I received The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I’ve also posted a review on Youtube, if you’d rather hear my thoughts in spoken form!
I don’t always get along with V. E. Schwab’s books. I find a lot of them to be so incredibly slow, and the only time I tend to love them is if she nails the interesting characters. Vicious and ADSOM were a lot of fun because I loved the villains, but her other books fell a little flat for me. Nevertheless, I was excited to pick up The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue because I’ve recently found that I really enjoy generational stories, and this sounded like one of those but with only one person.
I have to say, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue got off to such a slow start. I didn’t even know what the plot was until a third of the way through because Schwab took so long introducing the characters and their histories. Eventually, though, the book did pick up and I started to actually care about the characters that we were so slow to be introduced to.
My friend Judith pointed out that this book is very similar to the movie, The Age of Adeline, and I have to agree. Of course, it’s not identical, but the concept being similar and the characters having the same name is… interesting.
By the time I got to the end, I was actually quite attached to the book and I got quite emotional. If you’ve read the book, it was the bookshop that got to me. Despite the slow plot, I did come to care about Addie. Not so much Henry, though.
I also really enjoyed the rep in this book. Henry, the love interest, identifies as pansexual, and Addie is definitely not straight, although I can’t remember if she ever put a label on herself.
The villain, the darkness, was super interesting. I went back and forth between finding him intriguing (in a villainous way, of course) and disturbing. I found it very difficult to read about his relationship with Addie because it was manipulative and abusive.
I think the writing style was the biggest letdown for me with this one. I bumped the book down to a four star instead of a four and a half, maybe five. I found myself growing very frustrated when Schwab would use the same descriptions for things over and over again. “Trapped in amber” was mentioned a whole bunch of times, and I’m sure there were more. This one just stood out to me because, well, it’s my name. I really didn’t like the buttery writing of this one, and I would have preferred it if it had been more blunt, or at least a bit more varied.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is definitely not an all time favourite of mine, but it was certainly enjoyable and the author does a great job of making you care for the 300 year old main character. I will be remembering it for a while, because it definitely drew some emotion from me and made me cry!
What you need to know:
#timejumps #historical #multipleperspectives #fantasy
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Addie LaRue truly did live up to the hype, y'all! I was a little intimidated when I saw how long it was (and how small the type was!!!) but it honestly flew by. I was not ready for it to end - I had fallen in love with Addie and with Henry.
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Desperate to get out of an unwanted wedding and to leave her small town in France, Addie LaRue makes a deal with a “god that answers after dark” - what we might call a deal with the devil. In a sinister way, the devil grants Addie her wish to not belong to anyone. For 300 years, no one knows Addie LaRue or can even remember her from one moment to the next. Until she meets Henry.
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You can read my reviews and more on instagram: @alittleshelf.ish
I received a copy of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Has anybody else been eagerly counting down the days until The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue releases? I got my hands on an arc, and I'm still counting down the days! Then again, I did go ahead and order that special OwlCrate edition (couldn't resist).
What would do you, if you were given the opportunity to life forever, but on the condition that nobody would ever remember you? If you were unable to leave your mark on the world. For most of us, it's a question to ponder.
For Addie LaRue, it's her life. In 1714, France, she made a deal with the devil. Now she cannot speak her name. She cannot be remembered. But she doesn't have to fear death, and she's seen three hundred years of history.
“Don't forget me in the meantime.”
I'm going to be straight with you here: I didn't know what to expect from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Knowing V.E. Schwab's previous works, I expected to love it. But I didn't really know what would be on those pages, even with that lovely description.
I do know that The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue completely blew me away. This was not a novel I devoured in one sitting. I made myself read it at a more leisurely pace, knowing that I'd regret it the moment I finished it otherwise.
It was the right call. Addie's journey is...beautiful. Ephemeral. Powerful. All of those descriptions, and countless more. It is a story that cut me to my core, and left me hoping for me, while simultaneously being content with the ending. A rare occurrence, to be sure.
Every detail, every moment in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue feels so carefully thought out. It's beautifully done, slowly unfolding the story of Addie LaRue. The life she has lived, and the small ways in which she defies the rules that run her life.
“But Addie knows, as she forces herself down the stairs, that it's already happening – knows that by the time he closes the door, she'll be gone.”
This is a book that has a little bit of something for everyone. There's a strong female lead, magic, a devil, a love interest, and history. So much history. 300 years of the life of Addie LaRue, told through the incorporation of artwork and other delightful details.
I honestly could spend another couple of hours talking about this beauty of a book. This is a book that is going to be making my top ten list of 2020. It's a book that brought a little bit of light into an otherwise dark time. At least, it did for me.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a book that I strongly recommend. Fans of V.E. Schwab will adore it. Book lovers will find it compelling, and everyone in between will certainly find an element worth latching onto. I know I did.
Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
