I recently finished reading "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue," by V.E. Schwab. And I have some things to get off my chest.
(You really, really should not read this unless you have already read the book or you have zero plans to ever read the book. It's literally all spoilers, and they're not even in order so you can't be like, "I'll just stop before she spoils the ending." It will already be too late.)
1. Addie herself is kind of insufferable, as she is a victim of the popular "not like other girls" syndrome, while also managing to be very similar to many (if not most) other girls. Nonetheless, all the characters in the book find her seemingly perfect. All men fall head over heels for her, even though there is nothing particularly interesting about her (no, her curse does not count, as most of the men she beds don't even know). She's naturally beautiful. She also loves reading, which seems to also be a trope in books to make people seem quirky or different. Yawn.
2. Also, no one cares about her seven freckles. Literally no one.
3. How does Henry manage to be the most boring and pathetic love interest ever? I don't want to be insensitive but reading his back story didn't help. This bitch gets dumped a couple times and decides to trade his fucking SOUL and ALL but ONE YEAR of his life just to enjoy ONE YEAR of people being MIND CONTROLLED into loving him? Henry I'm sorry but you need to get a grip my guy.
4. Would Addie still love him so much if he didn't remember her? Is this just a circumstance thing? It has to be.
5. Because how can the author really expect us to not root for the "bad" love interest, the actual DEVIL, when his competition is HENRY. Literally all the other male characters in this book are more interesting. Even the asshole that broke Addie's jar of honey.
6. V.E. Schwab obviously has a type. If I have to read about dark curls hanging in front of peoples faces one more time I swear to GOD.
7. Legitimate question - when Addie and Luc are in NOLA do we actually believe this whole romance thing was a ruse to get her soul faster? Still unsure. Please respond.
8. Also, Luc is definitely, 100%, not a sexy name. And for a character that was supposed to be mad sexy this was a little distracting.
9. At this point Addie has been alive for...300 years? Because she LONGED to be FREE and SEE THE WORLD? Then why do all of her escapades seem to happen in Europe and America?
10. There has been some debate on whether this book should be categorized as YA or Adult. However the publishers and the author say it's Adult which I think makes the answer pretty cut and dry. But it does read a little YA-ish so I get what people are saying. If you guys really want to nitpick a better debate would be if it should be categorized as "New-Adult," which is for people that are starting to feel too old for YA but not ready to read the same books as their mom.
With all that being said, you probably think that I hated this book. Not true. I actually enjoyed it very much (sometimes I wonder what Addie and Luc would be up to right now if the book hadn't ended; they probably would have gone back to Europe because of COVID and all). Do I think it was a life shattering masterpiece? Also not true. But not all books have to be. However I must admit when I read that this book has been TEN YEARS in the making I did give a little side eye. It's nice, but it's not a ten years to write kind of nice.
I should also mention this is my first time reading V.E. Schwab. I do know she's very popular though. If I decide to read another, which do you think I should try next? I'm thinking A Darker Shade of Magic?
