The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue / Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
#1934.13 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 2 books Status Complete 2020–2025 Reading commitment Low V.E. Schwab Last reviewed 2026-09-27
Overview
V.E. Schwab's world of bargains with the dark, catalogued as one universe. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) follows Addie, a young Frenchwoman who in 1714 makes a desperate deal with a dark god to live forever and is cursed so that everyone she meets forgets her the moment they look away, until a bookseller in present-day New York remembers her. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (2025) follows three women across five centuries, from sixteenth-century Spain to modern Boston, bound by another kind of hunger; the author has confirmed it takes place in the same world, though the two stories share no named characters.
Mythic fantasy, Dark fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (2 works) counts toward ranking
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) core · 4.16 (1,594,171 ratings); A standalone novel following a woman cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets; V.E. Schwab's 2nd universe in this canon, confirmed unrelated to Shades of Magic.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (2025) core · 3.88 (226,100 ratings); Standalone novel; no sequel announced.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue / Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil? The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue / Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil's Core Canon is 2 books.
- What is the reading order for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue / Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil? Publication order, starting with The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue / Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil finished? Complete (2020–2025).
- How much reading does The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue / Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 2 Core Canon books · ~448 pages).
- How is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue / Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil ranked? #193 in this site's official ranking, based on 1,820,271 reader ratings across 2 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #193?
Ranked #193 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.13 across 2 core books.
- Backed by 1.8M reader ratings.
- 0.01 behind #192, The Icemark Chronicles.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 2 books · Complete · 1.8M ratings · Ranks #193 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment mythic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (2 Core Canon books)
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020)
- Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (2025)
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2021: nominated: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue; 6th place, confirmed via sfadb's own Locus Award lineage page.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.13 across 1,820,271 ratings on 2 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (V.E. Schwab) as a new universe accepted 2026-08-19
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- veschwab.com (author's own site) Tier 1
- Wikipedia (English) Tier 2
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_Life_of_Addie_LaRue
- Encyclopedic overview: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil Tier 2
- Publisher listing: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil Tier 1
Last reviewed: 2026-09-27
Rule: Core Canon = The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (2025), two standalone novels in the same world. Merged into one universe on 2026-09-27 under the one-world rule.