By Shantell Powell
Content warning: violence, starvation, emotional manipulation, survival sex, depression, drug use
V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a dark fantasy romance with queer protagonists and a cast of shadowy, ephemeral characters spanning centuries and continents. If you are into vampire books, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue just might scratch that itch. Although Addie is not a vampire, the story includes such vampire tropes as immortality, agelessness, and a cruel sire.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is the story of a Faustian bargain. In 1714 France, a young artist is disillusioned with her life. She does not want to be a wife, and she does not want to be ordinary. Desperate to escape what she considers a boring, meaningless life, she prays for freedom and immortality without considering the ramifications. A dark god grants her this wish. She is given what she asks for, but the gift comes with a terrible side effect: no one will remember her. If someone were to be having a conversation with her and then leave the room, they would forget she ever existed, and she would appear as a stranger to them. To top it all off, Addie cannot say her name or leave a mark or a memory upon the world. Since Addie is an artist like her father, being unable to leave any marks is especially devastating. The story pairs the despair of loneliness and being forgotten with a joie de vivre and a love of learning.
After three hundred years of existing as a shadow and being tormented by the dark god, Addie encounters something new: someone who remembers her.
The story is told from the point of view of Addie and by the only person who remembers her. The book uses the third person point of view and includes epistolary elements.
This was my first time reading a book by V.E. Schwab, and I was enchanted by their writing. The language is lyrical, and some of the sentences are so lovely that I read them again and again. Schwab has an excellent command of language, and their poetic prose is so immersive that I could gladly swim in it. That being said, there are places where the manuscript could have used some editing, because as pretty as the words are, the story gets bogged down. Story threads are introduced and then abandoned, never to be picked up again. The most egregious example of this is when Addie becomes a spy during World War II, but the reader doesn’t get to experience any of it. It is only mentioned in passing but could have been an excellent balm to the flagging middle section of the book.
Faults notwithstanding, I do recommend this book for its delicious premise and gorgeous prose. I look forward to reading more of V.E. Schwab’s books. I expect they will get better and better as their career progresses.