V.E. Schwab

V.E. Schwab (born 1987) is one of the most commercially and critically successful fantasy writers of the 2020s. Her career demonstrates a relatively rare trajectory in genre fiction: building a loyal readership across multiple series and age categories before breaking through to mainstream bestseller status with The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020), a novel that sold over a million copies and cemented her position as a major figure in contemporary fantasy.

Life and Career

Victoria Elizabeth Schwab was born on 7 July 1987 and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. She attended Washington University in St. Louis. She publishes adult fiction as V.E. Schwab and young adult fiction as Victoria Schwab, though the distinction is primarily a marketing convention — her adult and YA work share a similar sensibility.

Her debut, The Near Witch (2011), was a YA Gothic fairy tale. Vicious (2013, Tor Books) — a dark superhero novel about two college friends who discover how to give themselves superpowers, then become mortal enemies — established the tone of her adult work: morally ambiguous protagonists, clever premises executed with thriller pacing, and a genre-blending approach that treats fantasy, science fiction, and superhero tropes as interchangeable tools. Vengeful (2018) continued the story.

The Shades of Magic trilogy — A Darker Shade of Magic (2015), A Gathering of Shadows (2016), A Conjuring of Light (2017) — was her first series to gain wide attention. Set across four parallel Londons (Grey, Red, White, and Black, each with different relationships to magic), the trilogy combines world-building inventiveness with adventure plotting and a compelling central cast.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020, Tor Books) was the breakthrough. The novel tells the story of a young Frenchwoman in 1714 who makes a Faustian bargain: she will live forever, but no one will ever remember her. The book follows her across three centuries of lonely immortality until she meets a young man who, inexplicably, remembers her. It is essentially a romance structured as a philosophical novel about memory, identity, and what it means to leave a mark on the world. It spent months on bestseller lists and became a BookTok phenomenon.

Key Works

• Vicious (2013)
• A Darker Shade of Magic (2015)
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020)

Collecting Schwab

The Near Witch first edition (Hyperion, 2011) — YA debut — is scarce, $100–$300. Vicious first edition (Tor, 2013) signed brings $75–$200. A Darker Shade of Magic first edition (Tor, 2015) signed brings $50–$150. Addie LaRue first edition (Tor, 2020) signed brings $40–$100 — extremely large print run but strong demand. Schwab signs prolifically at events and conventions. Illumicrate, Fairyloot, and other subscription-box exclusive editions are collected alongside trade editions. Her market is driven by an intensely loyal reader community.