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Fantasy Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

I discovered V.E. Schwab late in life. When the Shades of Magic series was coming out, I was newly out of college, and re-reading old favorites on loop. Earlier this year I read the Near Witch and loved it, so when the hype began about Addie LaRue, I asked my brother for the book for my birthday. 

And then, like all new releases, I sat on it. Why read something when you can enjoy the anticipation of reading it? Once something has been read, that joy is gone. 

I found Addie LaRue to be an enjoyable read. The short chapters kept the momentum going, even as nothing seemed to change for the main character for a while. The slow release of her backstory felt right, and I enjoyed the sense that the author was holding something over my head--I like waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

At the same time, this book was another case of "cover copy does not match the interior." I had the same problem that I did with The Rage of Dragons. How far into the book were we when Henry appears? Halfway? The inside cover made him seem like the inciting incident. As my writing group has been discussing structure and reader expectations over the last few months, this book struck me as a departure from the norm--I couldn't tell you what the inciting incident for the book was. Was it meeting Luc? Meeting Henry? Her parent's insistence that she marry? I think you could argue that any one of these events was an inciting incident, depending on where you sat on the timeline. 

As a reader, it made the book feel anticlimactic--If you don't know what the problem is, how can you anticipate its resolution? 

As a writer, it made me glad for Schwab, that she had the freedom to try. It would be difficult for a debut or early career writer to sell something like this, with a structure that deviated from the arcs we're all hammered into expecting. 

Overall, this wasn't my favorite Schwab book, but it was still a nice book to read over a series of rainy spring weekends. 

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