Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

140 reviews

xvicesx's review

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challenging reflective slow-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? No

1.0

I can't say I really liked this, and it's at least 100 pages too long. Addie isn't really a likable character, being as vain and self absorbed as she is. Ultimately, I think I'd rather have read Luc's story, since he's a lot easier to root for than Addie's obsession with getting everything in the world without any consequences. 

The whole foundation of this book was that she hadn't experienced the world, and somehow she still holds it against the god who gave her every opportunity to live because he didn't give it to her the way she wanted it, and because she couldn't get it without having to pay a huge price. Um. Right. So she's just a spoiled brat, you mean?

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casira's review

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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.

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rainynook's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

New favorite book!  Wow, loved the whole story arc, and such beautiful, memorable, luminous writing.  Very well done.  I read the book + listened to the Audible version - extremely well done by the talented Julia Whelan.  So good.

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peggy_racham's review against another edition

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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.

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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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emquartz15's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The amount of CHILLS I got from listening to this book. A must, must, MUST read for honestly anyone. These characters, and this story, will live in me forever. I NEED a copy of this on my shelf! P.S. I loved how queerness was nonchalantly yet prominently included throughout the book, which as a queer person, made me enjoy it that much more. Just… go see for yourself. <3

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nineinchnails's review

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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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carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review

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

5.0

Having read two V.E. Schwab books now, there is just something about her plots/characters/writing that's hard to describe. Just like with ADSoM, there was something missing. Unlike ADSoM, it didn't really matter. This book should have been boring, there is basically zero plot besides "girl lives 300 years of a slightly different day." If you asked me why I gave it 5 stars, I'm not sure I could answer in any logical way. It just did not feel like 400 pages. I think the concept of two timelines is a really interesting literary device, but it's really hard to make the two timelines equally as interesting. Schwab was really clever to make the switches between timelines as often as she did. It made it difficult to choose a point in the story to put the book down because I always wanted to know how the story in the other timeline would continue.

I hate to say this because
he literally traded his soul for one year of being loved
, but I really think Henry was my least favorite part of this book. Sorry bro.

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meowata's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0


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mmmsnacks's review

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0


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