The Invisible Life of Addie Larue: A review

A girl born in a small French village in the 17^th Century, sees the life that is laid out for her, sees the marriage that has been arranged for her to an older man with kids from a previous marriage, sees the toil and heartache that is in store for her, and decides to run. She prays to the gods of nature that her friend has told her about, but the one who answers is darkness. We never really know if he is the Devil or a demon. She just refers to him as the Darkness. She buys freedom and life for as long as she wants it in exchange for her soul.

When she wakes, she discovers that no one knows her, not even her parents. She further discovers that once she disappears from someone’s view, they no longer remember meeting her. The title says invisible life. She is not invisible, but her "life" is, her existence is. No matter how long she lives she will leave no mark on the world.

It is hard not to put yourself in her shoes and realize how problematic such a life is. She cannot get a job, she cannot get a home, cannot make anything before it withers away, cannot keep any possessions as they always seem to disappear. Her only method of survival is stealing. The only shelter she can ever find are abandoned places. I think living such an existence would quickly drive me mad. That is no doubt what the demon is counting on. It is so unpleasant that she will surely surrender her life and he can collect her soul. But Addie is made of sterner stuff that he had counted on. We do get the sense of misery, wondering how she is even going to make it through the first few days. But she learns how to hide when she gets into trouble, learns how to steal, learns how to play the game well enough to survive.

The story zig-zags through time, one chapter set in 2014, the next during the French Revolution, and so on. Often that type of story-telling bothers me (I am a very linear person) but it works well in this story and is necessary to reveal the things that we need to learn in the order we need to learn them. Addie has been living this strange existence for 300 years before she meets someone that might possibly be a game changer.

The story was nominated for the Locus Award for best fantasy novel. It moves along at a good pace, and kept me involved throughout. It is well worth a read.

Star Liner

Comments

All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu

My first experience with cyberpunk as a genre of science fiction was Neuromancer by William Gibson. Neuromancer was one of the early works that defined the cyberpunk genre. It was insanely influential. It won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award. But for me, it just did not resonate. I had a hard time visualizing the concepts. It left a bad taste in my mouth for cyberpunk. I mostly avoided the genre. Then a couple of years ago I read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson which is cyberpunk (although some people say it is a parody of cyberpunk). Whatever, I liked it. I recently picked up All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu and it immediately became apparent to me that this was cyberpunk. Julia Z is the main character, and I think this is going to be the start of a series following her. She is a hacker (hence cyberpunk). She has got herself in trouble and so she lives on the margins, barely making it. Then a lawyer asks her for her help. His wife has been kidnapped. The ...

The Linear Nature of Time

Go Go back Go back to the time before Before you did it Before they did it Before it was done to you Before the toast fell on the floor Before the catastrophe Before the mistake Before time’s scars Before Go Go back Redeem it Rework it Fix it Go back No you cannot Go back Star Liner

Why Walls Don't Work

At the peak of the Roman Empire, the empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to Brittain, from northern Africa to southern Germany. But the great conquering emperors like Trajan learned that conquering land was easy compared to holding on to it. In fact, Trajan’s successor, Hadrian, was known for shrinking the empire and consolidating Trajan’s gains into a more defensible set of holdings. This made him not popular among his generals who wanted glory and spoils. But he understood if you stretch yourself too thin, you can wind up with nothing. To consolidate the Empire’s holdings in Brittain, he had a wall constructed from Solway Firth to the Tyne River. Construction began in the year 122 AD. The Empire had never been able to subdue the highland Scottish tribes, so this wall (Hadrian’s Wall) divided the “barbarians from the Romans.” It was a solid piece of engineering with forts and towers scattered along it to keep the “barbarians” out. Hadrian’s successor, Antonius Pius...

A speculative mind

Search This Blog