With just a touch of magic and a fan fiction version of “expelliarmus”, Rainbow Rowell brings her newest novel, Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow, to life.
Simon Snow is the “Chosen One”, prophesied to be the one magician to defeat evil and bring peace back to the World of Mages. However, his unpredictable magic leaves him being, as his roommate Baz so nicely puts it, “the worst Chosen One ever to be chosen.” At eighteen years old, he is whisked out of the human world and brought back to the magicians’ school Watford for his eighth and final year. But not all is right there. The “Insidious Humdrum,” also known as the worst threat to magic that Watford has ever seen, has been rampaging through England, stealing magic and destroying magicians as he goes, and Simon is forced to battle threats including dragons, vampires and even other magicians in order to stay alive. And, of course, all of this is going on while Baz has gone missing, and once he miraculously turns up, things get even weirder. The two former enemies are forced to put their differences aside and form a truce in order to defeat the Humdrum and evade death…but when a stronger force - the force of love - comes between them, will they be able to resist its pull, or will it be just what they have looked for all their lives?
(*ominous music*)
I absolutely LOVED Carry On. It’s as if you took the recipe for Harry Potter, added a dash of Twilight, and whisked in a generous heap of Rainbow Rowell’s incredible writing style. Bake that all together, and you end up with this amazing book. The plot twists, the brewing romance, the everyday phrases turned into powerful spells…I couldn’t stop flipping the pages. Plus, it’s not just told by Simon’s perspective but also via the points of view of irresistible vampire Baz (*major heart eyes*), their friend Penelope, long-lost Lucy (the former love of the all-powerful Mage), and even the great and powerful Mage himself! Therefore, you not only get to see the story come together through one main character’s eyes, but through multiple unique perspectives, which I have always loved.
Sure, at times this book seems marginally like a Harry Potter spinoff/fan fiction, but it’s so well done that it doesn’t seem like a rip-off at all. Rowell skillfully builds a world of her own and masterfully creates well-developed characters, and though the plot and characters’ roles may be scarily similar to those of Rowling’s bestselling fantasy world, it doesn’t detract from the extraordinary story at all. If anything, the parallels make Carry On even better, because all that epic Drarry fanfiction you’ve read, everything you’ve ever wished happened in the Harry Potter series…it’s basically canonized in Rowell’s world…in short...
Harry and Draco end up together.
Harry and Draco end up together!
HARRY AND DRACO END UP TOGETHER!!!
This post basically sums up the best aspects of Carry On, though it’s just the tip of the iceberg of everything I loved about this fantastic story…
To those of you who have read any of Rowell’s stories before, one of the coolest things about Carry On is that it is actually the extended story of main character Cath’s fan fiction in one of Rowell’s most popular novels, Fangirl. Fangirl is about a girl named Cath who writes extreme amounts of fan fiction about her obsession, which happens to be none other than - what else? - the (fictional) Simon Snow series. Rainbow Rowell loved the characters of Simon and Baz and their story so much that she ended up turning it into a full-fledged novel, which went on to become Carry On! So, for fantasy fans, Fangirl fans, fan fiction fans, and overall novel fanatics alike, Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is for you.
Yeah, it’s a bit light and fluffy at times and quite similar to Harry Potter, but it’s SUCH a fun read. Totally worth it. 10/10, would DEFINITELY recommend! By far one of the best books I’ve ever read…and that’s not a small feat.
PLUS…there’s a sequel coming in 2020 called “Wayward Son,” which is not only AWESOME because if you’re anything like me, you’ll absolutely fall in love with Simon (AND BAZ!) and NEED to read more of their story, but also because the series’s titles will then become “Carry On” and “Wayward Son”…as in “Carry On My Wayward Son” (the song by Kansas)…is anyone getting any Supernatural vibes here?
