The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a stand alone novel by V.E Schwab.

BLURB

When Addie LaRue makes a pact with the devil, she trades her soul for immortality. But there’s always a price the devil takes away her place in the world, cursing her to be forgotten by everyone.

Addie flees her tiny hometown in 18th Century France, beginning a journey that takes her across the world, learning to live a life where no one remembers her and everything she owns is lost and broken. Existing only as a muse for artists throughout history, she learns to fall in love anew every single day.

Her only companion on this journey is her dark devil with hypnotic green eyes, who visits her each year on the anniversary of their deal. Alone in the world, Addie has no choice but to confront him, to understand him, maybe to beat him.

Until one day, in a second hand bookshop in Manhattan, Addie meets someone who remembers her. Suddenly thrust back into a real, normal life, Addie realises she can’t escape her fate forever.

REVIEW

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was truly an amazing novel that I didn’t expect that I would love. V.E Schwab is an extremely talented writer.

There are three main characters in the novel, however, we meet them at different times. The first to be introduced is Adeline or Addie as she is shown to be a dreamer and not be conformed to societies’ view of women. She has seven freckles and she is told there is one for every love she will have. Being the dreamer she is, she wants to see as much of the world she can and although people think her time is slowly running out, she realises that time is something she doesn’t have to worry about.

If she must grow roots, she would rather be left to flourish wild instead of pruned, would rather stand alone, allowed to grow beneath the open sky. Better that than firewood, cut down just to burn in someone else’s hearth.

The next character we meet that stands out is Luc. Luc is a god you don’t want to pray to after dark unless you are desperate, hopeless and willing to pay an unknown price. We meet Luc when Addie does just this and spends the next few years learning the scope of her curse.

The old gods may be great, but they are neither kind nor merciful. They are fickle, unsteady as moonlight on water, or shadows in a storm. If you insist on calling them, take heed: be careful what you ask for, be willing to pay the price. And no matter how desperate or dire, never pray to the gods that answer after dark.

Over the course of the book you can see how the interactions between Addie and Luc evolve and we see hints that his motive stemmed from him being lonely and wanting company. He never hides his true self from Addie.

I am stronger than your god and older than your devil. I am the darkness between stars, and the roots beneath the earth. I am promise, and potential, and when it comes to playing games, I divine the rules, I set the pieces, and I choose when to play. And tonight, I say no.

The final main character is Henry. He works in a bookstore in New York while he tries to find something new each day to live his life to the fullest. The relationship that is built between Addie and Henry after three simple words is the sweetest. Addie truely is with someone who sees her and she can tell her story. The ending between them was heartbreaking. Through her many years, Addie appreciates stories and finally has someone she can share with.

Stories are a way to preserve one’s self. To be remembered. And to forget. Stories come in so many forms: in charcoal, and in song, in paintings, poems, films. And books. Books, she has found are a way to live a thousand lives-or to find strength in a very long one.

V.E Schwab has done an amazing job and I will definitely be reading Addie LaRue again. She has woven the different stories together in such a cohesive manner which allowed the story to flow. I definitely recommend this book.

5/5 stars