“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.”

Release Date: October 6th, 2020

Genre(s): Adult Fiction, Historical Ficiton, Fantasy

Publisher: Tor Books 

Pages: 448

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Synopsis

This story follows Adeleine LaRue, who makes a bargain with the devil in order to flee her arranged marriage. As a result, she will live forever, and she is immediately forgotten by everyone she meets. But one day, 300 years later, she finds a man in a New York City bookstore that remembers her name.

Review

To be honest, I wasn’t originally going to read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. When the book was first released, I knew of it as a historical fiction novel, which I am selective on. But as the months passed by, I learned more about the book and the synopsis caught my interest. So I finally read the book several months after release, and I’m happy I finally did.

To start, I found the writing in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue absolutely beautiful. I’m the type of reader that can excuse quite a bit story-wise if I really enjoy the writing, so this might not be everyone’s favorite element. But if you’re like me, you might like this book too. It’s also a much slower-paced book, but I find that makes sense given the context, and really enjoyed taking my time with this one. In addition to the storyline itself, the book explores Adeleine’s navigation of the world in her state and her loneliness over centuries. 

Story-wise, there were a couple of issues I saw with The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I did find the events up to the deal and the exposition, in general, to be a little bit rushed. Again, this feels masked by the writing, but I didn’t feel Addie’s desperation during the deal. I understand why, but I think this would have made more sense if we spent more time with her in the beginning. 

Additionally, I did want a little bit more from the past chapters in this book. Three hundred years of history could have been an opportunity to explore so much in the world and bring diverse perspectives to the table, but I feel like this opportunity wasn’t really taken. I feel like this even applies to her life in New York City. And for the events that The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue did cover, it felt very in the background instead of front and center. For example, I would have expected the context of wartime to be much more prominent than the few sentences that discussed it. 

Despite all this, I still really enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I especially loved reading about all of the art that she inspired and how this was tied into the story. I loved reading about the main characters as well and how this book explored their feelings and navigation of the world above all else. I think the likeliness of readers enjoying this book will come down to preference and the elements they value the most. For me, writing and characters are what I value the most, and for that, I thought this book was a beautifully written story that I’d love to revisit in the future.

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