If you liked
Books like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
by V. E. Schwab
Addie LaRue is V. E. Schwab writing a literary fantasy that earned her a New York Times literary-fiction listing. A 1714 bargain, three hundred years of being forgotten, and one Brooklyn bookstore clerk who somehow remembers her. If you finished it and needed another book of equivalent register, these are our picks.
The shortlist
What to read next
American Godsby Neil Gaiman
“American Gods by Neil Gaiman 2001 review. An ex-convict named Shadow takes a job as bodyguard to a strange man named Wednesday and learns the old gods of immigration are still here, dying slow. The defining American urban fantasy of the 2000s.”
The Midnight Libraryby Matt Haig
“A gorgeous concept executed with warmth and wit. The Midnight Library will make you think differently about the choices you have made - and the ones still ahead.”
Klara and the Sunby Kazuo Ishiguro
“Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro 2021 review. Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches the children passing by the storefront and waits to be chosen. Late-career Ishiguro at his most patient and most strange.”
Never Let Me Goby Kazuo Ishiguro
“Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 2005 review. Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, a special English boarding school. As adults, they begin to understand what Hailsham was for. The novel that defined the contemporary literary-SF register.”
The Ocean at the End of the Laneby Neil Gaiman
“The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 2013 review. A middle-aged man returns to his Sussex childhood home for a funeral and remembers something he had carefully forgotten. Late Gaiman at his most patient and most personal.”
The House in the Cerulean Seaby TJ Klune
“The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune 2020 review. A caseworker is sent to evaluate a remote orphanage that may contain the Antichrist. The Mythopoeic Award winning cozy fantasy.”
FAQ
Common questions about The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue read-alikes
- What is the closest match for Addie LaRue?
- American Gods. Same gods-bargain mythological architecture, same patient willingness to follow a single protagonist across centuries-long mythic time. Gaiman writes louder than Schwab but the structural logic is the same.
- I want more V. E. Schwab.
- The Shades of Magic trilogy (A Darker Shade of Magic, 2015 onward) is the obvious next read. The Villains series (Vicious, Vengeful) is the science-fantasy work. Neither is reviewed here yet but both are easy library finds.
- I want another book about memory and identity.
- Klara and the Sun (memory-and-identity from an AI narrator). Never Let Me Go (memory and what is owed to it). The Midnight Library (memory in the form of unlived lives).
- I want another literary fantasy with romance.
- The House in the Cerulean Sea is the queer-cozy version. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is the mythic-childhood version. Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus is the canonical genre-adjacent pick (not reviewed here yet).
The original