THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE | Non-Spoiler Review
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
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V E Schwab to me is one of those authors that comes up with really neat, tight premises and then 20% into writing she believes her own hype.
I gotta say that’s feeling more and more true
I feel like that bleeds into her characters too. 90% of them are cocky, self-indulgent, or incredibly narcissistic.
Yes!! I was feeling this same way about it: good premise, mediocre story.
Yes. Don't get me wrong, it's beautifully written in the words that are assembled together. BUT, she lives through SO MUCH, and casually mentions really cool cities that she's lived in all over the world that she remembers when she takes a sip of coffee or smells cinnamon or whatever , but for some reason all of the flashbacks to times in history are boring times of her in France, and maybe briefly Britain. I got really bored of visiting the small town in France she was from. The characters are surprisingly not sympathetic for a book that had to be a character-driven book.
It drove me nuts how the really interesting parts of her life kept being hinted at but were never shown or explored, ugh
I really liked this book overall, but it would have been so much better if Henry was just not there and we spent all the time with Addie and Luc's little dance through history, that would have been way more interesting. And Addie and Henry never actually loved each other, and I kept expecting them to realize that, and then they just never did. Still very good, but not as good as it could have been imo :)
Yeah Henry wasn’t very interesting and it never felt like they were in love it just felt sort of codependent 🤷♀️
I had to DNF this book about a third of the way into it, because it had a big pet peeves of mine in it. Why do all female protagonists in historically based settings have to hate their clothes (aka their stays/corsets)? Not all women in the past wished they could dress like men, so why do so many characters in books/movies/tv shows feel this way? It just comes across as modern people assuming that historical clothing was oppressive instead of doing any actual research.
Also, why does Addie not even mention her stays until she is living in the city? As if she wasn't wearing stays when she was living in her home town, which of course she would have been because stays were a necessary structural undergarment. It's like saying nowadays that people who live in the country don't wear bras.
Sorry for the rant. I find historical clothing very interesting, particularly from the 18th century, and I don't like seeing it misrepresented all the time.
Hells yeah, I'm ready for this.
EDIT: I definitely think the Author either projects into Addie or has spent too long with Addie in her head and thinks she's as special as the book says she is. At first I blew through the book because the writing was beautiful and the concept of the curse interesting, but as soon as Addie met Henry and sure, he has a curse of his own, it starts to slow down. The story is readable. Is it as breathtaking and good as everyone says it is? No, it's an okay book. Give me a couple months and I'll forget all about it. Oh, the irony!
I will never tire of that irony 😂
love your last line lol
There’s so much that could be done with Addie’s curse. Aside from her enigmatic likeness captured in art across the decades, she also implies that she was a spy, which, given her powers of forgetability, would be pretty cool to explore. We don’t because she falls for a pathetic waste of a whinging brat who ruins the book.
It really was a lot of wasted potential 😩
"It needed all the salt it can get" LOOOL
Exactly! Addie didn't seem like a 300-year-old woman who'd experienced life. And your point about the authorial voice treating Addie as being fascinating. 1000% YESSS!! At some points, it's like the book steps back so we can gaze upon her awesomeness. It felt like Addie was the author's favorite doll and that's one of my pet peeves. I just wanted to come to my own conclusions about Addie based on her actions.
But the worst offense this book made is that it doesn't deliver
on the fun ideas that its premise suggested. What would it be like to live as an immortal? or what it would be like to live through these different periods of time and how that would impact a person? What if she kept living until the end of time? idk so many things could be explored. But the actual book focuses on the most boring aspects of the premise + a boring, vanilla romance lol.
OMG I know exactly! My cynical side thinks she didn’t want to research historical events in order to believably depict Addie experiencing them 🙄
that's exactly what i wanted! I wanted something more fun, for us to really dive into what it would be like to live for 300 years. I agree with you, so many thinks could have been explored, but the boring romance took the forefront:(
1000% agree with the author’s voice being so…biased. She clearly thinks Addie is the best thing since sliced bread, and she’s put on the pedestal too much. You can tell V.E REALLY needs us to adore Addie…and I dont…she’s too “im not like other girls” for me
I've stopped watching most booktube channels because I've realized that when I see people hype a book so much, I end up not liking the book at all. I find that the less I know about a book going into it, the more I enjoy it. The hype just kills the magic of books for me. I probably won't pick up this book for the foreseeable future at least. Good review!
Yeah it’s rare a hyped book can live up
Once I found myself trying to make excuses and, at times, huge jumps in logic to justify the qualms I had with the book, I had to admit to myself that the book failed. Before I even had the book in hand, I attended a virtual show when Schwab was promoting the book, and she mentioned that Addie “goes mad”; when I finally got the book and read it, I was thinking to myself, “Either I’m going mad because I don’t see where Addie goes mad or Schwab is going mad because she’s pulling a JKR and talking about and adding characterization that she didn’t write on the page.”
Bahaha omg that’s amazing - Schwab’s hype effectively gaslighting her readers 😂
It would have been so much more interesting if Addie went mad. Schwab just had to add a bit of Yellow Wallpaper vibe and the book would have been transformed
@@yanapetrovska9065 I absolutely agree! There just didn’t seem to be any depth to the characters or to the story. It’s like the bare minimum was done to tell this story.
@@yanapetrovska9065 most definitely - I love reading about characters that you have the opportunity to observe as they descend into madness
The only thing I remember of Addie, are those damn freckles, because we were reminded of them couple times a page. She really is forgettable I guess. She was bland, her guy whose name I don't even remember since it's not in the title was bland, the whole book was one huge bland mess. Also, I hate the trope where 300 yo woman seduces and sleeps with people, and it's normal, cause she is hot (or so I assume).
Haha yup completely agree 😅
On the dating thing too: like let's say they went and wandered around an amusement park or something and the guy goes off to pee like you said. Some time after the door closes he forgets her...does he know WHY he's even at this amusement park or how he got there?? Like that whole conversation of them deciding to go there has to be forgotten so do these people just have big chunks of their memory missing???
While reading this book, Im imagining the author reading each line out loud and patting herself on the back. 🤣
I completely agree with Addie being bland. It was so boring, i has to push myself to finish it. It felt like the author wanted us to really really like the characters but did nothing to make them interesting. I don't know. The flowery writing did not work for me. It didn't live up to the hype for me at all. Other people got in a slump due to how good this was and i got into the slump because of all the issues I had with it. It was disappointing 😔
Yeah the prose almost felt like it was making up for the lackluster contents 🙄
The more and more I read from V.E. Schwab the less I am enjoying her work. She always has great premises but I find her characters extremely lacking in most cases. I also gave this 3 stars
Yeah I definitely think she has some intriguing ideas but she doesn’t quite know how to stick the landing
@@tomchubby8216 In Savage Song did you mean Kate or August? xd
You totally articulated how I felt about that thing. I didn't make it past page 20.... was so disappointed for this DNF.
*reads book*
*loves it cause it breaks through the ice around my manly heart*
*watches this video*
SO...why did I like this again? :D Seriously though, I agree, she doesn't feel like she's 300 years old both in terms of being messed up and being, you know, totally mature because she's 300 years old! And yes, the whole thing of people forgetting her immediately isn't consistent: she spends whole days with people - don't these people go to the toilet the whole day? :D Also, I thought the relationship with Henry was sort of just because he could remember her. I didn't feel like they had such an overwhelmingly good chemistry.
And if I had written this book, the devil would've been far more EVIL. Like making her pregnant and forcing her to watch her children and their children die before her (omg I'm a terrible person).
...but I still loved it. I have no idea how Schwab did it but it really touched me and that happens like never. Maybe it was because I read it in a single day which didn't leave me any time to reflect on things...anyway, thanks for the "You have broken the muffin" moment which decided what I'm gonna eat now.
I personally enjoyed the first half of the book immensely - seeing Addie deal with the curse over the years, and just the way the book is written, I love it.
Then, Henry started and the 'romance' kicked in - cue mandatory love triangle because can't have a young adult book without that crap - and I just found it more and more difficult to push through.
I didn't like the writing of this book at all. It was too poetic for my taste. Also, like you I had a problem with the curse and how it worked. I, too found it odd that people who are with her are WITH her all day long. The curse itself was interesting, but it wasn't thought through. It would have been much cooler if the deal was that she also didn't need to sleep and people forgot about her at night when they go to bed, so she would kind of try to keep them awake... You know, that sort of thing. I just think the curse didn't really work. Also, Addie was boring as hell :/
If you make a deal that comes with a cost and a benefit, Is that really a curse? Isn't a curse something done to you against your will? Even if it might have a benefit amidst the cost.
I must say it did bother me that the book referred to it as a curse because it makes Addie seem like an innocent victim rather than a person who knowingly entered into a bargain
sis it’s like you came into my head and read all of my thoughts with this video. THANK YOU, I genuinely feel like a crazy person hearing so so so much hype and amazing reviews for this book, I’m just like.... huh?
Lmaooo idk why when you said "she steals a muffin" I lost ittt. Like you can do anything you want with no consequences AND immortality and you steal....a muffin...
Bahaha OMG for real tho this is why her vanillaness is so unbelievable and so dull 🤣
I totally agree with your review. I think Schwab spent more time on the existential and emotional issues of the curse and that douchebag f*boy known as the Darkness, rather than seeing how she could have adapted to her situation and see the aftereffects of living three centuries with no real human connection.
This is why I had some hope that Henry could've been the one to help Addie break the curse and she could have some sort of happily ever after (I know, I'm a sad romantic), but instead Schwab goes in the opposite direction.
I had such hope for this book after reading first the premise, then the first section, but a little over halfway through I became disenchanted and annoyed (mostly at the constant reminders from f*boy Darkness that, 'Ha-ha, you're cursed,' and the mourning of her old life in France) and by the very end I wanted to throw the book into a fire and cast a spell on Schwab or something. I've been let down by books in the past, but this is the first time I actually came away depressed from reading a novel that had a different ending from what I imagined.
That's the last time I go into a book with premature hope and expectations, rather than just accepting the text for what it is.
I loved this book and gave it 5 ⭐️ but we are all different. I thought her prose was beautifully written. This is my first book by her but won’t be my last. However it seems either you love this book or hate it..I just fell into the love category.
I haven't read Addie LaRue because the premise just didn't interest me enough. It sounds cool in theory, but I just didn't see how it would lend itself to a 400 page book. On top of that, I get wary of over-hyped books because I've been burned by them so many times in the past. It's SO refreshing to hear you give an actual critical review of it when I feel like my timeline has just been people gushing over a book I couldn't care less about for a month straight ahaha.
This book is definitely way overhyped
I’m reading this novel right now and I feel underwhelmed already. I might skip to the end and pass this book on to someone else. Addie is really boring and she’s not all that with her 7 freckles!
I got SO sick of hearing about the freckles 🤣
In the book, Addie mentions going mad then returning to sanity . Is that how insanity works? you can be mad then comeback from it unscathed?
Hi, I just wanted to tell you I agree with you. I also understand why people like this book. Probably cause they identify with the feelings of loneliness or feeling worthless and trying to fulfill people's expectations. The book delivers the messages the author wanted to deliver, but it does it by holding the hand of the reader and actually "telling you". I also felt it needed more depth… I think it might make some people reflect, but I think mostly young people, or people that haven't really made those reflections before or read profound books.
I also thought Addie was so "likeable" and not believable as an ancient being that has lived in that situation for 300 years, she just felt like a normal girl, to be honest. Like you, I picked up the book cause I was curious to see how a person in this situation would see the world. I wouldn't be surprised that a person in this context would have developed 2 o 3 extra personalities to deal with all that loneliness. Also, I did not understand why the author made her go through sexually traumatic experiences if that didn't really affect Addie… she was perfectly able to have sex and enjoy it. I think sexual abuse and forced prostitution deeply affect people and it's not something superficial that someone can just forget. Why make your character go though that and then just move on like it's a cake that got burned in the oven? As you said, psychologically Addie isn't well created.
It made me laugh when you said that about the toilet, cause I was also thinking about it for the whole book. The door thing made no sense to me… if they forget her when they stop seeing her, they should forget her when they blink or when they turn around. As you said, it would be nice that the curse re-started every day, or that it affected that person when he/she falls asleep. I get that there are limits in fantasy, and that we should "believe" that magic works, but then maybe she shouldn't have tried to explain every detail of the curse if it had all those faults.
Also, the way her curse and Henry's work together didn't make logical sense when I analyzed it further, cause the fact that other people want Henry to be an extrovert, doesn't make Henry an extrovert; so why Addie wanting him to remember her makes him to actually remember her? It makes no sense. The book could have been so much better (in my opinion) if that would be a plot twist: Henry doesn't actually remember her, she just has a veil in her eyes and ears and thinks he does, and they are just having 1st dates like it happens with Addie and everyone else, but Addie's brain is making all that love story up cause of Henry's course.
What really made me angry and disappointed though (maybe it's an effect of reading Sanderson's books), was that I was trying to pick up details that would make a great revelation or plot twist at the end, but turned out they meant nothing, they were just superficial things: the 7 freckles, the 7 lovers, what's up with 7? is that a clue for the plot twist? those 3 cities? what's up with those cities, Addie has a secret plan? Hmm no, nothing matters, you can just delete most of the book and it wouldn't matter. As you said, as a novella it would have been nice, but as a book it's got a lot of flaws.
I've watched this video so many times because I fucking love how we share the same thoughts about this daggom book
Love listening to others opinions but will fully and happily disagree and say, this is the best book I've read in years. And one of the only books that made me cry. And the way books hit different people in different ways is why I love all forms of art so much; we all get something so different from them and it all speaks to our hearts in such a different ways and maybe even at different times in our lives.
I'm sorry you didn't see the hype in it and guess what? Still love the shit outta you and your channel and love seeing how people interpret books differently!!
I love seeing a variety of opinions - the spice of life 👌
Omg, I also thought Addie would be better as a novella or short story. And I agree, I don't see HOW Addie could be normal and not insane after 300 years. And honestly, I am so on board with pretty much every thing you said. In total agreement. Thanks for the review.
I appreciate the honesty, and, honestly for me, the swearing. Your reviews are basically how my friends and I talk about books because we're sort of vulgar adults. Glad to be a new subscriber and looking forward to more reviews!
Haha glad to hear it!
I did think about the bathroom issue but completely overlooked it because I loved it. I can understand your issues.
I wish I’d loved it enough to overlook things - I’m glad you enjoyed it, it sucks being disappointed with a book
Thank you! You really hit the nail on the head with this review. The curse made no logical sense, the characters were bland and pretty much nothing happened. A very underwhelming read.
So painfully underwhelming 😩
I didn't read Adie yet and now I'm so happy I didn't, 'cause everything you mention are the ghings I'd have focus on
Totally agree with your review. Addie was incredibly dull and the relationships were so surface-level. I had a hard time finishing this book because I felt like nothing ever happened. The mechanics of the curse also fell apart for me. I gave it 3 stars, but it deserves less. After loving the Darker Shade of Magic trilogy, I have not been able to get into any of Schwab's books since.
I’ve liked other books from her but yeah, imo her writing is highly overrated and overhyped
This was fantastic and I guarantee the lack of appropriate long-lived characterization would drive me nuts. Reading ACOTAR, these millenia old fae talk and act like they're in their 20s. It makes no sense whatsoever.
lol I remember often thinking that about Maas’s fae but those books are like a CW show so I don’t expect anything deep - Addie LaRue purports to be something more 🙄
@@LienesLibrary Tamlin as played by Chad Michael Murray
@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria Feyre played by Alexis Bledel 🤣
I also gave it 3, and afterwards considered dropping it to 2. I've struggled to describe my feeling about this book, but you nailed it on the head....'Surface-level'.....that's exactly what I felt. I agree 101% with everything you've said about this book, I guess that is why you do book tube reviews and I don't.
Perhaps, in 10 years or however long she worked on this, she improved as an author, but by her own admission this is her legacy, her baby and thus didn't want to change it to match her current writing skill?
I'm too focused on this one issue, but I like to think that one of the reasons food isn't affected by the rules is that people don't really think about or is all that affected by the absence of food.
Like, if you're a cafe worker, you're too busy dealing with the 20+ people in line to remember a face. So, you sell a muffin to a woman with seven freckles, turn around, note that a muffin is gone, and serve the next customer.
And if Addie's stealing money only to use it again, maybe the money returning to the place she stole it from is a way to erase the mark she's made.
Or maybe there's an unwritten part of the rule in which as Addie eats the muffin, a new one materializes in its place in the muffin case... 😄
i finished this book the other day and i just want to say i agree with literally every point you made in this video. especially the going to pee thing. i couldnt stop thinking about that throughout the entire story it was a solid 50% of what ruined the experience for me
This is how I feel about all of Schwab's works 🤦♀️
I’m starting to rapidly fall out of love with her work 🙃
Thank youuuu I gave it 3 stars because as a feminist the ending really pissed me off. Then all the points you made really resonated with me.
I gave it a 2 stars. I didn't feel bad about it
I 100% agree with everything in this review
Omg thank you! You literally voiced all the frustrations I had with this book in a way that I couldn't. Took me forever to finish this book I was so disappointed by it.
glad to help 😜
I was immediately suspicious of this book when I kept seeing a lot of shallow reviewers saying it would be a "classic" one day.
I just discovered your channel from Merphy and I AM SO HAPPY TO HAVE DISCOVERED YOUR REVIEW. I still do nnoootttttt understand the hype for Addie Larue... I really don't hahahah. This had such an awesome premise... yet.. all we got was Addie Larue being sad and sleeping with different people for a month or two then using them to mark her place on the world then moving onto the next lmao
Welcome! And yeah, there are books that aren’t to my taste but I understand why they are hyped and beloved..... this is not one of those books 😂
Hmm, I have started this book and so far I can pretty much agree. Thanks.
Henry was supposed to be important because he remembers, but what really happened is just no chemistry romance. Not even a deeper bond or anything. Just any love she had
I always find I get sucked in by the concept of a Schwab book, but it never holds up to the premise. I’ve given up on her books coz I always feel she lets me down as they always sound so good when they are pitched but it never reaches its potential
Yeah I’m often let down by her execution but this is by far the worst so far imo
This makes me slightly sad but I agree with the criticisms lol Even though i loved it..... I feel that person who is like, yeah I see that but it made me feel things LOL
Haha I have plenty of books I’m that way about 😘
I’m here cause I just now finished and was so confused by all the hype. Great premise, but the execution was bizarre. The only line I truly agreed with was something like “100 years and you’re still here?” Like girl, learn to friggin juggle or something. Addie could’ve mastered so many cool skills, could’ve tested her abilities, but she just kinda resorted to petty theft. I was waiting for the creativity of what she could’ve accomplished, what she could’ve seen, who she could’ve met…but nothing. Immortality didn’t change her, she just kinda ricochetted around a bit in the world. She alluded to going mad but we never see it. And the ending was confusing, at least to me, because Shwab didn’t make it believable. And I’m still trying to figure out how she planted trees and grew vegetables. ??? I’m just underwhelmed and irritated that I finished it thinking it would all pay off at the end. And it didn’t, but yet I remember it allllll.
That was fun. I laughed quite a bit. "You never use the bathroom?" Hahahaha
I enjoyed the book but honestly agree with a lot of your critiques! I was really hoping we would get to see Addie in more history, like how do you just mention she was in WW2 and then NOT show us anything from that century. The one scene we got from the French Revolution was one of my favorites but then Luc whisks her away... overall I really liked it but definitely don't think it's a flawless book 😂
I was so annoyed that all the historical events she lived through got skipped over 😑
I really enjoyed this book for what it was, but I wish she had delved more into the parts she was foreshadowing like “addie had been mad before...” and talked about like a yellow wallpaper type story taking place in the 50’s and have addie be locked away in a mental institution, or how they alluded to her spying during World War II. Like I wish she had made the book longer and cut out the fluff to include those interesting story lines. That would have brought the book to the next level for me
Also you lowkey sound like the narrator of the audiobook for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (in a good way!)
@@christyconklin4548 hahaha the irony 😂 and yeah those parts would have been way more interesting to read about than her mooning over some vanilla fellow for half the book 🤦♀️
I read this last month and it was a weird experience! I must have enjoyed the writing and aspects of the story because the entire time I couldn’t decide if I liked it or hated it. It definitely wasn’t a 5 star but I don’t think it warranted a 1. I agree with it being boring and initially I got excited to have another POV because Addie wasn’t doing it for me but the other POV in my opinion was insufferable. This book is like the Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern the more I think about it the more I dislike it. 🤷🏼♀️At the time of finishing it I gave it a 4 but on reflection it’s more of a 3
Oh dear see that’s what I’ve heard about Starless Sea from several people and it’s why my initial enthusiasm to pick it up right away faded and I still haven’t read it
@@LienesLibrary if you weren’t sure how VE Schwab wrote 400 pages of little plot imagine 500 pages of no discernible plot, and no characters to really get behind 🤦🏼♀️ it took me over a month to plod through it
Like others have said, the hype for this put me off. Plus I read Vicious and while I thought it was good, I also thought it read more like a screenplay for an M. Night Shyamalan movie than part of a really thought out series. Then I never read Vengeful because so many people say to stop with Vicious and pretend like the second book doesn't exist. Not a great vote of confidence in an author's ability there.
I love your review! I thought a lot about the chapter when she was "cursed" and her behaviour around that time came across as ... a bit "selfish". And later on, all of her focus and interactions (wants and desires too) seemed to revolve around a "romantic relationship". That was a bit frustrating to me as well. Isn't there more to want from life? Isn't there more to life than romantic relationships?
Yeah, more broadly speaking, I’m really tired of love and/or children being the greatest goal that characters can aspire to find/have - as you say, isn’t there more to life than that?
Did anyone else feel like they were rereading one of the Twilight books with its endlessly self involved characters?
Just finished the book and I completely agree with you… I STRUGGLED to get through this book for all the reasons you laid out and that it was incredibly boring for me
Just stumbled on your review and while i liked addie larue when i read it i just realised that i totally forgot about this book. And i read it this year...
Addie was such a flat character to me, i was so disappointed with her, how can one live 300 years and be this uninteresting. She wasn’t intelligent like you’d think she would be. Henry and his friends were the most boring characters that felt very unnecessary. The darkness was probably the most interesting character that we didn’t delve into that much.
I understand why you wanted Addie to have been more messed up and your issues with the details. To be honest, I loved the book. I'm not into dark stories and I was happy to follow Addie around. The beauty of it and the feeling of loneliness did hit me, but I can see why some people were disappointed, especially lovers of grim dark fantasy because the story had the potential to be something else completely different. I adore your comparison with Alias Grace, I hadn't realized it before, but it actually makes a lot of sense.
Love Alias Grace! And I mean I don’t need every book to be dark just because I often enjoy dark books, I just felt like this premise was much darker than this book was wanting to acknowledge which left it feeling shallow and unsatisfying
@@LienesLibrary That's exactly why I try going into books blind ! I guess the things I heard before reading the book were that it was slow and poetic, but I agree the premise wasn't a clear hint for the tone of the book.
Just finished the audiobook that thing was 14hours long 😭😭 it’s no way I could have finished the actual book copy
Great review! I share your issues with the book. To your point about Addie stealing, one of the things I couldn't help thinking about was the consequences of that. I think Luc brings it up to her a few times (like when she's eating chocolates at some wealthy family's home and he mentions that a maid will likely be blamed), but they don't get into it much IIRC. The time when she steals an outfit from the poor dressmaker with painfully cramped hands bothered me. Thinking about the amount of misery Addie must have left in her wake is one of the reasons I had trouble caring about the character.
It wouldn’t have bothered me if the story was trying to show how over time, living like that, makes you callous and heartless but nope we’re supposed to find Addie sympathetic 🙄
I also gave this book 3 stars, then dropped it down to 2 then read all of the 1-star reviews and agreed with them so we had a very similar reaction lol I really like the author and have read 6 of her books. Her ideas suck me in, but the execution is often unsatisfying. I think I gave it 3 stars initially because I like the author and her ideas. Anyways, I'm still watching the video :D
It’s not actively horrendously bad it’s just supremely meh 🤷♀️
Thank you. I've been wary of buying something so hyped when it sounds very literary and I just don't do literary. There was also something bothering me about the reviews that I couldn't put my finger on, and I think you nailed it. Too surface and lack of continuity in the details. I'll skip it for now. :)
Yeah sounds like it really wouldn’t be for you
This is the best review of the book so far, it’s good but this isn’t the best thing out there. I feel like there is just this huge gap somewhere it’s just not filled and somethings aren’t clear.
Love your review!
Im ~130 pages in. Half bored to dead / half interested. I think im going to just skip to the last few chapters and be done. Or should I just DNF?
I only finish bad books so I can review them, so.....
I couldn't do it 😁 was a dnf. I read the last few chapters but it was still shit 🤣
I really loved the book because the writing style was so lovely, but Addie is an absolutely abyssmal main character who frolics about for 300 years sleeping with people and whining about how hard her life is. There was war, poverty, homelessness, starvation, slavery, and all these other things going on and she doesn't care about any of it. She only muses about things that directly affect her and cares little about using her curse to actually make a difference in the world. She wanted to explore the world but only goes to the US and Europe. And how do you live 300 years and only meet one person of colour? Make it make sense. Also, Addie had major "im not like other girls" syndrome. Not because she was special based on her own merits, but because the author kept force feeding us how special she is, which made it seem really unauthentic. Like, having 7 freckles isn't special and we don't need to hear about it every few pages. Addie didn't grow as a character at all. She'd rather play the "woe is me" card and have the likeness of her face appear in a painting rather than steal food to feed homeless people. She's completely self-absorbed and takes responsibility for nothing, including the curse placed upon herself. Even her interest in Henry is self-motivated. She even admitted herself. She didn't love him. She was only interested cause he could remember her. 300 years and nothing interesting or compelling to show for it. What a waste of a curse.
Omg I thought I was the only one!
I totally agree with you. There are a lot of things about the curse that doesn't make any sense to me (I found one no one is talking about, having to do with her non-changing body under any circumstances). And, yes, Addie is a boring and naive character. Not coherent with what -supposedly - had happened to her. Anyway, I could go on and on. I don't get the high praises as the better story ever told... Not for me.
0:04 How many stars is that out of?
Oh my goodness...I SO agree! I gave it a 3 as well...but was torn on maybe a 2....I skimmed the last 160 pages...I just couldn't do it anymore.
So painfully mediocre 😩
Very late to the party but I almost DNF 69% the way through after the basic "romance" with Henry and Addie, it became a storyline so boring I left the book sitting on my shelf for MONTHS until I finished it just now.
The writing is beautiful but Addie did feel empty, like her entire being was JUST the places she visited around the world, nothing more and nothing less. Her personality and traumas didnt reflect in her character, sure 300 years overtime is a while to think about and come to terms with certain things, but she felt so bland and basic. She's been so through so much I would have expected her to be more stubborn or aggressive as she literally has suffered through wars and being a prisoner and such. But no, her personality is just freckles and locations she's been to?
I legit forgot Henry's character and his personality and EVERYTHING coming back to it, incredibly bland as well considering I can remember plenty of other characters from books I haven't read in at least a year or more. He takes pictures and runs a book shop....thats all I remember. Oh and hes depressed....I remembered after it was brought up again. I forgot why he made a deal in the first place.
This is probably just me but I didn't like the incredibly short chapters and constant switching back and forth between modern day and the past from Addie's POV. The writing was beautiful dont get me wrong I adore it, but I didn't feel engaged with the short chapters despite having ADD/ADHD. It didn't allow for longer developments and just were short bursts of the slice of life of whatever was happening.
The ending was very unsatisfying and that was definitely the point, while not a book but the game Firewatch also has an unsatisfying ending where you don't figure out everything even after the game is complete but I love the game so much. That compared to this book is much better in terms of so many things, of course not without flaws itself.
I did recently acquire Vicious so I have good faith since the concept sounded good and considering you said it was good I can't wait!
hope you enjoy Vicious!
This book was hollow to me. After reading it you can really extract nothing from it: no plot, characters are just plot devices, pace ruined, no love or anything between henry and addie… the only interesting thing is her journey because it was the whole point when she made the deal: to be free and learn and explore
I also 3-star'd it. It was just "meh". The concept was good but then it went off the rails. I think there was too much romance and I expected more of a fantastical element.
I hated Darker Shades of Magic but loved Vicious, so I wasn't quite sure on this one. I think I might skip it.
Yeah there’s way better books out there, don’t waste your time lol
The curse reminds me of The Sudden Appearance of Hope or at least I think that's what the book was called :)
Same here. Hated it. It was unnecessarily long, excessive use of bad metaphors, most sentences are hanging.
I think I hyped this book up way too much to enjoy it as much as if I had randomly picked it. My high expectations just ended up falling flat bc it ended up being so...slow.
slow and dull and ultimately pointless....
bruh thank u Jesus christ u said everything these other reviews r failing to say ...spoilers but i feel like crawling out of a crate of corpses should be a definitive and mind-altering event ........................
Right?? In fact something similar is actually the source of a great deal of trauma in another of my favorite books and affects the character forever more 🤦♀️
Hey there! I just found your channel and I love how you converse with us as if we’re a friend, and you make a lot of great points in this review! I’m definitely gonna subscribe!😊 And I agree with everything you’ve said. Ahh most of all it just made me sad how boring it was and I physically had to force myself to finish it. The author hyping me up to go read it made it even more of a let down too ;-; I’m just so disappointed😭 it’s a 2 stars from be based on the CAWPILE book rating method. Ah when you mentioned that she breaks the muffin that made me laugh out loud!😂 I never thought about it before but you’re absolutely right! I also thought about if they use the toilet they should forget her! Like the first time that occurred to me with that actor in the ice cream shop; they’re spending the whole day together and you’re telling me they never once went to the toilet?! I always wish books would make things more realistic and once in a while point out that the character goes to the washroom idk why but it makes them feel more real and human to me lol😂 This was my first time reading a V.E. Schwab book and I’m so like let down cause I thought she was a renowned or a good author 😬 I mean she speaks really elegantly on her Instagram and I like her as a person but when I finally read one of her books I was let down soo hard man😅 I was thinking of trying to read Vicious next because I wanna see how she writes better or if I’ll like her other work, but I don’t wanna invest yet into reading A Darker Shade of Magic cause it looks like a really long time with the same characters. What would you recommend? I loved your video, captured all my feelings perfectly! 😊 Also I love your bookshelf/reading nook it looks SO cozy I’m jealous😍 Thanks for the video!😊💖
Without knowing your particular reading taste I would recommend trying vicious as I think it’s much better written and it was originally a standalone so it’s not a big commitment - it’s very different from Addie in both concept and execution so maybe look it up before deciding?
@@LienesLibrary Ahh yeah I enjoy fantasy with a bit of suspense/spookiness too! I hope to experience her better writing in Vicious yeah! I'll definitely give it a go then! Thank you for the reply! :))
I pretty recently got back into reading and this was one of the first books I picked up. Had I more experience I would’ve DNF’d. Even so I contemplated quitting so much. I forced myself to keep going. I don’t get the praise at all. So boring.
Oh no! Haha not a book to read when trying to get back into reading 😅
I hated the reputation in the writing so much it pissed me off
Honestly, I just found it so boring. I didn't care about anyone except maybe Luc. It felt like it was both going way too fast and way to slow for my liking. I am glad I am not the only one who was meh on this.
i hated that book and i agree with everything you said
I read it and I feel the EXACT same way lol. Beyond bored.
I've never read any of V.E.Schwab's books, this will be the first.
Oh dear.... imo not a great place to start 😬
I loved it. Thank goodness I didn't look at any reviews, good or bad, before I read it. I try and do that with most books.
With ya, girl. Couldn't love or hate something so forgettable (lol).
I just really don't think I'd like this one... as excited as I was for the premise... EEEEEEK
After hearing your rant about Laini Taylor I’d be shocked if you liked this 🤣
@@LienesLibrary hahaha -- yeah after seeing a few reviews I just don't think it's worth a shot for me... ! lol
@@JashanaC very wise 👌
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is the most boring book I have ever read, and based on the concept, it shouldn't be boring at all.
I've never read any of her works, so I can't compare. Since I've heard a lot of good things about them, it sounds dissapointing. Regardless it's highly unlikely I'll ever read it or ironically remembef this book exists. *shrug*
lol I never get sick of the irony of how forgettable this book is 😂
i gave this book 3 generous star tho the more i think about it, the more i want to lower down my rating 😂 so underwhelmed with the story, it was so slowwww and Addie is such a bland character 😩
It really was 😂 why are we all being so generous with the stars tho? 🤔
I have this book 3 stars as well. And I feel the exact same way. I didn’t enjoy it. Wasn’t for me.
Oh goodness and I just got this book too😬
I was just about to go get this and start reading it but you've convinced me to get vicious instead.
Vicious is way better 😎
Shoot. I really really want to like her books. She seems to have these really awesomely creative ideas, and then absolutely fails to either realize them or somehow makes them boring or ruins them with not great characters/pacing. Guess I'll skip this one.
I would tend to agree however I do think Vicious is great
@@LienesLibrary is the series as a whole good? I haven't read it yet. Just Near Witch and Shades. And Shades drove me maaaaad.
@@Punkandcannonballer Vicious was originally a standalone and can be read that way - I personally liked a Vengeful too but a lot of people didn’t
@@LienesLibrary I'll give it a shot. I was going to refund my audible copy of Addie for Vicious, but yikes- the sample for the narrator did not entice me in any way...
@@Punkandcannonballer I do a lot of audio but come to think of it I don’t think I’ve ever done Schwab on audio 🤔
I just read this and did not enjoy it. I got so tired of reading about her hookups and silly romances. She is boring, and I didn’t care about Henry!
The "What about bathroom?" argument is about as dumb as you think the book is. Addie has been around for 300 years.
Is it possible Schwab was like "Oh yeah probably... but that's not the point of the book."?
Your free not to like the book, but c'mon. Really? That's. That's splitting hairs.
Also, you spend a long time saying that it's weird that Addie seems so normal and bland after being alone for 300 years. And you were also confused that Luc might've been like "... huh?"
I don't know. I really wish this wasn't the first video of yours I've watched.
The point was that the author went through the effort of explaining very specific details about the curse and bulding around the internal logic of it, its consequences and limitations, so when you explain that much and share your rules, you should get ahead of those moments when that logic wouldnt work and work around it, maybe acknowledge it as she does in other circumstances (for example when moving the tree she specifically explains that she was able to move it and not plant it)
everything you said.