Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Rating: 5 stars
Synopsis: Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who's ever been chosen. That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right. Half the time Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here - it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up.
Review: Okay, I'm going to admit, when I picked this book up, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I've heard so many amazing things about this book that I was kind of expecting to be disappointed. I wasn't. I loved this book so much. It's kind of a continuation of Fangirl, in that it follows the characters in the book series that Cath writes her fanfiction about in that book.
Because this book is based on a book series that doesn't exist, I was a little sceptical about the world building in this book, as I always am in standalone books. There was so much that needed to be set up in this book, the characters, the plot and, most importantly, the world itself, that I was expecting there to be a massive information dump at the beginning and then for the plot to race along. It didn't. The whole thing was so well crafted and built, that you could almost imagine what the other books in this series would be like if they did exist. It takes a very talented author to pull off an idea like this, and Rainbow Rowell did it spectacularly.
The premise of this book was so interesting. It's like the synopsis says - Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who's ever been chosen. It's so refreshing to have a protagonist like this. Who has absolutely no idea what he's doing and has no control over his magic. It adds humour and a twist to trope that is all over YA fiction. Every chosen one is chosen because their skills mean that they will defeat the villain in the end and even though they face problems along the way, they generally manage to accomplish the goal. This was refreshing in that we actually didn't know if Simon could defeat his villain in the end because he was so bad at doing magic.
I'm the first to admit that the books I pick up generally aren't LGBT books. I don't know why, it's just a very rare thing for me to pick one up and love it to pieces. Perhaps it's because, to me, a lot of those relationships are the central focus of the book and can seem a little stilted and uncomfortable? I don't know. Either way, the relationship in this book is secondary to the plot and just fits so well and seems so real that I fell in love with it immediately.
I think my favourite character in the whole book has to be Baz. The sass and sarcasm coming from him at every given moment was amazing. The bickering between Baz and Simon just added so much humour to the book and lightened the book considerably.
I can't wait to pick up more of Rainbow Rowell's books. Her characters are so real and her writing style is absolutely amazing. I'd definitely recommend checking her books out if you want a quick and easy read that will keep you hooked till the very end.
Because this book is based on a book series that doesn't exist, I was a little sceptical about the world building in this book, as I always am in standalone books. There was so much that needed to be set up in this book, the characters, the plot and, most importantly, the world itself, that I was expecting there to be a massive information dump at the beginning and then for the plot to race along. It didn't. The whole thing was so well crafted and built, that you could almost imagine what the other books in this series would be like if they did exist. It takes a very talented author to pull off an idea like this, and Rainbow Rowell did it spectacularly.
The premise of this book was so interesting. It's like the synopsis says - Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who's ever been chosen. It's so refreshing to have a protagonist like this. Who has absolutely no idea what he's doing and has no control over his magic. It adds humour and a twist to trope that is all over YA fiction. Every chosen one is chosen because their skills mean that they will defeat the villain in the end and even though they face problems along the way, they generally manage to accomplish the goal. This was refreshing in that we actually didn't know if Simon could defeat his villain in the end because he was so bad at doing magic.
I'm the first to admit that the books I pick up generally aren't LGBT books. I don't know why, it's just a very rare thing for me to pick one up and love it to pieces. Perhaps it's because, to me, a lot of those relationships are the central focus of the book and can seem a little stilted and uncomfortable? I don't know. Either way, the relationship in this book is secondary to the plot and just fits so well and seems so real that I fell in love with it immediately.
I think my favourite character in the whole book has to be Baz. The sass and sarcasm coming from him at every given moment was amazing. The bickering between Baz and Simon just added so much humour to the book and lightened the book considerably.
I can't wait to pick up more of Rainbow Rowell's books. Her characters are so real and her writing style is absolutely amazing. I'd definitely recommend checking her books out if you want a quick and easy read that will keep you hooked till the very end.
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