But instead he has too much ‘ever after’ and not enough ‘happy’. Rating: 3 stars! FINAL SPOILER WARNING! SynopsisĪfter winning the war, beating the villain and finding true love, Simon is waiting for his happily ever after. Spoilers below if you haven’t read Carry On! I didn’t like the sequel to Carry On as much as I loved the first one, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good entry to the series, it just wasn’t as fluffy and Soft as I’d expected. “It’s your ex-boyfriend and his boyfriend and that girl you never liked very much!” If you can, please support your local booksellers! Carry On is set at the end of 8 years of plot and tension, and manages to make the reader feel like they’ve been there the whole time – fairly impressive without bogging the whole story down with exposition- so reading this I felt like I’d been a fan of the World of Mages for years and was finally getting my finale, not like a new reader who only just met this world. The writing is funny and upfront and keeps things moving along pretty quickly, especially after Baz is introduced. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, even after it shakes the Harry Potter comparisons and gathers a serious (and quite dark) plot of its own. ![]() It’s left me thinking about Simon and Baz at random moments ever since I’ve read the books, and any book that can make me see the characters as real people wins a lot of kudos from me. When they start to break through those boundaries it’s with the kind of shameless whole-heartedness that teenagers have, and they throw themselves body and soul into it. They’re torn between what they want, and the heavy expectations that their parents/parental figures have put on them, prophecies have claimed and what the world expects to see from them. Rowell has created two boys who feel like real teenagers on the cusp of adulthood. All of the characters in this book are beautifully crafted but Simon Snow and Baz Pitch especially. The Characters: Rainbow Rowell’s talent really lies in her characterisation. It’s a concept that’s explored more in Wayward Son (and I’ll talk about it below the spoiler cut) but it was so fascinating to me from the first. For example, Romeo and Juliet’s classic ‘love’s light wings’ can be used as a spell, but only if the caster truly understands the meaning behind the phrase and if they themselves feel a strong love. If a saying or phrase has popular, long-lasting meaning then it can be used to cast spells that are appropriate for its wording. Carry On, on the other hand, uses the inherent magic of words. A lot of books, like Harry Potter, use the genre staple of dense latin and wand waving to cast spells. The magic system in this book is based off of words in a way that I’d bet appeals to most book lovers as much as it does to me. The World Building: Carry On starts like a wild fanfiction adventure, but part way through it suddenly has a gripping plot and a magic system that is unlike any I’ve seen before. But at least the Insidious Humdrum shows up, Baz is mysteriously, irritatingly missing from their last year at Watford School of Magicks and it’s driving Simon Snow crazy. Well, apart from the Insidious Humdrum, Simon’s other arch-nemesis who is sapping magic from the World of Mages. Baz Pitch, Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch III, is definitely not a vampire and though they’ve been forced to be roommates, they’re arch-nemeses. ![]() Simon Snow is the Chosen One, but he’s terrible at it. Since then, I’ve given my paperback copy to two different people to get them to read it too, which has kind of been annoying because I want to read it again. I’ve been a shameless drarry shipper for years, and it was my gateway ship into fanfiction, so I was so excited to read this one. Then, when my aunt Fiona asked me if I’d pushed Simon Snow down a flight of stairs, I said, “Fuck yes I did.”Ī bookseller recc’d Carry On by Rainbow Rowell to me as ‘it’s Half Blood Prince, but gay’. ![]() Really, we were fighting at the top of the staircase, and I got in a lucky punch that sent him flying. “He also says I tried to throw him down a flight of stairs that year.
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