By V. E. Schwab
4 Stars! I could not put this book down. It was fun and intriguing. I would have given it a 5 stars, but there were a few chapters that dragged a little taking away from some exciting bits at just the worst time.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a magical realism, historical fiction/fantasy. It doesn’t claim or mention that romance is a big aspect of the plot, but it really is. Even though Addie has lived for 300 years, every chapter has something to do with a past or “current” lover.
The flashback chapters were interesting, but slow. I’d liked to have seen more of Addie’s experiences beyond just suffering and lovers. Things like learning new skills. A lot of times we had time speeding up or jumping within a paragraph. For example something along to the lines of “in a few years she’ll know how, but not yet.” Or “she didn’t know right now but over the years she learns everything about this one thing.” Basically showing us the first time, but processing to tell us when she masters it. It got annoying.
The best parts were in the present, or 2014, anyways. I don’t know why it wasn’t more current day, but that’s whatever. Addie’s relationship with Henry and how it effected Addie, how they were connected. I liked Henry as his own character, too. His friends were interesting. The fact the characters were so diverse matter-of -factly, without it being blatant in your face. There was no “this character is gay and I’m telling you on every page he appears in in bright shiney rainbow lights!” These aspects were accepted and not questioned or debated by all of the other characters. It was beautiful. Every character seemed to be somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectre, even Addie and Henry.
A small complaint was the name Adeline. It is a beautiful name, but… If you don’t remember, there is a movie with Blake Lively called the Age of Adaline where she is also immortal. I was frequently thinking about the movie when the name Adeline was mentioned. There are a bunch of other names that could have been chosen for this. It was better when it was primarily using Addie instead. It’s a rather small and personal con for me, but it didn’t make me love the book any less.
I would love for there to be more to the story, a sequel. I know V.E. Schwab has said it’s a standalone, however. That is unfortunate. I loved this world. I’d even take a second standalone that is in this same world, where the dark god or being or whatever he is exists. Maybe focusing on other deals he’s made. Or where Addie achieves her new goal she is working on by the end. I see a lot of potential for further books.
Rachels Books 