Carry On

Simon is the strongest magician anyone’s ever seen, even if he can’t control it, and he’s the prophesied savior of magic; no one knows his origin, but they’re sure he’ll be able to defeat the force that’s creating magic dead zones all around England. At his magic school, he’s forced to be roommates with the one person he hates most of all and who hates him, Baz—scion of one of the leading magical families, who are opposed to the Headmaster’s progressive plans to open up magic schooling to those of lesser power, and probably a vampire too. Ok, it’s a Harry/Draco rewrite, and that’s the pleasure of it. It’s not directly critical of the Harry Potter canon, not exactly, but there is a hilarious bit about why, if show more Simon is the target of the most dangerous threat to magic there could be, every summer the Headmaster nonetheless sends him back home (which in this case is foster care). Rowell writes with a light touch—self-aware, but also invested in the happiness of these kids who are way too young to be asked to save the world. show less

I loved this book more than I really should - the plot leaves a lot to be desired, but I loved the concept of the book and I read it primarily as a romance between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy (ahem, Simon and Baz). This book was fun to read - the kind of fun that makes the time fly by, that made me want to stay up late and call into work sick just to read more. For that, this book earns five stars. Rowell comes pretty close to capturing the magic of reading Harry Potter, and serves as a reminder of how magical it can be to imagine different endings to our favorite stories. The plot, however... well, pieces of it made sense, but others left me wondering what the author was trying to say. Either way, read this book for the romance and show more you won't be disappointed. show less

Rainbow Rowell's previous novel Fangirl is about a girl who writes very popular fan fiction of the (fictional) Simon Snow books. Fangirl contained both excerpts from the Simon Snow books and from the fanfic the main character wrote about them. So many readers of Fangirl were so intrigued by the characters from the Simon Snow universe that Rowell decided to write, as she says in the Author Note to Carry On, "the story [she] felt [she] owed them [the characters]." Carry On is that story.

Carry On makes no reference, either in the narrative itself or in the jacket copy, to Fangirl, and I think it can probably be read without having read Fangirl first (though having read the previous book would almost certainly enhance the experience of show more Carry On). In Carry On, Simon Snow is in his final (eighth) year at the magickal school Watford. He is "the Chosen One," but he's bad at it, having more magic than anyone in living memory but also having little control over it. The Insidious Humdrum, a mysterious force that sucks all the magic out of any place it appears, seems to be gaining power, and a war is brewing between the Mage, the leader of the magickal people of Britain, and the old families, who do not like his interfering "new" ways of doing things. Meanwhile, Simon has split up with his long-time girlfriend and is increasingly obsessed with the well-being of his long-time enemy and roommate, Baz. From there, the story is an adventure/mystery (why didn't Baz show up for the beginning of term? where did the Humdrum come from? who were Simon's parents?) and a love story. (I won't spoil that love story, but if you've read Fangirl, you know. Also: slowest of slow burns. If you like that thing fanfic can be so good at where it spools out an inevitable pairing with exquisite character and developmental detail, Carry On is for you.)

I loved pretty much everything about this book (maaaybe the resolution to the actually plotty plot bits was a little bit thin), but the thing that surprised me was how fascinating the indirect commentary on fantasy stories about "chosen ones" was. Harry Potter is the most direct parallel, and watching how Rowell stirs up the HP elements and often (lovingly) criticizes them was an unexpected treat. You thought Harry was a little too well adjusted given his background and treatment? Simon is messed up. It's ridiculous to think that wizards and witches would have no clue how to use muggle technology? Mages use both technology and magic, and eschew "unnecessary" magic. The list goes on. The details of Rowell's world building are brilliant and self-consistent, but many of them tweak the workings of other stories of this ilk, too. (Possibly the most lovely, magnificent piece of world building here is that the spells are clichés that have gained power through repeated popular use. ("As you were" returns things to their previous state, "Come out, come out, wherever you are" is a revealing spell.) The words have gained the power to do things. Mmmm, speech act theory.) The meta aspect of the story is part of what made it such a wonderful read for me (though it was a squeeful, grin-like-a-silly-thing, clutch-the-book-to-my-chest read for other reasons too).

I hoped (without really thinking it would happen) that Rowell would write exactly this book when I read Fangirl, and I've been waiting for it with great anticipation ever since it was announced. Expectations: met. show less

In Rowell’s Fangirl, the main character writes fanfic for a HP-like series about a school of magic and a Chosen One. Carry On is the first book in a trilogy that is Rowell’s version of that fanfic. So it’s fake fanfic of a fake series, and it is amazing. I adore it. And in fact I love it more than HP these days, what with Rowling being a turd. Think Harry and Draco as roomies with an enemies-to-lovers story arc and as much more interesting characters as well.

First read October 2015, read again in early 2016, and again September 2016
PopSugar '15 #4--Book Published This Year
PopSugar '16 #8--Book set in Europe.
I tried to read this slowly and savor it, the mystery and mounting tension, the "they will, but when" of the potential romance.

A very meta-story, Carry On is grew out of Rowell's book, Fangirl, in which the main character, Cath, writes fanficion based on a (fictional) series about a magical academy called Watford, written by the fictional Gemma T. Leslie. The Watford stories center around a Chosen One, Simon Snow. (Full disclosure: I didn't enjoy Leslie's Snow story excerpts in Fangirl and only read bits and pieces of the excerpts of the fan-fiction Cath writes when I re-read the book) show more While writing material for Fangirl, Rowell discovered she really wanted to explore that world more fully. In the Author's Note in Carry On, Rowell writes, "I'd written so much about him through these other voices, and I kept thinking about what I'd do with him if he were in my story, instead of Cath's or Gemma's...That's what Carry On is. It's my take on a character I couldn't get out of my head. It's my take on this kind of character [the Chosen One], and this kind of journey."

Rowell's approach is refreshing. She explains Snow's world fully, yet fits it all into one book. I've read back over parts of the book several times already and I see how she easily--easily!--could have turned this book into multiple novels. As a reader exceedingly tired of series fiction, I found this world engrossing and fasciating. And I'm relieved Rowell only wrote one book, a stand alone that really stands alone, complete and fully-formed. The book itself is lovely and dark and enthralling and wonderful.

Many characters deal with the unwanted expectations others hold for them; and each of those characters deal in different ways. Young people discover that no one is wholly bad or wholly good. Things (including sexuality, the "greater good," the use of gifts, etc) don't need to be separated into black and white, good vs evil. In fact, instead of creating the typical black and white world of the typical "Chosen One" genre, Rowell creates a world of grays, much like the one we live in. In the midst of the magic and fantasy, it is real. show less

okay y’all buckle up for this review and this book.

imagine harry potter, but gay and not written by a transphobic pos. this book kept me so entranced and entertained the entire time. the characters are lovable and the plot moves at a good pace. i finished it in less than a week!
i love the way Rowell switches between the different characters’ perspectives so you can hear all of their thoughts as to what’s happening, and she moves through time, letting you in on things that the other characters don’t know yet.
i love a good enemies-to-lovers type story and it’s even better that it’s queer (being a raging queer myself). this book had me laughing out loud so often while sitting on the couch alone, and there were times were i show more had to sit and just process what i had just read.
i think this book has crept it’s way into my top 5.
5/5 ⭐️ show less

I honestly feel kinda rotten about not liking this because I know SO many people love this book and rave about it. The whole time I was listening to the audiobook I kept having to force myself to keep going, even when it wasn’t interesting- which was a lot of the time. 😕

The only character I liked was Baz, everyone else was either trope-y or just plain boring. Simon was basic af and a terribly unoriginal protagonist, Penny had potential but felt like she never grew beyond the cliche “brains of the operation” trope (which is ironic), and Agatha’s whole bit about not wanting to be part of the magic world just got old after she whined about it about a dozen times. I desperately wanted to like both Penny and Agatha but I just show more couldn't; as people they are just fine, but as characters they were lackluster and ultimately failed to hold my interest.
As for everyone else? I still barely know who Davey and Lucy are...their portions were so utterly boring that I had to rewind their chapters multiple times to try and pay attention, and then I just gave up and my eyes sorta glazed over whenever there was a chapter of theirs. I know they are central characters to the main plot, but I just couldn't bring myself to care. They were both written in ways that gave me zero reason to want to try and understand their points or to sympathize with them.

The plot overall was drier than a piece of beef jerky left out on a road in the middle of the summer. During a drought. In the Sahara desert. While all the elements (magic school, a mysterious evil being, big cast of characters) SHOULD have made a fun read, none of these bits were written in ways that intrigued me or gave the world much character. The plot was nothing less than inevitable. I was never surprised by any turn of events, which was incredibly disappointing especially given how much hype this book has! It felt like the most cookie-cutter magic school YA story someone could have had paired with a half-baked romance and given weird spell names to make it “quirky”.
Speaking of which: although I liked the explanation behind why the spells were created how they were, it was bordering ridiculous hearing characters screech Queen lyrics or nursery rhymes or “Scooby Dooby Doo” or whatever throughout the entire book. It gets annoying very quickly.

Finally, I feel like there was SO much lead up for so little payoff!! The audiobook is 13 hours and nothing “heavy” started happening until there were only 3 hours left, and even then it wasn’t until the final hour and 1/2 that the climax occurred. It felt like a huge letdown, and there were no twists or turns to really engage me in those final moments.
Before that, the beginning of the book consisted entirely of a) info dumps on everything that had happened in the past several years, and b) really boring angst of Simon obsessing about Baz and where Baz was and what Baz was doing and how evil Baz must be. This goes on until Baz finally shows up, and then there is a LOTTTTTT of sitting around, making plans by drawing on blackboards, more obsessing about Baz, and MORE long-ass chunks of time spent sitting/lounging/laying around while "planning" and "researching".

I was trying to convince myself the whole time that this was a good book and that it was fun, but about 75% in I realized there has been maybe 3 things I had liked (which I’m having trouble remembering) and the rest had felt like a chore to listen to. 😓 “Carry On” just wasn’t for me, and I definitely won’t be reading the sequel. show less