My Thoughts: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

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

Publication Date: October 6th 2020
Publisher: Tor Books
Pages: 442
ISBN: 08414280252-00001
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Historical
Source: Own

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A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name. (Goodreads)

I think The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab was at the top of everyone’s reading list for this year, and it was definitely one of my most anticipated reads for 2020. I have read and enjoyed quite a few of Victoria’s books over the years, I couldn’t wait to meet Addie LaRue. I am thrilled to tell you that I very much enjoyed this book, so, so, so much more than I expected to.

Let me warn you ahead of time that this will probably be a super ramble-y review. You’ve been warned. (I’m also going to try to write this without giving any spoilers away, so bear with me if I am super vague.)

Let’s start with the characters from the book since I loved them so much. The main character, Addie LaRue, obviously, is my favorite. What a fascinating life Addie lived. Can you imagine making a bargain that curse you so that no one remembered who you were? How lonely that would be. And it was, for Addie. You could read that plainly on the pages.

The storyline for the book was like nothing I have ever read before. To say I was hooked would be an understatement. The journey over time from the beginning of the curse to over 300 years later was both fascinating and painful, at times, to read. But I loved every minute of it.

The ending of the book was both satisfying and frustrating. It was satisfying because it was a damn good ending, but it was frustrating because I didn’t want the book to end at all. (Especially the way it did.) I’m not saying that I would love to see a sequel for this book, (I would), but I want to know more about Addie’s future, especially after the long life she has lived. I mean, of course her future was implied, or at least what she planned to do, but I really just wanted to keep reading more and more of this wonderful story.

I also really loved the settings for the book. And by settings, I mean multiple places. Addie went everywhere, and we get to go along with her throughout the book. Victoria was so detailed with her descriptions; I could visualize everything perfectly in my mind. I loved both the past and present time periods!

I should also mention that I listened to this book in audio format, and I am SO glad that I did. I’m sure the story is magical all on its own, but the narrator, Julia Whelan, brought her own brand of magic to it with her wonderful voice. I will definitely be checking out more books narrated by her in the future!

Overall; The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was not at all what I expected, but it was just the book I didn’t know I needed. I very much enjoyed the story, and I know it will be one that I remember for a long, long time. I would love to have more books like this from Victoria in the future, because it definitely left me wanting more.

My Thoughts: A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

A Conjuring of Light
(Shades of Magic #3)
by V.E. Schwab
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Publication Date: February 21st 2017
Publisher: Tor Books
Pages: 624
ISBN: 9780765387462
Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy
Source: Own

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Witness the fate of beloved heroes - and enemies.

THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED...
The precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise.

WHO WILL CRUMBLE?
Kell - once assumed to be the last surviving Antari - begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?

WHO WILL RISE?
Lila Bard, once a commonplace - but never common - thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.

WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL?
And an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown while a fallen hero tries to save a world in decay. (Goodreads)

I was super excited to get started on A Conjuring of Light by Victoria Schwab, and I dove into the story just moments after finishing up A Gathering of Shadows. I don’t normally read books back to back, but on this one, I just couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next. A Conjuring of Light was a great conclusion to this unique series, and though I didn’t want the series to end at all, it all came together perfectly in the end.

After the events of A Gathering of Shadows, I had no idea what to expect from A Conjuring of Light. The book picks up right where the second book leaves off, and I loved jumping right back into the story. The storyline is full of action and suspense, and keeps you captivated, wondering what’s going to happen next. There is seriously never a dull moment when reading this book, and I devoured it just as quickly as I did the second book. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to finish this series. I really enjoyed it so much!

I love so many characters in this book, but the one character that I totally didn’t expect to love was Holland. We get quite a bit of his back-story throughout the book, and between that and the character growth throughout the story, it’s hard not to absolutely love him. Lila is another favorite of mine, and has been since the beginning, and her growth over the course of the story was pretty awesome to watch as well. And, of course, there’s also Kell. Sigh. I pretty much love everything about Kell, and everything about Kell with Lila. They are perfection, as are Rhys and Alucard as well. I just really love all of tehse characters, and I’m so sad to have to say goodbye to them!

Overall; A Conjuring of Light was an absolutely perfect ending to this wonderfully unique series! The storyline was completely captivating, the characters were all wonderful, and the ending was perfection. I loved everything about this book, and this series, and I can’t wait to re-read it again and again. If you’ve not yet checked out this magical series by Victoria Schwab, I do recommend you check it out! And I totally hope you enjoy it just as much as I do.

My Thoughts: A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

A Gathering of Shadows
(Shades of Magic #2)
by V.E. Schwab
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Publication Date: February 23rd 2016
Publisher: Tor Books
Pages: 512
ISBN: 9780765376473
Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy
Source: Own

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It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Prince Rhy was wounded, and since the nefarious Dane twins of White London fell, and four months since the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift--back into Black London.

Now, restless after having given up his smuggling habit, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks as she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games--an extravagant international competition of magic meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries--a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

And while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night will reappear in the morning. But the balance of magic is ever perilous, and for one city to flourish, another London must fall. (Goodreads)

I started the A Darker Shade of Magic series last year, and really enjoyed the story, and I was super excited to get started on the rest of the series. Unfortunately I couldn’t start A Gathering of Shadows right away, thanks to my ever-growing TBR, but I was determined to read it this month, and I’m thrilled to have finally done so!

It has been a few months since I read the first book, and I didn’t have time to re-read it before starting this sequel, and I was a little worried about all the things I had forgotten. I shouldn’t have worried at all, because once I started reading this book, everything from the first book came rushing back in my mind, which was awesome. The storyline for this book picks up not long after where the first book ends, and it was really nice to get right back to the story. This sequel starts off with a bang, and keeps going throughout, which kept me completely hooked, and I devoured this book in no time at all.

There are SOOO many great characters in this series to love, and two of my favorites are, of course, Lila and Kell. We don’t see them together for most of the first half of the book, but once they finally get together, there are fireworks! I love these two, and their chemistry is kind of insane. I hope that we see more of them together in the next book. There are also a lot of characters in the book that we get to see once again, including Kell’s brother, Rhys, who I am so curious about, as well as a slew of interesting new characters, including Alucard Emery, who I definitely want to know more about. I am curious to see what’s next for all of these characters in the third book.

Overall; I really enjoyed A Gathering of Shadows, and I thought it was an excellent sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic!  This series is definitely unique, and I’m really excited to get started on A Conjuring of Light, to see what’s going to happen next for Lila, Kell, and the rest of the characters in this book. If you’ve not yet checked out this series, you should totally do so!

My Thoughts: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic
(Shades of Magic #1)
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Publication Date: February 24th 2015
Publisher: Tor Books
Pages: 400
ISBN: 9780765376459
Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy | Magic
Source: Own

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Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive. (Goodreads)

My Thoughts...
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab has been on my TBR for FOREVER, and I never seemed to have the time to get to it, even though I really, really wanted to. When I started working on my Fall TBR list back in the summer, I added the book to it, and I was determined to read it no matter what. It took me a little while to get to it, but I did finally read the book, and I absolutely Loved it!

To be honest, I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading this book. I knew that the book was really popular, and that most everyone I had talked to that has read the book has loved it, but I purposely stayed away from reviews because I didn't what to know too much before starting it. So, other than briefly reading the summary, I went into the book without knowing anything. I wanted to go with the flow to see where the story took me, and I am so glad that I did it this way. The story completely blew me away! There's so much about it to love, including the characters, particularly Lila, who was quite the badass, as well as Kell, who I found completely mysterious. Having finished the book, I find myself wanting to know MORE about them, and I can't wait to meet them again in the next book!

The storyline was definitely creative and unique as well. It's been a while since I've read a book about magic, and I never really know what to expect when starting a new one. I can't say that I've read any book like this before, and I love that it was so unique, and it really held my attention as I turned the pages. The descriptions were great as well; I could envision everything perfectly in my mind, and I wanted nothing more than to climb in the pages and be in the different London's with Lila and Kell. (Ok, maybe not ALL of the London's, but you know what I mean. *wink*) I'm super excited to continue the series so that I can dive back into this world that Victoria has created.

Overall; I really enjoyed reading A Darker Shade of Magic, so much more than I expected to! (People totally tried to warn me that I would love it!) I'm really wishing that I would have read the book sooner, but now that I finally have read it, I can't wait to continue on with the rest of the series as soon as possible. If you've not yet checked out A Darker Shade of Magic, I highly recommend that you do so!