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jelkebooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is a book that I've seen so incredibly hyped, and that hype has actually scared me off a little bit despite being quite excited to read it. Therefore I am indeed incredibly mad at myself for putting off reading this one for so long, as I absolutely loved it. Now, I don't think it is going to be for everyone. It is a quiet book, a slower moving one, and if it doesn't click I can imagine this one being quite a bore, but I thought it was incredible.
I was just almost immediately enamoured with Addie. I thought she was such an interesting character to follow, and I loved the switches between the present day, and past timelines. Seeing Addie make the deal, and then figuring out her life (how it looks like, how to survive), and that contrasted with her almost 300 years later having learned so much, was incredibly interesting. I also feel like Addie's desires were very simple, and also very relatable. I love how V.E. Schwab added in art, and storytelling into the story. The discussions around creating, and wanting to leave your mark on the world was absolutely incredible, and really well done.
The story does fully kick off however when Addie meets Henry, and I absolutely adored their relationship, and how it developed. They had an incredible meet cute, and I loved the moment Addie realised someone could remember her for the first time ever. Henry was also just a really interesting character, quite different from Addie in so many ways, but ultimately they are also really similair. They just made a really great match. Their love story throughout the book was just so beautiful, it had its difficult moments, but overall it was just so sweet, and pure.
The ending to this book wrecked me. I mean, I did see something emotional happening coming, but it still wrecked me. It's incredibly sad, but there's also something beautiful to it, and overall it just made my heart ache, even hours after finishing this book. So yeah, I adored this book in case it wasn't obvious.
I was just almost immediately enamoured with Addie. I thought she was such an interesting character to follow, and I loved the switches between the present day, and past timelines. Seeing Addie make the deal, and then figuring out her life (how it looks like, how to survive), and that contrasted with her almost 300 years later having learned so much, was incredibly interesting. I also feel like Addie's desires were very simple, and also very relatable. I love how V.E. Schwab added in art, and storytelling into the story. The discussions around creating, and wanting to leave your mark on the world was absolutely incredible, and really well done.
The story does fully kick off however when Addie meets Henry, and I absolutely adored their relationship, and how it developed. They had an incredible meet cute, and I loved the moment Addie realised someone could remember her for the first time ever. Henry was also just a really interesting character, quite different from Addie in so many ways, but ultimately they are also really similair. They just made a really great match. Their love story throughout the book was just so beautiful, it had its difficult moments, but overall it was just so sweet, and pure.
The ending to this book wrecked me. I mean, I did see something emotional happening coming, but it still wrecked me. It's incredibly sad, but there's also something beautiful to it, and overall it just made my heart ache, even hours after finishing this book. So yeah, I adored this book in case it wasn't obvious.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Drug use
reneek's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Death of parent, and Sexual assault
Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, Cancer, and Classism
sk_09's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
ah, where do i begin with this one. i have a lot of mixed feelings about it. that's why it sits at a perfect 2.5, i truly could not decide. at times it was really pertinent, touched the perfect strings and made me wonder if someone took two of my biggest insecurities and turned them into characters. but at most times i wanted to dnf it so bad when i rarely leave a book unfinished. i'm glad i didn't, because i deserved closure after that hell of a journey. i can't say the hype is justified because this is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. the length of this book troubled me the most and it served no other purpose than making the reader experience the long and torturously slow life our main character addie has lived. another problem was with the character itself, no other aspect of her personally was seen other than her stubbornness and strong will, more was expected when you follow her around for 300 years. henry's character on the other hand was concise and well developed. the smaller themes and scenes didn't seem to add value to the main narrative, or maybe that's the point i don't know. the premise of this book had so much potential, but i guess everyone's idea of fulfiling that potential is obviously very different. and that makes this book a mystery in plain sight, just like addie larue's life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Alcohol, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use
tallyswrldd's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
i do agree w the other reviews that this book couldve been shorter. however, i think theres a beauty in drawing this story out. i think its written in a way that mirrors the life that addie larue happened to experience. the length and repetitive nature of this read going to show how annoying and repetitive her own immortality is. the poetry of this book made me smile quite a few times, and i have a feeling i will be left w a book hangover from this one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Death, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and War
val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I’m not going to lie, when I think back to this book I finished almost a month ago I just think how this was boring and it was not the masterpiece I was expecting, and that just makes me sad. It was a disappointment. I don’t even remember most of what happened, just that it was slow as fuck and didn’t go nowhere. When I finished it I thought I would give it 3 stars but I feel now that I was being generous, so 2 ⭐ for my rating.
Gosh I’m not even going to read my notes, I’m so tired with all the books I have to review that this is not worth it to make a well written review lol there’s hundred of those loving and hating this book already.
It just makes me so mad that I didn’t love this, that I felt like her “bisexuality” was not represented correctly and was just something the author added so she could add it to the sell speech, the fan art is so pretty and the narrator is amazing, but that didn’t save this book.
That “romance” she had with Henry? I did not feel it at all. And I hate that this Darkness was obsessed with her and wouldn’t let her in peace, it would’ve been sooo much more interesting to read about her falling in love with Luc but for real and if he was a bit different, but well. The ending was predictable too, I was just like “wait this is when I’m supposed to cry?”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol
Without giving much spoiler this is how the content warnings appear in the book: Addie had to endure sexual harassment and she was almost sexually assaulted. There's a lot of sexual content because she just enjoys her sexuality I guess. There's alcohol and drug use related to Henry.ailiaris25's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content and Emotional abuse
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking
casira's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book will doubtlessly be better the second time around.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, War, and Violence
alexlynx's review
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Be patient with this book. It follows paths that you feel like you don't want to take. Give it time. I personally have a love-hate relationship with books that jump between time so much that at some point you can barely make out where the plot starts and where it ends. But this book has a very definitive start and end, only the middle is blurred. I got lost in it, and it was beautiful, and sad, and madning, and insane, inspiring, wonderful. Her writing is addictive to a point where I'm almost annoyed at myself for how long it took to finally continue reading this book. And I also want to scream at her for the things these characters have to go through, and for how attached to them I got.
Insanely beautiful.
Insanely beautiful.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Death
peggy_racham's review against another edition
5.0
"If it cannot be love, well, then, at least it is not lonely."
Angry women, gods you shouldn't pray to and an intriguing answer to the question: what would you do with forever?
The answer is nobody wants to be immortal.
Angry women, gods you shouldn't pray to and an intriguing answer to the question: what would you do with forever?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Mental illness, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and War
nclausel25's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content, Death, and Abandonment
Minor: War and Suicide