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v171's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
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
4.0
I don't know whether to consider this historical fiction, romance, sci fi, or fantasy, but whatever it is, I loved it. There were so many things done well in the construction of this story, but the characters really stood out. I felt them all to be interesting, dynamic, and genuine: comparable to actual humans. All of the characters had a beautifully drawn arc that kept me very engaged throughout. I'm familiar with Schwab's style of writing in her previous works, which is short, choppy chapters that focus on action, but I felt the short chapters in this book complemented the slower pace of the book really well. My favorite parts of the book were the glimpses through time at major historical moments to the point that I wish we spent a bit more time there and less in the present. The romance was.. okay. Despite the characters being believable, I had a hard time understanding what drew Henry to Addie in the first place, and the speed at which it happened was jarring. My main disappointment was at the end with a really tired trope that always bothers me which is when the book your reading is actually referenced as a book that is being read/written in the story as well. I just think it's uncreative, but I suppose I can appreciate the tie-in of the book to Addie's influence on art throughout history. This was such a change of pace from Schwab's other works, it was refreshing and really demonstrates strong versatility!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Kidnapping
hmatt's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
This book was all over the place in terms of which aspects I liked and which I didn't.
The premise and the promise of diverse characters what what led me to the book in the first place - both are stellar. I wanted to like the writing style, but it felt very simple at times. The descriptive writing relied too heavily on similes and metaphors for my taste.
While I enjoyed the arc of the plot overall, I felt like the pacing was skewed. Too much time was spent establishing the boundaries of Addie's curse in her first few years, in my opinion. Like, I got it after the first 2 scenes, let's move on. Because of all the time spent there, I didn't get a sense of what the book was really about until more than halfway through. If this was intentional, I disagree with that choice.Leaving Addie's relationship with Henry to develop just in the second half of the book made it feel disingenuous and forced, to me.
I also didn't feel like the premise was explored or exploited in all the ways it could be have been: You've got this person who lives through hundreds of years and yetpretty much every historical fiction plot point opportunity is swerved. I'm usually interested in "mundane" histories, too - I didn't need Addie to end up in the middle of a World War, but I wanted the historical settings to be described with more richness. The historical themes were part of what drew me to read the novel, but they often felt neglected or rushed-to-make-a-point.
Maybe it was because there were fewer of his chapters and therefore they were more concise, but I really enjoyed Henry's POV. It added some much-needed variety. I fe.el very "meh" about Luc, though. His characterization was all over the place and honestly confused me some of the time. (I kind of get that it was supposed to, towards the end, but still.) Aaaaand I was not into how Addie is somehow flawless - like I get she makes mistakes at the start, but the whole first half of the book is basically a manifesto on how she's perfected all these skills and is this jaded know-it-all who can navigate any tricky situation and LITERALLY OUTSMART THE DEVIL. Sigh. The rest of the characters at least had flaws that were acknowledged as such.
I feel like I'm giving this book a very scathing review, even though I enjoyed it quite a lot. I guess I just feel like it had so much potential to be a 5 for me, if only a few things had been different.
So, things I liked:
The premise and the promise of diverse characters what what led me to the book in the first place - both are stellar. I wanted to like the writing style, but it felt very simple at times. The descriptive writing relied too heavily on similes and metaphors for my taste.
While I enjoyed the arc of the plot overall, I felt like the pacing was skewed. Too much time was spent establishing the boundaries of Addie's curse in her first few years, in my opinion. Like, I got it after the first 2 scenes, let's move on. Because of all the time spent there, I didn't get a sense of what the book was really about until more than halfway through. If this was intentional, I disagree with that choice.
I also didn't feel like the premise was explored or exploited in all the ways it could be have been: You've got this person who lives through hundreds of years and yet
I feel like I'm giving this book a very scathing review, even though I enjoyed it quite a lot. I guess I just feel like it had so much potential to be a 5 for me, if only a few things had been different.
So, things I liked:
- Henry's whole storyline
- Bea and Robbie. Please, more of them.
- Some of the "maybe in another life"-style interactions, like with Sam and Remy
- Revisiting Vion time after time
Two things I really really hated:
- The freckles thing. No, sorry, too cliche, cannot
- The complete and unabashed focus on the West.
I was expecting this to take me all over the world and I think we got to 5 countries, 4 of which are in Western Europe??? Come on. Do better.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence
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