Book Review: Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan

Title: Invisibility

Author: Andrea Cremer and David Levithan
Series: ~
Pages:  358
Publisher: Penguin
Date of Publication: 7th May, 2013
Source: Publisher*
Synopsis from Goodreads: Stephen is used to invisibility. He was born that way. Invisible. Cursed.
Elizabeth sometimes wishes for invisibility. When you’re invisible, no one can hurt you. So when her mother decides to move the family to New York City, Elizabeth is thrilled. It’s easy to blend in there.
Then Stephen and Elizabeth meet. To Stephen’s amazement, she can see him. And to Elizabeth’s amazement, she wants him to be able to see her—all of her. But as the two become closer, an invisible world gets in their way—a world of grudges and misfortunes, spells and curses. And once they’re thrust into this world, Elizabeth and Stephen must decide how deep they’re going to go—because the answer could mean the difference between love and death.

My Thoughts:
I really, really enjoyed Invisibility. It was the first book I read over the holidays after a term of hard work and it was a really good read. It's super easy to read and it didn't take me very long at all, which is always a good sign, especially as I've been reading pretty slowly lately... Anyway.

Invisibility, believe it or not, is about an invisible boy who can only be seen by one person- a girl who's just moved into his block of flats, Elizabeth. This concept was SO difficult for me to get my head around. The idea of invisible people obviously wasn't a new one to me, but I've never really thought of it seriously, you know? Like, it's a jokey kind of thing - 'oh, what would you do if you were invisible for a day?' or it's like a superpower that you could turn on and off. I'd never considered it as material for a proper book, so it was completely new to me in that sense and it took me a little while to get used to it. (Also, imagine two invisible people having a conversation? It's the WEIRDEST thing. Apart from maybe the idea of giving birth to an invisible baby which is mentioned in the beginning of the book...) Anyway, you'll be pleased to know that by about half way through I got over it ;)

The characters in Invisibility are really great. Characters are always such a huge part of the story for me, so it was awesome to see such brilliant ones in this one. I felt I could really connect with Stephen, as a few months ago my friends were ignoring me and it was horrid, so I can imagine how awful it must have felt to be invisible the whole of the time. Elizabeth felt very realistic - when she found out that Stephen, her boyfriend, was invisible, her reaction was absolutely perfect. She kicked and screamed (not literally) and did not believe it. Just like you would if someone in your world turned out to be invisible. It was a reaction of disbelief and incredulity and it was exactly right, I think. Lastly, Laurie was my favourite character. He made me laugh and I loved that he was so close to his sister (Elizabeth) and I'm so glad he was brought in to help break Stephen's curse because it always sucks for characters to have to leave their family out of things like that. Or so I hear... :P

I really enjoyed the plot, and thought it was paced just right. It was fast enough that I never got bored but not so quick that I couldn't keep up with everything that was happening. I also really liked that it was told in a dual narrative - sometimes it can be very annoying but in Invisibility I actually thought it was really effective and a great way to tell the story. It was definitely a thriller! Also, littered throughout the book are various references to Doctor Who and Harry Potter, which obviously made the book even better... The ending's really good too - it did not finish the way I expected it too, but I'm kind of glad that it didn't, if that makes sense. You'll have to read it to find out what happened though!

Overall Invisibility was a really great read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Incredibly readable and very exciting, it's great for fans of YA thrillers who are looking for something a little bit different. I'll definitely be looking out for anything else written by this pair of authors!

*Huge thanks to Penguin for sending me this in exchange for an honest review. In no way has this affected my opinion of the book.