Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

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⭐ 10.0/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

I love Rainbow Rowell, and I'm not sure why it took me so long to read this book. It's based on the parody of Harry Potter she inserted in her book Fangirl, which she then decided to take and turn into a full novel.


It's Simon Snow's final year at Watford, and he knows he will have to fulfill the prophecy about him as the Chosen One soon, and defeat the Humdrum. But he's also a little preoccupied by the fact that his nemesis and vampire roommate Baz hasn't shown up to school in weeks, and his girlfriend doesn't seem too into him anymore. But mainly he's thinking about Baz. And the fact that he really is a sorry excuse for a magician. Then Simon gets visited my Baz's mother's ghost, and is asked to tell Baz to find out who killed her.


This book is funny and weird and full of squee-inducing moments. It starts in Simon's seventh year of school, so relationships are already established, and Simon has had several years to think about what it means to be the Chosen One. It's an interesting call to skip all of that first stuff that's been covered in every other Chosen One story already, and go right to the big showdown. I thought Rowell did a good job with letting the reader understood the most important stuff that has happened during those years, but not making us feel bogged down in exposition.


The relationship between Baz and Simon is key in this book, and I don't think it's really a spoiler to say that watching their dynamic go from enemies to lovers was extremely fun and satisfying. It's got some elements of fanfiction, because that was the tone she was going for, but there are some pretty poignant moments too.


We get the POV of a lot of characters, which was interesting, and I did like seeing how the people in Simon's life deal with who they are in relation to the Chosen One. The whole self-aware parody of Harry Potter/every wizarding school story ever element also made it a really interesting read on that level. Anyway, I loved it, it was so fun, and it's a great twist on the classic Chosen One story.

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