kyleighf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I wouldn’t say it’s the kinda 5 star that changes your life, but it’s the kind that keeps you entranced all the way through. The story was inviting and enticing, and the ending was perfect for a story of memory. Addie is a compelling main character who’s motives are a bit inhuman which makes her fit her role even better. The book is diverse and just when you think you’ve got it figured out, it’ll turn itself around, always playing the game. This book will keep you in the here and now while still recalling the past. Loved the way it was told and tone it was told in! 😁
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Torture
sarahbiegelsen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Torture, Confinement, Suicide attempt, and Death
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, War, Alcohol, Blood, and Death of parent
nikinem's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
Minor: War
parfait52's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This book barely has a plot. It is almost entirely a character study that then adds an additional smaller character study later on. If the writing were not as effortless and beautiful as it is, I probably wouldn't have finished this book. It was kind of tedious to read through over 400 pages of exposition and flashbacks and ponderings. The plot points that do exist are all very predictable and played out, so there wasn't really anything there to tantalize or excite. And I also can't exactly tell if this banal disappointment betrayed the book's themes or exemplified them. The characters were all fairly interesting and likeable and real (within the setting), with Henry being a personal highlight for me.
If you enjoy reading gorgeous, languid writing that feels almost burdensome at times, with some insightful peeks into the mind of an unfortunate soul, this is the book for you. If you enjoy a clear plot with characters that are revealed through actions instead of long ramblings, this is not the book for you. Ultimately, I am glad that I read this book but I probably wouldn't want to do it again. Kind of like life itself.
If you enjoy reading gorgeous, languid writing that feels almost burdensome at times, with some insightful peeks into the mind of an unfortunate soul, this is the book for you. If you enjoy a clear plot with characters that are revealed through actions instead of long ramblings, this is not the book for you. Ultimately, I am glad that I read this book but I probably wouldn't want to do it again. Kind of like life itself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Alcohol, Drug use, War, Death, Abandonment, and Stalking
Minor: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Confinement, and Cursing
avie_j's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Misogyny and Gaslighting
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, War, and Sexism
bentobookdragon11's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Addiction
Minor: Toxic relationship, War, Death, Torture, and Blood
*the darkness/devil/LOWER CASE G god*limewheel's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Addie LaRue's unheard of twist on immortality hooked me from the beginning. A life lived forever, in exchange for being erased from history is something wild and exciting, and for most of the book, I was completely invested in her stories through time. Addie's morality warping as the uncomfortable truth of her nonexistence became blatantly clear, all the retries she's had at first impressions and how she took advantage of them, the first person look at history through the eyes of somebody who lived through it but could never take part in it. This is an amazing view of immortality and I was blown away by how far Schwab could take it. It's telling of a very creative mind, and for my first work of hers, this was a pleasant surprise.
My only pitfall with this book has to delve into spoilers, so read at your own risk.
The characters were alright, but most fell flat, even the main few. Addie, of course is wonderfully fleshed out, because, after all, this book is about her invisible life. But I just grew bored with the other two, Henry and Luc. Henry, specifically, I became frustrated with because I want to like his character so bad, but everything about him is just so... insignificant. And that's a big problem for a main character. I truly could not care about his struggles because he's a poorly written coward who wallowed in pity . Now, I have nothing against cowards, or characters who wallow in pity, but being poorly written is where I draw the line. Next to nothing happens with his development for almost the entirety of the book, except that he falls in love, and even that barely changes him. His problems had been solved before he and Addie crossed paths and that's probably what made him so stagnant to me. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Luc, well, he was just a not not evil guy whose only purpose was apparently to torment Addie sometimes. Kinda boring and kinda predictable, but I can barely fault him for it because he is a nonhuman god, and they tend to be like that. Whatever.
There's not much else for me to say about this book. I loved Addie and her circumstances, but everything else was pushed to the sidelines. That about sums up why this is rated 3.25.
My only pitfall with this book has to delve into spoilers, so read at your own risk.
Spoiler
The romance and love triangle was corny at best, and teetering on infuriating at worst. It wasn't Henry that was the problem—his and Addie's relationship actually seemed like a natural progression of the story—but rather Luc and Addie's "relationship". It came out of nowhere and seemed annoyingly out of character for Luc. Sure, he'd been trying to whittle down Addie for centuries before, but that was entirely out of spite. Spite is the very basis of their relationship: Addie wants to live forever to prove Luc wrong, and Luc wants her to give up to prove Addie wrong. In any other book, this might make sense for it to take a romantic turn, and I don't even blame Addie for developing feelings towards him because she's human, but the difference is that he's not. Luc is a god with innumerable souls to reap and even more waiting to make deals with him. Why is Addie so special? At the end of the book, she says that she'd spent 300 years learning the ins and outs of his behavior, and that he'd learned nothing of her in that same time, so why did he want her so bad? For having this love triangle between Henry and Addie and Luc take up, like, 1/3 of the book, it was more than enough to taint my enjoyment.The characters were alright, but most fell flat, even the main few. Addie, of course is wonderfully fleshed out, because, after all, this book is about her invisible life. But I just grew bored with the other two, Henry and Luc. Henry, specifically, I became frustrated with because I want to like his character so bad, but everything about him is just so... insignificant. And that's a big problem for a main character. I truly could not care about his struggles because he's a poorly written coward who wallowed in pity . Now, I have nothing against cowards, or characters who wallow in pity, but being poorly written is where I draw the line. Next to nothing happens with his development for almost the entirety of the book, except that he falls in love, and even that barely changes him. His problems had been solved before he and Addie crossed paths and that's probably what made him so stagnant to me. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Luc, well, he was just a not not evil guy whose only purpose was apparently to torment Addie sometimes. Kinda boring and kinda predictable, but I can barely fault him for it because he is a nonhuman god, and they tend to be like that. Whatever.
There's not much else for me to say about this book. I loved Addie and her circumstances, but everything else was pushed to the sidelines. That about sums up why this is rated 3.25.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Mental illness, and Drug use
Minor: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail
anapthine's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Suicide attempt, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Mental illness, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts
maddox22's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Torture, War, Violence, and Body horror
wordrevel's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book didn’t entirely surprise me, yet that precisely was its brilliance — the way the pieces fell into place and there was no question that this was exactly how the story needed to be told.
The reason I decided against a full 5.0 rating is that I found it odd that in her 300 years and with such a curiosity of languages, Addie's nine languages were all romantic or germanic languages. She hadn't learnt any Asian or African languages, even though she lived in New York, which has had a sizeable immigrant community for a long, long time.
The reason I decided against a full 5.0 rating is that I found it odd that in her 300 years and with such a curiosity of languages, Addie's nine languages were all romantic or germanic languages. She hadn't learnt any Asian or African languages, even though she lived in New York, which has had a sizeable immigrant community for a long, long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and War
Minor: Alcoholism