There are books that entertain, books that transport, and then there are books like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – ones that feel like they linger in the corners of your mind long after the final page. V.E. Schwab’s ambitious, lyrical novel is a story about time, memory, and the quiet desperation of wanting to be remembered in a world that forgets. It’s a tale that stretches across centuries and continents, following a girl who once made a deal with a dark god and spends the rest of her immortal life trying to make her mark on the world.
📖 Quick Overview
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V. E. Schwab
When Addie La Rue makes a pact with the devil, she trades her soul for immortality. But there’s always a price – the devil takes away her place in the world, cursing her to be forgotten by everyone.
Addie flees her tiny home town in 18th-Century France, beginning a journey that takes her across the world, learning to live a life where no one remembers her and everything she owns is lost and broken. Existing only as a muse for artists throughout history, she learns to fall in love anew every single day.
Her only companion on this journey is her dark devil with hypnotic green eyes, who visits her each year on the anniversary of their deal. Alone in the world, Addie has no choice but to confront him, to understand him, maybe to beat him.
Until one day, in a second hand bookshop in Manhattan, Addie meets someone who remembers her. Suddenly thrust back into a real, normal life, Addie realises she can’t escape her fate forever.
📌 TL;DR
A sweeping, time-bending tale of love, memory, art, and identity. Lushly written and hauntingly elegant, this is a book that aches – both in content and craft.
💥 Hook
“What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?”
💬 The Big Idea
V.E. Schwab explores the ache of being forgotten, the power of legacy, and the tension between freedom and connection. What happens when you have all the time in the world, but no one remembers you were ever there?
🧠 What’s it About?
In 1714 France, Addie LaRue makes a desperate bargain to escape a life she doesn’t want – and ends up cursed to live forever, unseen and forgotten by everyone she meets. For 300 years, she drifts through art, cities, and centuries, remembered by no one… until 2014, when a boy in a New York bookshop finally remembers her name.
The novel moves fluidly through time, jumping between past and present, Addie’s wandering years and her relationship with Henry, the man who changes everything — or so she hopes. But lurking in the background is Luc, the dark god who granted her wish.
🔍 Why It’s More Than Just the Blurb
This book is an experience. A slow, steady burn that prioritizes emotion over plot, and atmosphere over action. The true magic here lies not in the fantastical premise, but in the writing itself. Schwab’s prose is lyrical, almost hypnotic – like reading a love letter to loneliness and longing.
✒️ The writing: Elegant, evocative, filled with repeated motifs that deepen meaning with every return. It reads like a painting feels – rich, layered, and emotionally textured.
🕰️ Time as a character: From 18th-century Paris to modern Brooklyn, Schwab makes each era vivid. You feel the weight of Addie’s years – the growing blur of centuries, the desperate hunger to leave a mark.
🎭 Themes of art, memory, and identity: Addie may be forgotten, but her influence echoes – through music, painting, literature. She becomes a ghost in the margins of human creativity.
💔 A complicated love triangle (of sorts): Addie’s relationships with Luc and Henry are both intimate and ideological – about control, choice, validation, and love. If you’re not into morally murky, emotionally fraught romances, Luc may grate. But his dynamic with Addie is undeniably layered and worth dissecting.
🔍 Deep Dive
Let’s dig into what’s going on beneath the surface – without spoiling anything.
📚 What’s Inside? (Spoiler-Free Breakdown)
Addie: Resilient, stubborn, deeply romantic in the truest sense – she is equal parts wanderer and warrior. Her story is about refusing to disappear, no matter how invisible the world makes her.
Henry: Soft-hearted, lost, and seeking meaning. His storyline is quieter but resonant – it reflects the quieter heartbreaks we carry, the feeling of being “not enough.”
Luc: Charismatic, cruel, and just underdeveloped enough to leave you wanting more. He’s not your classic villain – more a haunting question mark.
Full Review By Jasmine
★ ★ ★ ★
V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a story that aches with time – stretching across centuries, continents, and lifetimes of longing. It’s haunting and poetic, wrapped in beautiful prose that reads like a melancholy spell. From the first page, it’s clear this is not just a story – it’s an experience. And what an ambitious, emotionally-charged experience it is.
The book follows Addie, a woman who makes a Faustian bargain to live forever – but with a catch: no one she meets will ever remember her. It’s a premise that feels both mythical and deeply personal, and Schwab handles it with elegance and care.
🖋️ The Writing Is The True Magic
Let’s start with what shines most: V.E. Schwab’s writing is absolutely stunning. The prose is lyrical without being purple, lush without ever feeling overwritten. Every line feels deliberate, artistic, and emotionally charged. The structure – jumping through timelines and cities, memories and present moments – is fluid and effective, helping you feel the weight of Addie’s invisibility and her constant reaching for something permanent.
You can feel how deeply Schwab cared about the craft of this book – it’s ambitious, literary, and painterly. It’s one of those stories you want to underline, highlight, and scribble notes in the margins of. The tone is melancholic, often heavy, but never dull.
⏳ A Story of Loneliness, Memory, and Meaning
What makes this novel so interesting is the emotional tension it holds. Addie’s existence is simultaneously endless and ephemeral – her memories eternal, but her connections fleeting. There’s something profoundly sad and beautiful about watching her leave fingerprints all over the world that no one can ever trace back to her.
The book is also full of quiet philosophy – about art, legacy, freedom, and what it means to be remembered. It asks huge questions and doesn’t always answer them, but that’s part of its charm. It’s less about plot twists and more about emotional resonance.
❤️🩹 Addie, Henry, Luc – And the Messy Tangle of Connection
I was genuinely intrigued by the relationships in this book. I thought Addie and Henry had a gentle, thoughtful dynamic that I really enjoyed. It was soft in a way that felt safe – two people trying to be understood, and offering each other a rare moment of peace.
Luc, the shadowy god she bargains with, is complicated. He has that timeless, mysterious appeal that often draws readers in – and while I found his presence interesting, I also felt like he was a little underdeveloped. There was potential for something really layered there, but we only got glimpses. I would’ve loved to see him explored more deeply beyond his archetype.
That said, I didn’t personally connect with the Addie/Luc dynamic – it felt more like a power struggle than a romance. I will never root for a toxic couple to be together (I was 100% Team Raoul in Phantom of the Opera), and while some readers may swoon at the angst and push-pull tension, it just didn’t work for me emotionally.
And without spoiling anything, I’ll just say that the ending left me a bit conflicted. I was hoping for something that felt more self-assured, more character-driven – instead, I found myself asking, “Why… this choice? Why give up so much for something that felt so rushed?” It didn’t ruin the story for me by any means, but it did leave me a little disappointed.
🗝️ Worth the Hype?
Absolutely, in many ways. The atmosphere, the writing, the sheer scope of Addie’s life – it’s unlike anything I’ve read. It’s a quiet book, but it lingers. Schwab’s love of storytelling, art, and time is poured into every page.
Still, while I admired it greatly, it’s not my favorite of hers. Personally, I prefer Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil – it felt tighter, darker in a satisfying way, and more emotionally grounded. Addie LaRue is beautiful, but its dreamlike quality sometimes kept me emotionally distant.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a slow, atmospheric novel about being forgotten – and fighting not to be. It’s about loneliness, yes, but also resilience, creativity, and carving your name into the world in any way you can.
It’s imperfect but powerful. Quiet but bold. And while I didn’t love every moment, I deeply appreciated the ambition and heart behind it.
🎭 Mood & Matchmaker
Think The Time Traveler’s Wife meets The Picture of Dorian Gray with a pinch of The Midnight Library.
🌈 Vibes Check
What kind of vibe are you in for? Let’s break it down:
✍️ Writing Style: Lush, looping, poetic
📅 Pacing: Slow but intentional – think drifting rather than sprinting
🧠 Head vs. Heart: Emotion-heavy, introspective
💔 Romance Factor: Complicated and bittersweet
🌙 Magic Factor: Subtle and philosophical, not spell-and-sword
🔄 Mood Matches
If you liked…
📘 The Night Circus – for lyrical writing and aching magic
📘 This Time Tomorrow – for time travel with emotional depth
📘 The Starless Sea – for dreamy aesthetics and introspection
…then you’ll find Addie LaRue a powerful echo.
Craving more beautifully written stories with a magical edge?
✨ Explore more fantasy reviews here ✨
🧃 Emotional Map
🕰️ Timeless melancholy – 10/10
💞 Quiet romance – 8/10
🎨 Creative longing – 10/10
💀 Loneliness ache – 9/10
🕯️ Philosophical magic – 7/10
🤷♀️ Slight ending frustration – 6/10
🎯 For the Right Reader
If you crave:
- Deep, lyrical prose that prioritizes mood and meaning
- A story that unfolds slowly and thoughtfully
- A heroine who chooses defiance over comfort
- Meditations on legacy, mortality, and art
- Just the right touch of magic and mythology
…The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue will stay with you long after the final page.
🧭 Where I Found It
After finishing Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, I just had to read more V.E. Schwab!
💡 Extra Curiosities
Got some quick questions about The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue ? Here are a few things readers often wonder:
What is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue about?
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a historical fantasy novel about a young woman in 18th-century France who makes a Faustian bargain to live forever — but in exchange, she is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. No one remembers her name, her face, or her presence the moment she leaves a room.
Spanning 300 years and multiple continents, the novel explores Addie’s struggle to leave a mark on the world despite her invisibility. Everything changes when, in modern-day New York, someone finally remembers her — a quiet bookseller named Henry. The story is about art, love, identity, memory, and what it means to truly live.
Why was The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue banned?
As of now, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue has not been officially banned in any widespread or well-documented way. It has been included on some lists of “challenged” or “flagged” books due to themes that include:
- LGBTQ+ representation
- Occasional mature content
- Philosophical/spiritual themes involving deals with a devil-like figure
However, it has not faced major bans or removals from libraries or schools in the way some other books have. It’s generally well-regarded and widely available.
Is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue spicy?
Not really! While the novel does include a few romantic and intimate scenes, it’s far from what most readers would call “spicy.” There’s emotional intimacy and some sensuality, but it’s written in a lyrical, restrained way — more focused on connection, longing, and feeling than on explicit physical detail.
If you’re looking for steamy romance, this won’t scratch that itch. But if you’re into slow-burning relationships and intense emotional undercurrents? Addie delivers.
👋 Final Thoughts
V.E. Schwab has crafted a hauntingly beautiful novel about the things we fight to hold on to – memory, love, identity, selfhood. While the ending may divide readers (and left me wanting more emotional closure), the journey is absolutely worth it. Schwab proves herself not only as a storyteller, but as a literary artist – someone who writes to be remembered.
And in the world of unforgettable fiction? Addie LaRue has left her mark.