price. Together, they form a dark duet that redefines the “school of magic” trope.
While the ending leaves room for more, Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo also closes several emotional arcs with grace and grit. It gives Alex what few dark protagonists are offered: not absolution, but a chance.
Other Works and Read-Alikes
Fans of Bardugo’s earlier books—particularly Six of Crows—will find similar moral complexity and ensemble-driven storytelling here, but with a sharper adult tone.
Readers might also enjoy:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt – for the sinister academia
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke – for surreal underworld exploration
Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko – for psychological magic systems
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins – for dark, arcane gods and forgotten rules
Final Thoughts – A Fiery Return That Burns with Purpose
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo is a literary necromantic ritual in itself: calling back lost characters, resurrecting ideas about knowledge and power, and showing how far someone will go for love disguised as loyalty. It isn’t always comfortable, but it’s never forgettable.
Leigh Bardugo delivers a haunting, heady second act that cements Alex Stern as one of the most complex female leads in contemporary fantasy. If you’re ready to face what lies beneath your own hallowed halls—emotional, historical, or supernatural—then this book dares you to follow Alex through the dark.
Recommended For:
Dark academia enthusiasts craving depth and stakes
Fantasy readers drawn to morally complicated heroines
Fans of Gothic horror, modern magic, and academic conspiracies
Trigger Warnings: Violence, death, necromancy, trauma, self-harm, grief, institutional abuse
Are you ready to break the rules and step into the dark with Alex Stern? Let me know how Hell Bent haunted you.