**This review may contain spoilers**
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab is one of the most hyped books I have seen around. With a beautiful cover, interesting concept, and a decently known author penning it, you’d automatically assume that the hype is well-deserved. Now, I’m not here to explicitly disagree with the praise Addie LaRue has gotten. It’s beautifully written, the characters are morally gray, and the book itself is enjoyable. Personally though, it isn’t the five-star read everyone made it out to be.
Again, don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. My biggest complaint is that the book is long. Like… nearly 500 pages long. Typically this wouldn’t be an issue for me, but it’s also slow. Addie LaRue follows Adeline, a woman cursed to be eternal by “the darkness” (later named Luc) but be forgotten by anyone she meets as soon as they step away. This curse was placed on her 300 years before the book takes place, and the chapters alternate between the “present day” (2014) and a previous time period (starting in 1714). 300 years is a lot of time to cover, and although it’s done fairly well, it also drags on. A lot. There was a lot of context and background dedicated to Addie specifically, and although I liked her character, some chapters felt like they could have been left out.
There was also quite a bit of repetition. There were a couple words or phrases that were brought up just a few too many times, one of them being the term “palimpsest” (something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form). This may just be me, but that is something I had never heard of before reading this book, so seeing it multiple times and never remembering what it meant was a little off-putting. Generally, the repetition happened just a little too much for my personal taste, but I also understand the impact Schwab intended.
As for what I enjoyed, the relationship development between Addie and Luc, as well as Addie and Henry, was very interesting to me. Although Luc was painted to be the villain throughout the book, being the darkness and a questionable god, he still happened to be really interesting. His motivation wasn’t always clear, but it was evident he wanted to keep Addie around for some purpose. Henry is someone I haven’t mentioned yet; to sum it up, he’s a bookseller in New York City and the only person to remember who Addie is due to (spoiler warning) his own deal with Luc. Although Henry was probably the least fleshed out of the three main characters, I still really loved his dynamic and the way he acted with Addie. While Addie and Luc were primarily at each other’s throats during the majority of the book, Henry was very loving and caring toward Addie. Their dynamic, although maybe a bit forced, was super sweet, and I got excited whenever they were interacting.
I gave this book a 3.5 out of 5 rating, mostly due to the fact that it was a slower read. It wasn’t bad by any means—I’m more used to V.E. Schwab’s fast-paced writing, so Addie LaRue was very different. The character dynamics were lovely, the story was beautifully written, and it generally was a good book. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a slower historical-fantasy book that has a lot of emphasis on personal characterization. Although I don’t think I’ll be going back to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue any time soon, I am excited to check out more of Schwab’s work and see how all of it is similar or differs.