AUTHOR: Rainbow Rowell
PUBLISHER: St. Martin's Griffin
PUBLISHING DATE: October 6, 2015
FROM GOODREADS: 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.
Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story—but far, far more monsters.
MY THOUGHTS:
I want to start off by saying I love Rainbow Rowell. I have read all her books except Fangirl (go figure) and while I have my favorite, they have all been great. I truly enjoyed Carry On, and overall I feel it was a great book. I know people are ranting and raving about it, and I really anticipated a 5 paw read, but I felt while great, it fell a little short for me in some areas.
I know that Simon Snow started out as a fictional fantasy character in Fangirl and that there are tons of comparisons to Harry Potter. So I really shouldn't have been surprised that this book seemed like Potter fan fiction in the beginning. This then made me start an internal debate in my head about if Carry On is some sort of fan fiction Rainbow Rowell has written about her own book...which made me really confused. The first half of the book I really couldn't stop making Harry Potter comparisons which made it difficult at times. However, I did manage to forget all about Potter about 200-250 pages in. And with it being a long book, that still left plenty of pages of enjoyment.
I loved the characters in Carry On and believe they are the best thing about the book. Baz is my all-time favorite, with Penelope coming in a close second. Simon actually got on my nerves from time to time (but then so did Harry) and unfortunately, Agatha missed the mark altogether. I believe she was whiny and not adventurous enough to be part of "the gang." Some of the other characters like Nicodemus and Ebb were so wonderful that I would really enjoy hearing about their childhood and wished there was a book coming about them. Rowell is an expert at creating likable, yet flawed individuals, and this book has plenty of them.
Rowell also definitely knows how to put her own flair on a fantasy novel. I love her snark and her spells are hilarious at times. I appreciated that she didn't make it too serious, despite the complexity of the novel.
Anyone who loves Rainbow Rowell will definitely love Carry On. It is one fantastic book and in my opinion, a strong 4 paw book. My only issue with reading it so quickly after if was released is that I now have to wait for what seems like forever for a new Rowell book to come out. It seems it took me forever to read this book, but for the first time in years, I was actually reading two books at the same time which made it seem like I would never get this finished.
RATING: 4 PAWS
Great review. You touched on the Harry Potter aspect, which I did not in my review. I agree, it's hard NOT to compare, but once you get to the halfway mark, the need to compare kind of goes away. I also agree, this is a great book, but not my favorite from Rowell. :)
ReplyDeleteI still haven't read a R.R. book. I really need to get on that since I've heard such good things!
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