Reviews - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

89k reviews for:

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

V.E. Schwab

4.23 AVERAGE

varusollu's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense

nayyya's review against another edition

3.0

dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I feel conflicted on this book. The premise is interesting and it started off strong! The writing is both pretty and simple to read with many quotable passages.

But... I was frustrated with how naive Adeline is. You'd think that after 300 years, she'd get a clue about how Luc operates. It made me cringe the way it didn't occur to her that Luc knew about and/or orchestrated her and Henry meeting.

The amount of times she referred to Luc as "the dark" or "the darkness" and described his black curls and the different shades of his green eyes was painful.

Henry's arc was interesting however and I enjoyed the contrast between Addie's wish for freedom and Henry's for love... It feels appropriate for the different time periods they're each from. One is from the 18th century in which she had no agency on her life and her choices. And the other is in a time and place where there's such an abundance of options that the freedom leaves him dizzy and aimless. Where everyone in his life also have so many options and makes so that none of them choose him.

Ironically enough, when Henry DOES finally find a girl who chooses him (unlike his ex), it's questionable if Addie ever grows to love him. It's implied that he's a safe place for her, he's a source of contentment, but she clearly misses Luc's passion. In the context of Henry, at one point she thinks to herself "she does not know if it was love, or simply a reprieve". So I'd argue that while Adeline gets her dream of being remembered through Henry, he still never finds love :'(

Overall, an interesting book, some cool relationship dynamics, but it got repetitive and I don't think it had ANY business being 450 pages long.