Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

10 reviews

msradiosilence's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

TLDR; 4.5 rating rounded up, I love monkey’s paw wishes, I love queer women, and I’m not gonna lie this book almost had me crying.


Full review to come. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Addiction, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Classism, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, Sexual assault, Violence, and War

Minor: Kidnapping, Stalking, Cancer, Confinement, Rape, and Religious bigotry

dfram's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i loved this story. i cried and i laughed. i rooted for the bad guy, and for love to thrive in the end. i felt like i read about true love. i would love to re-read this and annotate my own copy! so many memorable quotes and interesting perspectives. 10/10 would recommend. i guess tiktok was right.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Kidnapping

magic_multicolored_miracle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Is forever worth your soul?
That is the question at the heart of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. The novel follows a girl who trades her soul, and unknowingly the ability to be remembered, to a man who might be the devil or might be a Old God in exchange for an immortal life of freedom. 
Full of romance and art and clever turns, the novel starts slow but soon builds into a crescendo. Alternating chapters between her modern life in New York City in 2014 where she meets and falls in love with the enigma of Henry Strauss and flashes of the life she lived over the last 300 years, mostly tangled with "anniversaries" with Luc, the being that she promised her soul to, the book does an excellent job of telling two stories twined into one. And though it is a complete piece on it's own, the story coming to a beautifully bittersweet ending, it teases a third at the close, promising that forever goes on and there is still hope yet.
It does not shy away from the horrors facing a woman alone through history, but reminds the reader that Addie is clever and strong and will make it through, and that no matter where and when she is, there are beautiful things to be find when she looks. 
A definite must read for fans of trickster fae tales, doomed love, and the timeless power of art and stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Self harm, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death, War, Alcoholism, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body horror, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ericius's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

a bit too long, somewhat slow to read and a bit sad, but i forgive it because it was an emotional journey it made me cry and smile and i loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Abandonment, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

throwback682's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was so scared to finish this book. I almost quit because I couldn’t bear the idea of the sad ending I imagined.

Spoiler

I’m so glad that I stuck it out. The ending wasn’t what I expected at all (although some might see through it more easily) and it wasn’t happy but it was very satisfying. Henry’s last pages had me near tears.

I think the concept of the plot is really creative, and the author keeps track of a thousand little details of Addie’s curse that could’ve created a thousand plot holes. 

At times it was predictable, but not in a way that spoiled my enjoyment.

Spoiler

I knew almost right away that Henry had also made a deal, but there were plenty of details I didn’t foresee, too.

This book made me  want to savor every moment of life and love. It was entertaining but also thought provoking and heart-fire stoking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Addiction, Mental illness, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug use, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gaslighting, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Cancer, Classism, and Dementia

cutepatzie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Intresting book with amazing feamale main character. Amazaing book that remind us what is the most important in life. And how powerful can memory be, the name and love in our life.  And how dreaming big is important like also our belive in ourselves and not beiong afraid of trying to be the best version of ourselves. And being afraid of dreaming big.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Blood, Death of parent, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, War, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Misogyny

Minor: Trafficking, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

madmilliner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

3.0

I wanted to like this story, especially because the writing is so beautiful.  The words, and scenes are a cross between poetry and art.

It is the ultimate manic pixie dream girl vs depressive demon nightmare boy, I felt it was trying too hard and was somehow ¿oversaturated? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Biphobia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, War, Violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, Kidnapping, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Confinement, Child death, Blood, Addiction, Abandonment, and Torture

katrinarose's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This was a disappointment for me. Slow paced books are supposed to shine in the character development but all the characters felt so empty and one dimensional. It was super repetitive (which I understand is meant to mimic Addie’s existence but still, a book is still meant to be enjoyed) but with no payoff. The ending was just as predictable and boring as the rest of the book. I gave it 2.5 stars only because it wasn’t horrible, I just don’t see all the good a lot of people do. If it wasn’t so long for no reason I may have rated it higher.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders

v171's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I don't know whether to consider this historical fiction, romance, sci fi, or fantasy, but whatever it is, I loved it. There were so many things done well in the construction of this story, but the characters really stood out. I felt them all to be interesting, dynamic, and genuine: comparable to actual humans. All of the characters had a beautifully drawn arc that kept me very engaged throughout. I'm familiar with Schwab's style of writing in her previous works, which is short, choppy chapters that focus on action, but I felt the short chapters in this book complemented the slower pace of the book really well. My favorite parts of the book were the glimpses through time at major historical moments to the point that I wish we spent a bit more time there and less in the present. The romance was.. okay. Despite the characters being believable, I had a hard time understanding what drew Henry to Addie in the first place, and the speed at which it happened was jarring. My main disappointment was at the end with a really tired trope that always bothers me which is when the book your reading is actually referenced as a book that is being read/written in the story as well. I just think it's uncreative, but I suppose I can appreciate the tie-in of the book to Addie's influence on art throughout history. This was such a change of pace from Schwab's other works, it was refreshing and really demonstrates strong versatility! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Kidnapping

hmatt's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book was all over the place in terms of which aspects I liked and which I didn't.

The premise and the promise of diverse characters what what led me to the book in the first place - both are stellar. I wanted to like the writing style, but it felt very simple at times. The descriptive writing relied too heavily on similes and metaphors for my taste.

While I enjoyed the arc of the plot overall, I felt like the pacing was skewed. Too much time was spent establishing the boundaries of Addie's curse in her first few years, in my opinion. Like, I got it after the first 2 scenes, let's move on. Because of all the time spent there, I didn't get a sense of what the book was really about until more than halfway through. If this was intentional, I disagree with that choice.

Spoiler

Leaving Addie's relationship with Henry to develop just in the second half of the book made it feel disingenuous and forced, to me.

I also didn't feel like the premise was explored or exploited in all the ways it could be have been: You've got this person who lives through hundreds of years and yet

Spoiler

pretty much every historical fiction plot point opportunity is swerved. I'm usually interested in "mundane" histories, too - I didn't need Addie to end up in the middle of a World War, but I wanted the historical settings to be described with more richness.

The historical themes were part of what drew me to read the novel, but they often felt neglected or rushed-to-make-a-point.

Spoiler

Maybe it was because there were fewer of his chapters and therefore they were more concise, but I really enjoyed Henry's POV. It added some much-needed variety. I fe.el very "meh" about Luc, though. His characterization was all over the place and honestly confused me some of the time. (I kind of get that it was supposed to, towards the end, but still.) Aaaaand I was not into how Addie is somehow flawless - like I get she makes mistakes at the start, but the whole first half of the book is basically a manifesto on how she's perfected all these skills and is this jaded know-it-all who can navigate any tricky situation and LITERALLY OUTSMART THE DEVIL. Sigh. The rest of the characters at least had flaws that were acknowledged as such.

I feel like I'm giving this book a very scathing review, even though I enjoyed it quite a lot. I guess I just feel like it had so much potential to be a 5 for me, if only a few things had been different.

So, things I liked:

• Henry's whole storyline
• Bea and Robbie. Please, more of them.
• Some of the "maybe in another life"-style interactions, like with Sam and Remy
• Revisiting Vion time after time

Two things I really really hated:

• The freckles thing. No, sorry, too cliche, cannot
• The complete and unabashed focus on the West.
  Spoiler

  I was expecting this to take me all over the world and I think we got to 5 countries, 4 of which are in Western Europe???
  Come on. Do better.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence