Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything.'
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
My rating- ★★★★★
Genre- Fantasy, romance, LGBT, young adult
Non spoiler review
I read this book a month ago and am only just writing this review... Whoops. The fact of the matter is, I couldn't not write a review for this book because I absolutely adored it.
For those who don't know, Carry On is a spin off of Rainbow's other book, Fangirl. Cath's character from Fangirl is obsessed with the book series 'Simon Snow' (which is like the Harry Potter of her world) and she writes fan fiction about it. Rainbow Rowell described Carry On as being her own personal interpretation of the world of Simon Snow.
I have to admit, upon hearing about this book I was pretty sure I wasn't going to pick it up. When reading Fangirl, I wasn't that interested in the Simon Snow aspect of the book and saw it as being just another version of the Harry Potter story. So when Carry On was announced, I wasn't initially going to read it. The truth is, I was wrong and should have trusted Rainbow Rowell. As the hype grew and everyone started loving it, I decided to just give it a shot and I'm so glad that I did.
Being British, I would like to first of all thank Rainbow for the truly incredible British-isms. There were so many references in this book to British culture which I wasn't expecting from an American author and I loved it. For someone so used to reading American books (so much so that the other day I spelt 'Mum', 'Mom') it was definitely a pleasant surprise.
Rainbow Rowell is full of pleasant surprises through out this whole book, she creates a world which is reminiscent of Harry Potter, but at no point is it a rip off. This may have been my worst fear going into the book, but Rainbow creates her own, unique story which had me turning the pages constantly. Simon Snow wasn't a cookie cutter character, I found him so realistic because he had genuine struggles.
'You have to pretend you get an endgame. You have to carry on like you will; otherwise, you can't carry on at all.'
Rainbow always seems to create voices for unheard people. In Carry On, she presents two gay main characters, something which I believe is so lacking in popular young adult fiction, it is so great to see diversity in any form. We definitely need more LGBT books in the YA section of the bookstore.
Another reason why I am now part of the Rainbow Rowell fan club is that she is a crazy talented writer. Whilst many authors stick to the one genre, Rainbow has managed to create amazing books in both the contemporary and fantasy genres (also producing young adult and adult books). I love how she challenges herself as a writer and think that its super cool that she can create such intricate fantasy worlds whilst also writing a killer contemporary.
One of my favourite parts of Carry On was the unique and fun magic system. To cast a spell in this world, the wizards use famous sayings and song lyrics which I found to be so clever and creating each spell must have taken Rainbow ages!
'It's like being a fairy named Mary,' he goes on. 'Or a vampire named Gampire,' I say. 'Gampire isn't even a proper name, Snow. You're terrible at this game.'
I feel like if I had one word to describe this book, it would be 'charming.' You can't help but fall in love with the world that Rainbow creates, the characters are funny and the overall tone of the book was light and fun, but also had its serious moments which made it feel real. The story is extremely compelling, there are mysteries weaved into the plot and so many different twists which I really didn't see coming.
For once, I enjoyed that the book was told from many different character perspectives because each person had a different interpretation of events. My personal favourite character to read from was Baz, I loved his wit which was constantly lightening situations in the novel.
I would love to see Rainbow release some kind of a follow up to this book because there are a *few* unresolved issues which I would be very interested in reading about (please, Rainbow..) Yet the ending of the book was pretty perfect, I loved the closure at the end, I felt such a familiarity with the characters by the end of the book- like I had read about them for an entire series (Like with Harry Potter).
If you couldn't already tell, I would highly recommend this book. Let me know if you have read Carry On! If not, I would suggest checking it out for sure, especially if you are looking to read something a little bit different.
