Review – Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

I haven’t written a review for about 7 months. This year has been the weirdest one ever and I completely lost the motivation to write reviews. However, I still managed to read a lot of books! I read 79 in 2020, 79! I’ve never read that many, but I’m pretty sure it’s a fluke. I’ve spent a lot of my time on furlough not working and I filled this time with reading, and I read some pretty great books in the past year, some have become instant favourites so I want to try and catch up on reviewing them, especially the ARCs I was lucky enough to recieve from NetGalley. So without dwelling further on this crappy year, I’m going to dive straight into a review of one of my favourite books, which will come as no surprise to the people who know me becasue this is an author I never shut up about.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab. Thanks to Titan and NetGalley for providing me with the ARC.

In rural France in the 1700s, Addie makes a deal with the dark, her soul in exchange for a never ending life of freedom. But the darkness doesn’t play fair, and suddenly Addie finds that as soon as she leaves someone, even just for a second, they forget everything about her. Addie is cursed with being constantly forgotten, no matter how hard she tries. Until 300 years past and in modern day New York, she comes across someone who remembers her.

“Being forgotten, she thinks, is a bit like going mad. You begin to wonder what is real, if you are real. After all, how can a thing be real if it cannot be remembered?”

This book has been on my TBR since I first heard about it in 2017; or that’s the date my Goodreads tells me. It’s a premise that has disappointed me in the past with a completely different book, but I hoped that Schwab’s would be beautiful, heart-breaking, and hopeful. Thankfully, I was right because I find the premise of being forgotten by everyone you meet ridiculously complex and intriguing.

I usually love a more plot heavy book, something with lots of twists and turns and intrigue. This had such amazing characters and emotional journeys that it didn’t need a huge sprawling plot full of foreshadowing, and dark villains to battle, to keep me utterly enthralled. One of my favourite series is the Shades of Magic by Schwab, so I know that she can write those kinds of fantasy novels, and write them well. So Addie LaRue just proves how multitalented this author is.

This book is so impactful in my mind that I forget that there are only really 3 characters that are central to the story; Addie, Henry, and Luc. Although the other background characters are well balanced and feel just as real as the main cast, they don’t have the same memorability as the core set. Addie is an engaging and interesting protagonist who story is so compelling I didn’t want to put the book down because I cared about how her story progressed. As this book doesn’t run chronologically and jumps around the timeline, it was interesting to see the balance of the naïve Addie who made the deal, to the 300-year-old Addie who had figured out the loopholes she could exploit, and who could expertly undermined Luc (or the “devil”) with the ease of someone who had been doing so for centuries. Henry’s story hit me differently. While Addie’s is built around true loneliness, the loneliness of being forgotten, Henry’s seemed to hit me more emotionally, probably because it’s more real. He’s lost in a crowd of people who love him, thinking that they don’t care. It’s hard to explain why, but here’s a quote that has stuck with me:

“Other people would call him sensitive, but it’s more than that. The dial is broken, the volume turned all the way up. Moments of joy register as brief, but ecstatic. Moments of pain stretch long and unbearably loud.”

Henry and Addie’s story is beautiful to read, to watch them grow together and experience their soft love story feels life a gift. I’m trying to find another way to say it without sounding entirely soppy but this is exactly how I felt when reading this book back in August. Yet, you can’t talk about this book without mentioning Luc. He was such a complex, interesting part of the novel, and he’s not even in it that much. And yet, you constantly feel his presence. He hovers over Addie like a rain cloud. I won’t say too much because I hate to spoil, but watching him develop was unexpected and wonderful.

As you can probably tell, I gave this book five stars. I still sit and think about it. I could try and choose a favourite but I’m convinced for me it is impossible. Is it Addie’s growth? Henry’s emotionally journey? Their love? Luc and Addie’s centuries long battle? The beautiful writing that makes you savour every moment? Yes, it’s everything. This, to me, is a triumph for Schwab and it was everything I wanted it to be.

Netgalley Proof – More Than Just a Pretty Face by Syed M Masood

Sometimes, all you want to read is a fun YA romance so thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Syed M. Masood for providing me with this proof at the perfect time in exchange for an honest review. 

It’s been a long time since I read a YA contemporary romance that I had forgotten how easy and quick they are to blast through. I picked up this novel because it sounded cute and I’m trying to be more proactive about reading more diversely. Danyal knows he’s not the best at school, but he is attractive, funny, likeable, and he wants to be a chef anyway. But when he gets chosen for his school’s high profile academic competition, everyone else sees it as a chance for him to prove himself, pull himself into a passing grade, and become a viable suitor for his long time crush. He’s supposed to present a paper on Churchill and everyone knows his teacher loves Churchill. But when Danyal looks more into the history of him, he decides to show Churchill and history in a light that would definitely make sure he fails the class, but he can’t let it go. So he enlists the help of Bisma, a nerdy girl with a past she’d rather forget, and learns that maybe what he wants in love, isn’t what he really needs. 

This novel was overall enjoyable, fun and surprisingly had some really deep points about Churchill, history, and the Bengal Famine. I really enjoyed the conversations the characters had about how whitewashed the history we are taught is, and how important it is to see the flaws and speak about them. This was one of the strongest points of the novel for me. 

The one aspect I thoroughly enjoyed without much issue was Danyal, he was an easy character to like, though a few of the things he said did have me cringing, he was overall compelling, funny, and endearing. I loved the way he treated Bisma and her past, their relationship actually felt like one built on mutual respect and trust. It was also nice to see their romance grow, and how much they enjoyed each other’s company. I thought it was very believable and organic. Bisma herself was also a character that was easy to like, strong but also when she was ‘weak’ it didn’t make her lesser, it was clearly stated that she was struggling but it didn’t diminish her. All the characters are interesting and honestly probably the strongest thing about this novel was how distinct and individual they all were.

While it was highly enjoyable, the writing was choppy and often jumped from scene to scene before I’d even noticed what was happening. There were some moments where Masood’s writing talents really shone, Danyal Speech at the Renaissance Man, whenever the topic of history came up, and the dialogue (especially between Bimsa and Danyal) were all really easy to read and enjoy. But I don’t think it was as consistent as it could have been, it was just too disjointed. If the novel had been much longer I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it as much as the style would’ve bugged me too much; I wanted longer scenes between the characters and often felt parts were unfinished because there were such sudden stops even when characters were mid-conversation. 

I would like to state that I am in no way knowledgeable enough to comment on the representation of the Muslim faith in this novel in detail. Although I could see certain inconsistencies within the novel. I was concerned that it was the devout religious friend that had to learn to have fun and stop being so morose, instead of everyone compromising and learning from each other to reach a mutual understanding: I feel like this could’ve been handled better so show that being deeply religious doesn’t take away from the rest of your personality. There is much that definitely went over my head because I’m still educating myself, I recommend looking at the own voices reviews of this novel on Goodreads, which is what I have been doing. They explore this factor in more detail, and discusses some things about that rep that I didn’t notice as easily.

Overall this book was fun, it was easy to read and went by fast. It definitely had it’s issues, but as a YA romance it certainly had a relationship I looked forward to reading more about.

Netgalley Proof – Goldilocks by Laura Lam

“Really, they were afraid of women. Or hated them. Wasn’t that much the same thing? The country saw those angry men as a fringe movement right up until one was elected president.”

The Earth is slowly dying and humanity along with it. Valerie Black has been campaigning for years for a mission to be sent to a Goldilocks planet, one perfectly aligned for habitable life and that might just be the saviour of humanity. However, the rights of women have been declining on Earth and suddenly her all female crew is no longer allowed to complete their mission and head to Cavendish. Until the crew steal the rocket and begin the journey themselves believing they are the right ones to create the new society on the new planet.
Naomi has always wanted to go to space and she’d done whatever she’d needed to to get there, even go along with Valerie’s plan of hijacking the mission to Cavendish. But when things start to go wrongb aboard the ship it’s clear that there will be even harder decisions to make, and terrible secrets to unfold.

Described as mixture of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Martian, Goldilocks balances the issues of women’s rights, the threat of climate change and space travel all in one novel. Although it tackles these heavy issues it was a fast paced thriller that had me gripped from page one. Lam manages to explore weighty themes without making me feel overwhelmed, or losing any of her plot to these bigger messages. The plights of the women on the crew were, unfortunately highly relatable and easy to imagine in a world stuck in a chaos of humanities own making. This was helped by the fact that, even though her cast of characters is small as we mainly focus on the five on the ship, each one has a well-built, flawed personality that was very believable. The narrative follows Naomi and her journey to Cavendish, yet I still got a sense of each of the characters motivations and personality through her limited perspective. I would however have enjoyed a little more of a look into the minds other crew members, but that is only because I found them so dynamic and intriguing.

With the issues that the novel present us, sexism and climate change, I do wish there was some more backstory into how the world dissolved into this. With climate change it is more self-explanatory, and if you already know the science you can fill in the gaps. However, with the issue of women’s rights I think that a little more information about how this happened would have not only driven home point more, but fleshed out this reality Lam is painting for us. I loved the feminist message in this novel and how the crew are all strong women with different talents but very real flaws, I just think that we needed to know more about the state of the world as a whole. We are supposed to believe everything at face-value and just accept that this is how the word evolved. Yet this is a very minor criticism, and the only one I really have.

My favourite part of the novel, aside from the characters, was the science. You can see how much research has gone into this novel as how Lam has tried to use as close to real science as possible, and it really pays off. The level of detail is just enough to know that everything being explained in the novel is most likely possible, even if in theory, but not enough to confuse me and throw me from the plot. It makes the fact they are supposed to be in space believable, and much easier to picture than I anticipated.

As for the plot, I don’t want to say too much because so much could end up being a spoiler. However, I think the flashbacks to Naomi’s journey to the ship was well plotted and added something to the world building this book needed. And I loved piecing together everything that was happening on the ship to figure out what was really going on. There is a hint of mystery throughout the whole book which definitely makes itself known, and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Overall, I flew through this book, and was completely immersed in Lam’s writing style, the mystery, characters, and the depiction of this almost apocalyptic future. One I would definitely recommend for fellow lovers of Sci-Fi. Haunting, thrilling, hopeful, and utterly human.

Finally, thanks to Headline and Laura Lam for providing me with this proof to review.

Comparing and Competing

It’s a new year and time to set a new reading goal. The internet is filled with it. As much as I love setting myself a reading goal, and am always proud of what I can achieve by the end of the year, this is the week where I feel a little bad about the goal I’ve set myself. “It’s not enough, look at all those people reading 100 books in a year, or more even.” I’m so bad at comparing my reading habits to others, it’s my goal to shake it this year. Or at least I’ll try.

But anyway the point is, and I don’t know if it’s just me, there such a dark side to sharing your reading habits with others – you start to compare yourself to other people. Which you should try not to do. They might be faster readers, have more spare time, or even be reading shorter books than you, or any number of reasons. One thing I don’t give myself credit for is reading the huge books I do. When someone is reading 5 books a month and I’ve only read 1, it’s most likely because I’ve chosen one that at least 800 pages. But I’m irritated with myself a little because why didn’t I read 5 too? It’s a vicious cycle but it happens every year without fail.

But I’m still reading. And I’m reading amazing books, books that sweep me away to distant worlds, books that challenge me, books that make me think, books I enjoy. But there’s always this need to compare and compete. I still haven’t read that series that everyone loves, those new releases everyone made time for as well as the classics they squeezed in somewhere. I should be reading more, more, more, more… always more.

I have a problem where I feel like I’m running out of time with reading. It’s why I’m always so eager to find a book I can truly lose myself in, because it’s only then I forget about this need to rush through book for anything other than the pure pleasure of getting lost in the story.

I can’t wait for this week of completing and setting goals to be over. Then maybe I can forget about everyone else’s reading and focus on my own.

But I still want to know… is this only me? Or has anyone dealt with this and gotten over it?

Let’s make this reading year about ourselves, focus less on comparing, and more on our own achievements.

I hope you have a wonderful 2019!

Weird and Whimsical – The Last Children of Tokyo by Yoko Tawada

“The aged could not die; along with the gift of everlasting life, they were burdened with terrible task of watching their great-grandchildren die.”

This beautiful book was bought as part of my plan to read a little out of my comfort zone since it had been working for well for me in the past months – with To Kill a Mockingbird and Exit West being breaths of fresh air into my usual fantasy laden reading list. However, since The Last Children is only 138 pages long I forced myself to pace myself with this book, reading little snippets at a time in between other reads whenever I needed a break from whatever high-paced fantasy I was reading at the time. This worked quite well with this book I think because I could’ve so easily read it in one sitting, it forced me to truly absorb the prose and the story. 

I still feel out of my depth reviewing books like this because I’m out of my genre comfort zone here. I can’t comment on what this book is like in comparison to others of its like, all I know is it captured my attention and kept it throughout. Although it has been translated from Japanese, the word play that Tawada does in her prose is still engaging, fluid and mesmerising; Margaret Mitsutani does an excellent job with the translation. Even though I certainly can’t read Japanese, I had read about Tawada’s unique, whimsical style and I could feel that even in the translation. It was the most stand out point of this book for me, Tawada has a way of describing the world unlike anything else I had ever read. It was as beautiful as it was haunting. 

It’s no secret that I’m used to long epic tales with plot twists on every page, so it was interesting to try and read something that didn’t have this. Tawada jumps all over the place in this novel, the point of view shifting with whoever comes into the scene. Yet, there is still a strong sense of character with everyone you are introduced to. We are given the history of this world in drips throughout the narrative of Yoshiro and Mumei, left to piece what happened to Japan and it’s citizens ourselves as we run along their daily lives. Tawada describes a bleak future where Japan has closed itself off from the rest of the world, the elderly live longer and stronger, but the children are sickly and frail – a dark topic but the one word I have for this novel is soft. The narrative sweeps passed you like a sigh, and you feel the bubble that Yoshiro and Mumei live in cut off from the rest of the world. 

This book isn’t plot heavy, it a comment on the world, what it could become and who will suffer the consequences – not the older generation but the children who aren’t even born yet. The children are the ones who will be left to deal with the repercussions of our actions. It a conversation, a flowing narrative of a dark world that could be ours. And yet it is also about the relationship of Yoshiro and Mumei, and how the dynamics have changed in this new world. 

This is a strange little novel but I enjoyed it. A further example of stepping out of your comfort zone yielding great results. Don’t be put off by the lack of plot, let the prose sweep you away in this unique look at the world.

Intensity on Another Level – The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

“I have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible. Was she now a goddess or a monster? Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.”

I didn’t realise it, but I was expecting a lot from The Poppy War. The way it had been pitched to me (through others and even through the synopsis) was a young girl going to famous school and learning there’s more magic in the world than she thought. And that she can channel it. Everyone seems to love a magical school setting, yet these days I’m a little bored with the trope, but this had got some good attention and it was in my local library. Heart wrenching was the word I kept seeing on social media. But I was ready for it to only be okay.

It has exceed my expectations.

This isn’t a novel about a girl going to magic school. This is a novel about war. It’s about revenge and how far people will go to get it. Kuang pushes her characters to the limit and shows how they break, the decisions they make due to their suffering. To simply bubble it down to “ooo magic school!” Is doing a disservice to the amount of military knowledge that has gone into this book. Kuang has researched into Chinese Military history during her years at university and it shows. She manages to pour all her knowledge into this book and it shows. The strategic thinking her characters show and the movements their enemies make is clearly calculated: this novel is one planned down to the finest detail.

This novel is spilt into three distinct parts and I will say that the first part now feels a little slow after the intensity and face-paced nature of the ending. We watch Rin in her preadolescences and she truly is a child, her focus is only on beating her classmates and proving that she deserves to be at Sinegard. The novel does seem to drag until Rin shows signs of power, until the magic even shows it face, it took me a while to get past part one.  Nothing extremely punchy and seemingly important happens, yet personally, this was not entirely necessary looking back. This is to show the reader how Rin became who she is. And it also made me care about her, meaning that when her actions get worse and more questionable during her time in the Militia, we are still rooting for her. We want Rin to win. The Mugen are inhuman, they deserve what they get, we only see through Rin’s eyes and her view is clouded by revenge and anger and pain. To Rin she is in the right, she cannot see from another view point, and when she does she must push that part of herself aside or she will never recover. Her guilt and love redeem her; this is only possible thanks to a masterful writer, if Kuang wasn’t good at making three dimensional characters, my desire to find something good in Rin wouldn’t exist.

In parts two and three you are immediately throw into the action, everything that happens, happens so fast that you can’t help but read on. Because there’s no lull, no stopping, no break in the action. They have a problem they either fall to it or beat it. Then something happens as soon as that conflict is finished. The pacing in the novel is the one reason my Goodreads doesn’t say five stars. The beginning is super slow in comparison to the end, yet the ending doesn’t ever let up, not even for a heart to heart. This could be justified by the fact they’re at war but this wars spans years, Kuang does a good job of cutting out the travel and progress we don’t need to see, but all that’s left is a jumble of conflicts at the end. Maybe too much was attempted in the last 2/3rd’s of the novel but it is still the only critique I can give.

Kuang does not hold back on the graphic imagery of war laced throughout her novel. The massarce and battles are shown in detail and, frankly, I’d warn you not to be eating your lunch at work while reading the scene at Golyn Niis. Inspired by true historical events, Kuang does not hold back at describing what has happened to this city. It’s dark, haunting and truly powerful, I think these are the scenes that will stay with me long after. The fact that Kuang used real-life events to lay the ground work for this act is harrowing, this isn’t just a work of fiction. Things like this have really happened in Chinese history (and probably other places too because the world can be awfully gruesome), Kuang is brave for not bending and making the war more fantastical where the “heroes” always succeed. I applaud her for showing war how it really is.

This quote really stuck with me throughout the novel, and I can’t help but think it highlights the true story of the novel much better than any synopsis and review ever could:

“War doesn’t determine who’s right. War determines who remains.” 

I can’t wait for the next instalment, to watch Rin and the others grow and change, and most likely, become even darker. Kuang has built an incredibly detailed world and I can’t wait to see what she does with the magical elements she has weaved through the story and what she has in store for Rin now she has slipped down the path of darkness. I can’t recommend this book enough, I read a lot of fantasy and this is unlike anything else I have read.

 

The Pressure of Reading: Are We Made to Feel Like We Aren’t Reading the Right Kind of Books?

Lately I’ve been thinking about expectations that can be placed on us as readers.

I recently went into a bookshop to spend a voucher that I had been clinging to for a few months until I needed a little book shaped pick-me-up. And yet… while I was walking around looking for something to pick up or books that I had been meaning to read for a long time but never got around to, I felt like I should’ve been looking to buy other books.

If it isn’t clear from my reviewing history, I like Fantasy, I like Sci-Fi, I like Young Adult novels, and stories that sweep you away and take you to another world. Books for me are an escape from here, so it’s quite rare when I read a book that is contemporary. I enjoy the type of books I read, I like adventure and worlds where anything can happen, yet this time, in the book shop, I felt like I wasn’t reading books that I should’ve been; books that are comments on society, something more like literary fiction.

I have read books like this before, literary fiction and the like, that I have seriously enjoyed. I’m better with classics actually, Pride and Prejudice is one of my favourite novels, as is Frankenstein. But I feel this pressure to read more, and stretch the boundary of what I’m reading. I spent an hour in this shop debating with myself whether or not to read the recent winner of the latest literary prize, or the Science Fiction novel that has been in the corner of my eye for the past year. Should I read that book that everyone seems to have read but just doesn’t appeal to me or the fairy tale like story that I know I will enjoy? These seem like easy answers, why would you read something you don’t want to, its stupid right to waste your money on something you’re not totally invested in. But I could not shake this feeling.

I read a lot. I am a reader. Yet because I’m not reading these no doubt fantastic literary novels, I felt like a fake. A poser, if you will. I don’t know why I sudden felt like this, maybe it has something to do with the fact that my whole Twitter feed is full of publishing people as I am determined to continue my journey into that industry and seeing what they are up to and what they are raving about is important to understand where the next step might be for the industry. I understand why it’s important to read broadly, I’m not denying that people should do that, but I eventually came to the conclusion that just because I am not reading these books doesn’t mean that I’m a fake, or missing out, or not as good as anyone else.

As long as you are reading, and loving what you read, you are a reader. Other peoples’ choices and preferences shouldn’t shape the way you feel about the things you love.

I feel like I need to remind myself that the books I am reading are of value too, Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels often have deeper messages in them, they are often a comment about something in our current society that needs to be spoken about. They are just veiled in a different cloak. And recently, especially within Fantasy and YA Fantasy, I have managed to find loads of diverse and wonderful books that are totally different from ones I have read before.

At the end of my trip I managed to talk myself out of my stupidity and I left with three hopefully fantastic books that I have been wanting to read for a while. Each of which has a different and exciting hook that I’m eager to experience. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi is a high fantasy novel that would’ve caught my eye anyway, yet it’s pull from African culture makes it unlike anything else I’ve read. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden is a book I’ve heard many things about, but the story sounds beautiful and I don’t think I’ve read much centred around Russia. And finally Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel just sounds like the fast paced Sci-Fi novel I’ve been craving, told in interviews rather than regular prose.  

What I’m wondering is, has anyone else felt this way? That they are not reading the books it seems like they should?

And if you have, stop. It’s a hole I was digging bigger and deeper the more I thought about until I realised that it was a silly train of thought anyway. The variety of books these days is amazing, you can read from whatever genre about whatever you like and almost all of it is worthy content. Just because it always seems to be deep literary fiction that it acclaimed by so many people and award bodies, doesn’t mean that other books and genres aren’t also saying deep, meaningful and important things.

So I’m not going to force myself to read books that I don’t want to just because I feel like I should. I will read from other genres when a book catches my eye or someone makes a glowing recommendation, but reading is supposed to be enjoyable, we should read what we like and be proud of our tastes no matter what they are.

The important thing is you enjoy reading, so we should keep it that way.