Challenge Corner discussion

From V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger.

This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.

This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.

This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.

This is a story about life—
how it ends, and how it starts.

Yay! I'll be starting this soon as possible.

I've started this, but only about 10% in and it's too late to formulate any proper comments but the narration is amazing, and I forgot how much I love Schwab's writing... in the presence of greatness

Difficult to know when to write because I'm listening to it and the audio isn't neatly drawn up, but I've made a load of notes and will post them soon :) Hope you're enjoying it!

I started today with the audio and I'm enjoying but I think I missed some important details - was driving and zoned out a bit so I think I wil need to read the beginning chapters again. I'm really enjoying it so far, great narrators.

Ellen-Arwen wrote: "Difficult to know when to write because I'm listening to it and the audio isn't neatly drawn up, but I've made a load of notes and will post them soon :) Hope you're enjoying it!"
Yeah I had the same problem but didn't take any notes 🤦🏻‍♀️I just finished and really enjoyed it, I'm going to get out my thoughts and figure out how to structure them later tonight

I've had some problems with my library audible (some of the chapters just would NOT download), so it's taking me foreeeever to read this. Still loving it. (I'm also reading way too many books at once and driving myself mad - I'm finding it hard to actually enjoy any of them :( I dunno what's wrong with me).


ANYway, still haven't quite finished this (still a few chapters won't download) BUT this is an exquisite book, it really is. (about the only one I'm actually enjoying lol).

Oof rough that it's the only one you are enjoying but agreed it's a great book. My only complaint is the structure and only because it makes commenting here hard lol.

Jessica wrote: "Oof rough that it's the only one you are enjoying but agreed it's a great book. My only complaint is the structure and only because it makes commenting here hard lol."

That would be my only complaint too! I did love it and finished it a few days ago, but am still struggling to find a way to discuss it - but I do want to! (And I'm finding it very hard to write reviews atm too, but trying to be gentle with myself... I've almost finished one of the books I'm not getting on with, and hopefully I'll feel a bit free-er... It's funny (not haha funny) when something that gives your life meaning and joy - ie reading - becomes so hard.)

I know exactly what you mean and have been having the same struggle. Goign back and commenting is another thing added to my list rather than fun real reactions and discussion.

Okay, I'm going to try and get some comments in, after finally having written my review. I wish I'd put down some thoughts as I went because - like you said - this is more like a to-do list now it's finished and in the past rather than fun real-time reactions and discussions. It feels like SUCH an effort, but hopefully we'll have something good to say about it to each other, which will enrich the reading experience!

Instead of going through in order, I'm trying to do sort of themes, because I can't work out how else to structure my thoughts... this is such a struggle lol, I hope we can find something to discuss.

Characters. I found it kind of slow to get into the 3 PoV rhythm to be honest; I kept wanting to just hear from Sabine (view spoiler)[ and found Alice pretty blah. And when Charlotte emerged as a character, she was just annoying! For the first while, I honestly was only interested in Maria/Sabine. She was such an interesting character! I think VE Schwab wrote her so well; I felt so sorry for her initially, and then gradually gradually my feelings changed... very nice writing. It wasn't a sudden change; the drip feed of the way she changed as she aged and experienced different things in life happened so I almost didn't notice I felt differently about her... if that makes any sense. SUCH skilful writing. (hide spoiler)]

Alice (view spoiler)[- the gradual reveal about her sister was also handled really well (although, like I said, I found her parts kind of annoying to begin with and just wanted to get back to the 'old' part of the story). She dealt with everything surprisingly well considering what was thrown at her! Finding just those six words written about her... ouch. Like that was what her life was worth.
(I wondered slightly about how her family would have had the money to send her to Yale, but maybe I missed it. And maybe she got a scholarship - but it's still a lot of money, and her family/community was portrayed as having very little.)
The change from always being the follower, being left behind to leading felt realistic, I think. (hide spoiler)]

Charlotte (view spoiler)[ - gah, I found her annoying to start with and honestly, didn't warm to her throughout. I was actually surprised, mildly, when Alice killed her, but I was pleased. She just didn't have enough bravery to actually stand up to Sabine and take back her 'life'. Or, if not her life, then the lives of all the women that she had one night stands with (putting it bluntly). I wonder how many else of them were turned? Or was it just Alice? I think it was meant to be just Alice, but with hindsight am struggling to remember why Alice was different? Anyway, Lottie needed to grow a backbone. Gah. I know she didn't have it easy either but I felt angry at her basically (hide spoiler)]

Queerness (view spoiler)[ I loved that all three characters were Queer, or whatever term was used in that century/era/place. It was also kind of a history of the experience of being attracted to women, at least in Europe (we only got America at the end). I wonder what research Schwab did into it? Probably a lot - it felt like a well researched book (you could tell she enjoyed writing about the famous European cities for sure!). (hide spoiler)]

I'm exhausted writing all that, and I don't know if any of it even makes sense. I was going to write about plot and setting and secondary characters and stuff, but I'll leave this up to see if you actually read it first lol.

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RESTARTING SEPTEMBER 15TH, 2025


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