fantasy – Jenn V. Reads

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

by V.E. Schwab

“…and it is sad, of course, to forget. But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten. To remember when no one else does.”
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (pg 77)

Summary

In 1714, Addie is promised to be married to somebody she does not like, never mind love. Her father is forcing the marriage, and all Addie wants is her independence. Independence to choose how she lives her own life. After praying to all of the gods she knew would be acceptable to pray to, but to no avail, Addie goes into the woods at night, and prays to a god she knows is no good. But at least she gets an answer. Addie tells the god (Luc) that she wants to live freely, without thinking about the meaning of her words. She promises him her soul-but only when she’s done with it-and he accepts. Addie becomes immortal, but her promise came with a price. Nobody remembers her.

For centuries, Addie struggles to find comfort-lying, stealing, forging. She travels Europe, and is a part of many historical events, including being immortalized in paintings where she is always somewhat of a blur. Every year, Luc asks her to surrender herself to him, but every year Addie refuses. Eventually though, Addie and Luc do begin an affair that lasts for a number of years. However, they end up in a fight, after which she doesn’t see him for a very long time

Over the centuries Addie learns how to use her curse to her advantage, stealing what she needs, knowing that nobody will remember her if they turn around; until one day somebody does remember. Now, Addie now finds herself in an unfamiliar situation, where she starts falling for someone who can actually share a life with her-except he can’t. Henry had also promised his soul to Luc in return for a year of being loved. Addie won’t allow this to happen, so she makes a deal with Luc-her soul for Henry’s life.

My Thoughts

Plot

The idea of living forever but always being forgotten, I thought was a fantastic idea. I especially liked that Addie was born well outside of our modern time. That made her passage through history all the more real-especially when it comes to her family and her home. And then Henry shows up and everything is thrown on it’s head. I love how Addie needed to re-evaluate how she lived her life, and start to think about what was important to her.

Format

I listened to this as an audiobook, and while I did enjoy it, I think I would have enjoyed it more as a physical book. Sometimes I felt the need to go back to things, and with an audiobook, that is much harder to do.

Writing

You could have taken a third of this book away, and still had the same story. While I loved Addie’s backstory and seeing her interact with history, I think a chunk of it could have been summarized into a smaller section. That being said, I loved how the author really got into Addies mind. However, the drawback to this is that there was very little dialogue for a book this size.

Characters

Addie: Addie starts the novel chasing independence, and gets herself into a load of trouble. She knows better than to pray to the gods that answer at night, but she does anyways, and ultimately pays the price. From then on, everyone who meets her immediately forgets her-AND she becomes immortal. Throughout the book, you are shown how Addie survives her situation, but also the toll it takes on her. I would say that her biggest strengths are her endurance and stubbornness because no matter how lonely she is, how many times she is forgotten, she still loves to live a fulfilling life. She is wise enough to become unforgettable by living her mark on a number of artistic works-from paintings to photographs to songs. That’s what makes her immortality worthwhile, and ensures she is never truly forgotton.

Luc: The villain of this story, Luc is the one who curses Addie. However, I don’t necessarily blame him. That’s his job. He’s essentially the devil. In terms of the story, I think that Luc was probably the most interesting character in the entire story. You really learn what makes him tick. Is he all evil? I don’t think so. I don’t think he’s remotely good, but he’s way more human than I ever could have expected. I wish he had a bit of a redemption arc, but at the same time, I did enjoy how he stayed true to his character. I do wish he had more page time overall. I also wonder how many other people he is using the same way he uses Addie

Henry: Henry, I think, was the weakest character in the entire story. For so much of this, he was blubbering about a breakup. His existence and issues definitely made Addie’s story more interesting, but overall, he fell flat to me. I get that he doesn’t want to die, but like, come on.

Final Thoughts

Please note that I did read this book over a year ago. But I think that that is sometimes a good time to review the book. A year ago, I rated this 5 stars on Goodreads and here was my review…

My goodness…this book…

I loved this story. It was engaging the entire time. Normally I don’t like time jumps, but I think this one did a fantastic job of it. I loved the character development that Addie had. I think that she really grew as a character and learned how to use her curse to her advantage in many ways. I loved Henry’s arc, though I have to say I was a tad disappointed in him towards the end. And Luke-don’t even get me started on Luc…that guy was bad news from the start but was written in such an engaging way. Like you wanted to like him on so many levels, and like Addie, I kept forgetting that he was not human and therefore didn’t experience emotions in the same way.

I think my opinion has changed somewhat, especially in terms of the character development. That being said, there are books I read last year that I can’t remember the title of-and this one I can. Would I rate this 5 stars still? No. But I am comfortable with 4.

Jackaby

By William Ritter

Happiness is bliss – but ignorance is anesthetic, and in the face of what’s to come, that may be all we can hope for our ill-fated acquaintances.
William Ritter, Jackaby

Summary

Abigail Rook, recently arrived in America, finds tenuous employment with local psychic detective R.F. Jackaby. She is quickly plunged into a new to her reality, where trolls, banshees, ghosts, and more are very very real. In her first case with Jackaby, they are investigating a murder that is not quite as simple as it seems. Jackaby swears that something human-like but decidedly unhuman is behind it. They then meet a man in another apartment in the building who is being plagued with mournful songs that only he can hear. Turns out there is an Irish Banshee in the building, singing a lament for his death-which becomes murder 2. Jackaby and Rook are taken in by the police, and questioned as to their involvement, and are imprisoned as the banshee becomes murder 3. With the help of some begrudging police partners, Jackaby and Rook must save the town.

My Thoughts

Plot

I appreciate that this plot was something slightly new and different. I feel like a lot of books now are realistic or fantasy, but not magical realism. I liked where the author was going. However, I figured out who the bad guy was about 1/3 of my way into the book, and was just waiting for the reveal. Slight description changes or introducing characters later/differently would have resolved this entirely. I kept reading because I wanted to know if the villain was human or supernatural, not because I wanted to find out if I was right-I knew I was right. The ending also felt super rushed in some ways, and dragging in others. I ended up being more confused than I was engaged. Some pieces of lore especially, I think should have been more fully explained prior to the ending.

Format

I listened to this as an audiobook. One of the things I struggled with was the accents that the reader gave to the characters. It was kind of off-putting and I would have much rather she just read them straight. The fake eastern European was probably the worst. Also, the speed at which Jackaby’s character spoke was so slow, even listening at 1.5 speed.

Writing

This book is not an adult book. It is definitely written for a younger YA audience. I wasn’t aware of this going in, so I was expecting a lot more. There was a lot of exposition, which isn’t necessarily bad, but at times it was distracting. The writing style was OK. It was engaging enough, but I found myself lost in some parts, wondering if I missed something, and realizing that I didn’t.

Characters

R.F. Jackaby: To be honest, I really didn’t like Jackabys character. I think the intention was to make him seem a bit aloof to things that were not supernatural. But instead, he came across as pretentious and arrogant. I was expecting some sort of redemption at the end, and just didn’t get that. I did like that he didn’t really care that others thought he was crazy, but the fact that he was always talking down to Abigail didn’t work for me.

Abigail Rook: The entire story was told through the eyes of Abigail. I did enjoy her coming to terms with the fact that the supernatural was actually real. However, for someone who was supposedly very observant, I don’t understand how she did not figure out who the bad guy was beforehand. She was a sweet character, and she was definitely developed-I just wish she was developed differently.

Jenny: Jenny was one of my favorite characters in the book. While not a main character per say, I thought she was cute, funny, and intelligent. I liked her spunk. I wish I knew more of her backstory, since I felt that a lot of it was missing.

Douglas: My other favorite character of the book, Douglas was a man turned into a duck who decided he did not want to turn back into a man. If I were turned into a duck, I think I would feel the same way. He wasn’t your average duck though, understanding English, and still having some human mannerisms. I thought he was a great (though ultimately unimportant) addition to the story.

Inspector Marlowe: I wish I could have liked Inspector Marlowe. He kind of reminded me of Inspector Mallory from the Father Brown TV show. Ornery, and not liking the assistance, but secretly knowing that Jackaby was a good guy. But I just didn’t get that. I felt annoyance rather than humor, which made for an only OK character

Charlie Cane: I was really rooting for Charlie. I wanted him to be so much more than he was. I was hoping that he would have more character development. His twist was a bit less noticeable than others in the story, but I just couldn’t get 100% behind it. I also don’t think that some of the decisions made for this character were necessary. I get that it helped forward the plot towards the end, but surely there could have been other options.

Final Thoughts

I really wanted to love this book, and I did through like 70% of it. But the ending just completely ruined it for me. 3.5 stars

Malamander

By Thomas Taylor

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but that doesn’t mean cats shouldn’t be curious.
Malamander

Summary

Malamander is a middle grade book published in 2019. It is a quirky, creepy fantasy story that is extremely entertaining for kids. Malamanders main character is a young boy named Herbert Lemon, who works as the “lost-and-founder” at the Grand Nautilus Hotel in Eerie-On-Sea. Normally, his job consists of reuniting lost pieces of luggage with their owners, but when a young orphan named Violet stumbles into his storage room chased by a hook handed man, Eerie-on-sea becomes slightly more eerie!

Violet has no idea what happened to her parents. She lost them at the hotel when she was a baby-and since Herbert is the “lost-and-founder” it makes sense that he would help her find them. She thinks they went in search of the legendary Malamander-a magical being that is said to lay an egg that makes all your wishes come true. Violet and Herbert, with the help of the locals, set off on an adventure to not only solve the mystery of her parents but the Malamander too!

My Thoughts

Plot

I really enjoyed this book. I could see how the plot would be engaging for the intended age group. While predictable in some places, I don’t think that it took away from the plot. This story was part adventure, part fantasy, part mystery, part comedy-so I think it had a bit of something for everyone. I was thoroughly engaged throughout the entire thing. I thought the pacing was great, and was very age appropriate.

That being said, this is a solid middle grade book. I would not age this book down. There are themes, characters, and events that I don’t think would be good for an advanced younger reader. This isn’t a bad thing, it just has a very distinct audience.

Format

I read this book, and I do think that you will gain more from reading than listening to this book. That being said, I don’t know if an audio version even exists. The reason that I think you should read this book is for the illustrations. Interspersed throughout the story are pen and ink illustrations that add to the overall whimsy of the book. They really make the characters come to life!

Writing

You really get a feel for this book from the writing. It’s almost like you can smell the rotting seaweed and taste the saltiness in the air. Taylor has great command of pacing, which made this book feel like it went by in a blink, when in fact it is a longer read. The one thing that I would say is that until I heard Herbert talking about Pokémon cards, I thought that the book was based in maybe the early 1900s? But obviously not.

Characters

I thought the characters were a lot of fun. Obviously Violet and Herbert were more developed than some of the secondary characters, I think that the lack of information about the secondary characters actually added to the intrigue. For most of the book I couldn’t tell who was a good guy and who was a bad guy. This made for very fun reading. Unreliable narrators always make a book engaging. I would have to say that my favorite character in the entire story though, was Mrs. Hannover. She owned this odd bookshop with an animatronic monkey that told you what book to read next-and the monkey was always right. The bad guy, Sebastian Eel, I think fits with his name. Throughout the book you can tell he’s a slimy character.

I also love that Violet is written as a strong, black 12 year old. The thing I especially like about this fact is that she was never judged for her color. Herbert and the other characters welcomed her no matter what.

Final Thoughts

This was one of those books that when I finished, I couldn’t stop talking about. I would recommend it to every kid who liked adventure stories. Is it perfect, no. But for a kids book, I loved it. Five stars