Reviews with content warning for War - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Reviews tagging 'War'

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

335 reviews

ghost_cat99's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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zypeee's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

A lonely story of a girl who makes a deal with the devil. Bouncing back and forth across history until history and present intersect. The first half was compelling but as the pages passed I found myself waiting for something to happen. Waiting. Waiting. And nothing ever does. It started sad. It ended sad.

Still, I’d say it was a pleasant read. Probably some major life lessons about time and relationships and being careful what you wish for, that will linger long after the details of the book fade.

Reader beware. Big trigger warnings if that’s a thing you look for or avoid.

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jessicadoom's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0

I've put off reading this book for so long. Everyone would tell me they loved it with all their heart. That it became their favorite book after they read it. (Except my sister, who simply described it as "okay.) Hearing that kind of praise always intimidates me. I'm worried it won't live up to the hype and that somehow I'm going to disappoint my loved ones if I don't love their favorite books.

(Can you tell I'm a chronic people pleaser?)

But, we're moving soon and I'm trying to work on my physical TBR. With that, I'm trying books that I'm not sure I'll love enough to keep. This fit the bill, and the audiobook was available on Hoopla. So, I dove in.

For the first, oh, three-quarters or so of the book, I was in love. I couldn't wait to see where the narrators took us. How would their stories end? And, with this, I begun writing my own ending to their stories in my hopeful little head. (Writers....)

This is not the ending we received, however. I hit part six and all of a sudden my mood towards this book shifted a bit. Yes, the writing was still beautiful. No one can say that the style of this novel isn't lyrical, poetic, artistic, etc. However, the plot (or lack thereof) took me to a place I wasn't ready to go. So, we ended at a solid four out of five instead of that glorious five stars I planned to issue.

The highlights for me were the blatant queerness of both narrators, the history we were able to witness through Addie's eyes, and the small reveals that really did help to drive the book forward. Would I read it again? Probably not. But I'm certainly not upset that I did give this one a try. It just might not be something I take with me to my next home library.

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eedle_cacleberry's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

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juan_adhd_reading's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

I have never cried as much with any book as this one, and this is not hyperbole. This was such a lovely story; beautifully written; and it was fantastic, sad, epic, everything I expected it to be and still managed to surprise me. It is probably one of V.E. Schwab’s best works and the reason she will forever be my favorite author.
I have nothing else to say for now, as I just have finished the story. Will probably come back soon to write a full review, but for now I feel completely satisfied and very hopeful about the ending. Highly recommend!

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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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challenging 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? It's complicated

2.75

What... was this book about? So much breath and hardly any depth. There was so much beautiful prose that I started becoming desensitized to the language, and couldn't appreciate it anymore. I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to relate to or sometimes even understand the characters' motivations, and the lack of depth of the magic/lore of the world left me wanting.

If you are a light reader and this is the only book you read in a year, it could be good. But this one just wasn't for me.

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claire_leibovitz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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breaklikeafish's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.0

Ich bin ein großer Fan von Büchern, in denen eigentlich gar nicht besonders viel passiert und die einen irgendwie trotzdem berühren. Das unsichtbare Leben der Addie LaRue punktet vor allem mit sympathischen, dreidimensionalen Charakteren und einem spannenden anachronistischem Aufbau, der einen das Buch bis zum Schluss nicht aus der Hand legen lassen möchte, um endlich zu erfahren, was los ist.

Die Liebesgeschichte zwischen Addie und Henry selbst hat mich eher wenig abgeholt, denn erstens hat die Beziehung sich für meinen Geschmack zu schnell entwickelt (

unter den Umständen total verständlich, sie standen ja unter enormen Zeitdruck

) und zweitens

hat das ganze auf mich ein bisschen so gewirkt, als wären sie nur zusammen, weil sie ihre Flüche neutralisieren und das reicht meiner Meinung nach nicht als Basis für eine Beziehung aus.

Gerade deswegen habe ich das Ende geliebt. Es war ein wunderbarer Abschluss der Charakterentwicklung beider Protagonisten. Im letzten Drittel hatte ich sehr Bedenken, dass es ein klassisches Happy End geben würde, was ich sehr unbefriedigend gefunden hätte: mir ist einfach keine Möglichkeit eingefallen, wie Addie und Henry einen Antogonisten austricksen könnten, der uns als praktisch allmächtig präsentiert wird. Umso erleichterter war ich über Addies Opfer.

Die Funktionsweise von Addies Fluch wurde auf sehr interessante Weise erklärt. Ich mochte vor allem die Kapitel, in denen man als Leser mit ihr gemeinsam die Grenzen und Schlupflöcher austesten konnte, und den Kontrast zur Addie der Gegenwart, die schon alles über den Fluch zu wissen schien. Sowieso spiegelt Addies Fluch so wundervoll die menschlichen Bedürfnisse nach Freiheit und danach, Spuren zu hinterlassen, wider, dass die Geschichte weitaus weniger fantastisch wirkt als sie ist. Unweigerlich fragt man sich auch, was man aufgeben würde, um frei oder geliebt oder gesehen zu werden.

Henrys Abmachung hat mich hier besonders hart getroffen. Seine Gedanken und Gefühle waren so intensiv beschrieben, dass man als Leser absolut verstehen kann, wieso er eine solche Abmachung getroffen hat.

Addies Fokus auf romantische Beziehungen hat mich ein bisschen gestört. Offensichtlich vermisst sie jegliche Art von zwischenmenschlichem Kontakt und sagt das auch oft, aber ihre einschneidensten Begegnungen mit Menschen scheinen fast alle mit einem Date und oft einem One-Night-Stand zu enden.

Insgesamt ein sehr gutes Buch! Es hat eine Weile gedauert, bis ich drin war, aber dann wurde es mit jeder Seite besser und hörte mit einem absolut perfekten Ende auf.

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hdoomk's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

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nineinchnails's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this is definitely a no plot just vibes type of book and very slow paced so i can absolutely understand why so many people didn't enjoy this or even manage to get through it, HOWEVER i loved this. i am a sucker for pretty prose though and the prose was gorgeous in this book so i'm a little biased. most of the criticism for this book is warranted but this story and its characters really appealed to me. i wish we got more on addie's time in new orleans though, it seemed like it would have given some more insight into

her and luc's relationship + would've given luc more depth. it feels like we barely got to know him

.

it definitely could have been condensed just a little because "no plot just vibes" isn't much of an exaggeration and i'm not sure how it managed to be 500+ pages long but i can enjoy a slow book when i like the writing. the ending did feel slightly anticlimactic but it was more bittersweet than anything else to me. not sure if i would recommend this because the it really is slow but i definitely enjoyed this!!

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