Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: October 6, 2020
Number of Pages: 444
Genre: urban fantasy, historical fiction
Age Level: Adult
Synopsis:
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
My Thoughts
I’m always excited to read new books by Victoria Schwab. The first ever book I read of hers was The Archived, and it is easily one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. Since then, I get excited for her new releases, although none of her other stories have gripped my hand and taken me along on a ride quite like The Archived did, but I still like to give them a try, anyway.
Schwab is better known for her YA titles, but she has branched out into adult literature some, including A Darker Shade of Magic. From my experience, Schwab is more suited for YA. Her writing doesn’t seem any more mature or more in depth to really qualify as adult, but maybe that’s just me.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue had been hyped up a lot, and I was anxious to try it out. The writing in this story did seem a bit older, maybe even a bit poetic, but not any harder to understand than her YA’s. As far as maturity, there’s nothing too graphic, but intimacy is mentioned.
Representation
Over the years, Addie has relationships with both men and women. We also see how women in general are looked down on over the centuries.
The Plot
The story alternates between current day and Addie’s past, so as we learn about what she’s currently up to, we also learn about how she got in her predicament in the first place. I really enjoyed the first half of the story, reading about all these different circumstances she’d lived through, and all of her encounters with the demon who’d she’d made the deal with. Later, we meet Henry, so the story switches between the two of them, which I didn’t particularly enjoy.
The more the story went, the more I realized that it was mostly plotless. There wasn’t really any overarching story other than what Addie’s done and what she’s going to do…and then seeing how things end up between her and Henry. That’s it. Once I realized that, I was less eager to continue, but I did end up finishing it.
The ending wasn’t what I had anticipated. I was actually a bit disappointed. Overall, did I enjoy it? Yes. It was good. Still doesn’t compare to The Archived, though.
My Rating out of 5
Let’s Chat!
Did you prefer reading about Addie or Henry?
What time period did you enjoy reading about the most in this book?
What are other historical fiction novels that you have enjoyed?
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