Book Review #120: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

I've had this book for about two years. I loved the premise, but I always felt a bit intimidated by it. Not because it was long, but it felt like it would be really heavy, and I didn't know how the premise would work or what the main themes would be. At the time I wasn't a huge fan of fantasy and thought I might not enjoy it. But finally I decided to pick it up.

In 1714, a girl makes a desperate plea to the Gods of darkness and is rewarded with eternal life, with the condition that everyone who meets her will instantly forget. For 300 years Addie LaRue silently makes her way through the world with no one ever remembering who she is. Until one day in a bookstore in New York when she meets Henry... and he remembers her.

I loved this book. So much.

I loved the writing style from the first page. Not only is the book well-written, but it's also written beautifully.

Reading the build-up to Addie's decision/prayer, and the reasons why, is really interesting. We get to know Addie really well as we follow her through the years, to the point where it feels like reading about a friend. I love her.

One of the other reasons I was worried about picking up this book was the fear of being bored. This book isn't the longest book ever (about 545 pages) but it's definitely longer than what I'm used to, and I didn't know how the story (which seemed fairly simple) could be sustained for that long. But to my surprise, I wasn't bored for a single second. I loved every time period and every slice of Addie's life.

I had a couple of small issues with the relationship between Addie and Henry, mainly that I felt they fell for each other a bit quickly. Now, this all makes sense when you get to the end of the book, but it felt a bit unbelievable while reading it.

I also found that I cared more about their lives and pasts than about any potential romance. Ironically I thought the romance would be the thing to make me love the story, but for me it was the least interesting thing about either of the characters.

It was a stroke of genius personifying the darkness the way Schwab did. It was another character to spend time with, and another one that I ended up loving (whether I should have or not).

I had to spend a bit of time thinking about whether or not I liked the ending, and I've decided that I did. It wasn't the ending that I wanted, but it was what needed to happen for the characters and the story, so I'm at peace with it.

Speaking of being at peace, this is the first time I've not been able to put down a book without wanting to race to the end. I almost had no excitement for the ending because I was just so at peace reading the story and being on the journey.

Overall it was hard to sort out my feelings about this story. There were things I didn't love, but the things I loved were perfect. The feeling it left me with when I closed the book was perfect. So in terms of picking a rating, it couldn't be anything other than perfect. Addie has lived with me since I finished the book and for that, I'd definitely recommend it.

5/5