Reviews

Preface: I have huge admiration for V.E. Schwab as a writer, and it must have been immensely difficult and freeing to get a story you've had in your head for 10 years finally onto paper. Her determination to create something important to her is inspiring to me.
But unfortunately I was disappointed and bored by Addie LaRue...

Thing is, I think I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Schwab's books. Firstly, her writing style. I've found more and more often that her style draws attention to itself in a way that makes it seem like it's desperate to be quoted and tattooed on people's skin. Taken out of context, as a quote, they're great -- but my good gracious, it doesn't have to be every single line in the book! They start to lose their shine for me when they're so densely surrounded by other shiny, quotable snippets; I couldn't see the wood for the trees. Writing that constantly draws attention to itself is a bit of a double-edged sword: sure it's pretty, but it's always putting a layer between me and actually falling into the story. For instance, Schwab always groups things in threes ("this is all a game of borrowed time. But this is how you walk to the end of the world. This is how you live forever.") and uses similes constantly and it just became soo predictable and tiring, rather than the poetic sound she was probably going for.
It's like that old tip about writing dialogue: know when to use a specific tag, (like "she roared" or "he whispered") and know when to use a simple one ("they said"). I'm not saying never use the first kind, but most of the time, what we need is something simple so we can forget about what we're reading and just let the story tell itself. And it had a horrible tendency to bleed into the character's conversations and make them speak in metaphors...

(Sometimes I felt it got too purple for its own good: at one point there's a man in an interactive art exhibit sculpting candy floss, some are things like animals and recognisable shapes, but then others are supposed to represent "a sunset", "a dream", "nostalgia". Like... what? How? How does that work? I just didn't believe this slightly whimsical version of New York. It felt so annoyingly pretentious.)

And the funny thing is, when I tried stepping back from the writing and looking at the story as a whole, I was just underwhelmed. So many words (541 pages of the b*****ds) and nothing much happening. Schwab can write atmosphere and set scenes exquisitely but she spends so much time and effort on creating moment after moment that the whole book just felt like a Pinterest board. Lots of chapters were repetitive, full of scenes that were essentially vignettes. There was so much silence and quiet moments, but not enough noise inbetween. Sure, there's a way of telling a story that spans centuries in a series of fragments, but nothing felt distinct or specific. It was all just... aesthetics.

I did not care about the characters. I know Addie is meant to move through time, always forgotten by everyone she meets, but she hints at seeing the rise and fall of cities and republics, talking with famous artists, and hell, even being a spy! I wanted that story -- but I know it's unfair to ask an author for a story other than the one they chose to write... but when so much (all) of the book is spent on Addie drifting listlessly from place to place and from lover to lover (nearly every single flashback involves someone else's bed...), I felt hard done by. I wanted more of Addie learning how to survive, not how she became the muse for multiple artists through time (I like the idea, just got bored with it very quickly). So much of her learning happens off page. And unfortunately I'm bored with the "fiercely independent" and "not like the other girls" thing (not the traits themselves, they're fine, but when they're the only thing a character has going for her, well it's boring and hollow).

I need to stop ranting. Two stars, because there are glimmers of really good stuff in this. I liked the ending, but I hated that I had to wade through a lot of nonsense to get there. Sorry, V., this one wasn't for me.

maureenskyyereads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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