danny_fox's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
When I tell you that I ate this book up-
I have never been so interested in a book that I read it in 3 days, especially a book that has 500 pages.
I adored everything about this book. The characters, the world, the plot, oh my gooood.
I cannot believe this book isn't more popular. I NEED this book to be more popular.
Definitely became one of my all time favorites, and can already see myself coming back to it in the future.
Baz and Simon have officially become my new comfort characters <3
I have never been so interested in a book that I read it in 3 days, especially a book that has 500 pages.
I adored everything about this book. The characters, the world, the plot, oh my gooood.
I cannot believe this book isn't more popular. I NEED this book to be more popular.
Definitely became one of my all time favorites, and can already see myself coming back to it in the future.
Baz and Simon have officially become my new comfort characters <3
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Bullying
Minor: Violence, War, Car accident, and Cursing
nonidude's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
I had high expectations, and unfortunately was less than obsessed. I think I'm just not a fan of Rainbow Rowell's writing both her style and choices.
First thing that made me actually upset? That I started this book and felt lost, like I was thrown into the middle of the the story with less than enough information to make sense. I had so many questions! At one point the book happened to flop open and I saw the Author's Note at the end of the book where it starts out, "If you've read my book Fan Girl, you know that Simon Snow began as a fictional character in that novel...." WHAT? I looked it up and it said they were independent of each other, but I wondered... Luckily I had that one in my TBR stack and so paused this reading to read that, and sure enough through the excerpts in that book, it shed light on some of the world of Simon Snow to help me not feel as lost which is frustrating since this is supposed to be an independent read.
I've heard this book described at Harry Potter but gay. Eh I see A LOT of similarities, but idk. I'd love to hear what someone who enjoyed the HP series thinks of this. Imo it's less scary than HP but the kids are ironically more normal (they kiss and cuss).
I was really confused with the romance. It seemed random and all of a sudden, but this is also a book that apparently had many books before it in this fictional series, so I'm sure you don't get the whole picture here.
It was a lot of nothing. The last 150 pages or so were probably my favorite.
Overall, not a bad book, but didn't leave me feeling WOW.
First thing that made me actually upset? That I started this book and felt lost, like I was thrown into the middle of the the story with less than enough information to make sense. I had so many questions! At one point the book happened to flop open and I saw the Author's Note at the end of the book where it starts out, "If you've read my book Fan Girl, you know that Simon Snow began as a fictional character in that novel...." WHAT? I looked it up and it said they were independent of each other, but I wondered... Luckily I had that one in my TBR stack and so paused this reading to read that, and sure enough through the excerpts in that book, it shed light on some of the world of Simon Snow to help me not feel as lost which is frustrating since this is supposed to be an independent read.
I've heard this book described at Harry Potter but gay. Eh I see A LOT of similarities, but idk. I'd love to hear what someone who enjoyed the HP series thinks of this. Imo it's less scary than HP but the kids are ironically more normal (they kiss and cuss).
I was really confused with the romance. It seemed random and all of a sudden, but this is also a book that apparently had many books before it in this fictional series, so I'm sure you don't get the whole picture here.
It was a lot of nothing. The last 150 pages or so were probably my favorite.
Overall, not a bad book, but didn't leave me feeling WOW.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Stalking
Moderate: Homophobia and War
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cursing, and Bullying
squinnittowinit's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book reads at first like an excellent Harry Potter parody, lightheartedly poking fun at the plot holes and loose worldbuilding moments of the HP series as the main character, Simon Snow, recounts his misadventures (a humorously self-aware reskinning of many HP plot points) at his magical school during years 1-7.
I was ready for this book to be a Harry Potter parody and nothing more the entire way through (and would have loved every minute of it), but I was very pleasantly surprised to find an actual, original plot that played very well with the humorous setting and premise. The plot and the surprisingly complex characters took this book from parody to a genuinely gripping Harry Potter rewrite that successfully delivered a more complex (and plausible) plot, alongside characters that were more flawed yet more understandable at the same time.
I felt like this book was wholly satisfying as a standalone. I don't really feel any need to read the sequels, though I'm sure I'll get to them someday. For now, I'm left with that same soul-satisfied feeling that I get when I've just finished a 100k word fanfic with no tags and I can't remember what it was like to have ever not known about something so wonderful.
4.5 stars because of complete bi erasure and minor racism (not the inclusion of it in the world but rather minorly problematic descriptions/inconsistent descriptions of poc by the author)
I was ready for this book to be a Harry Potter parody and nothing more the entire way through (and would have loved every minute of it), but I was very pleasantly surprised to find an actual, original plot that played very well with the humorous setting and premise. The plot and the surprisingly complex characters took this book from parody to a genuinely gripping Harry Potter rewrite that successfully delivered a more complex (and plausible) plot, alongside characters that were more flawed yet more understandable at the same time.
I felt like this book was wholly satisfying as a standalone. I don't really feel any need to read the sequels, though I'm sure I'll get to them someday. For now, I'm left with that same soul-satisfied feeling that I get when I've just finished a 100k word fanfic with no tags and I can't remember what it was like to have ever not known about something so wonderful.
4.5 stars because of complete bi erasure and minor racism (not the inclusion of it in the world but rather minorly problematic descriptions/inconsistent descriptions of poc by the author)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Death, Animal death, Biphobia, War, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Classism, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Cursing, Confinement, Stalking, Kidnapping, and Misogyny
Minor: Abandonment, Racism, Ableism, and Infidelity
Bi erasure details:Spoiler
Once Simon allows himself to voice his feelings for Baz, he almost immediately questions if this makes him gay, an already tired question. He ends up not answering that for himself, continuing to wonder several more times to the end of the book. Never once does he even consider that he could be bi, despite having had a girlfriend before. It is perfectly acceptable for Simon to not know what labels he wants to use for himself, or to never subscribe to using labels, and it would also be acceptable for Simon to determine that he isn't actually attracted to girls after all, but by only including the words "gay" and "straight", it makes it seem as though Simon can only be one of those two things, which is harmful to other LGBTQIA+ identities like bi and pan.Spoiler
Mostly my issue is with Baz's physical description being inconsistent. Baz is described as having red-gold skin before becoming a vampire, as his mother was Egyptian. Most of the time, as a vampire his skin is described as "gray", which is a great way to describe someone being bloodless without changing their skin tone (because skin tone isn't really determined by whether your body has blood in it or not). However, there are a few times where Baz is inexplicably described as having "white" skin in reference to his vampirism. It reads like Baz was originally written to have the race-erasing white skin of classic vampires and then the author decided to update the description to the better "gray", but didn't catch all instances.erebus53's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This was a title that I heard of through Lighthouse Library Bookclub (it was a previous fiction read from Sept, 2021). I found this book a little hard to get into at first. It felt a little like reading a later work of Rick Riordan's in the way that it referred to previous adventures of the characters from time to time, and left me wondering what I had missed. I went back to listen to the first hour of the audiobook on 125% and then I felt a bit more grounded. This was not a title that I could make the most of if I wasn't concentrating on it.
++edit to add++ After writing this review I stumbled upon an article that describes how this book fits in with its previous books.. which don't exist. Rowell writes "a book that was inspired by fictional fanfiction of a fictional series".
https://lithub.com/how-rainbow-rowell-weaponized-fandom-for-good/
++
The story deals with a couple of lads at a Magic-School, who are roommates, constantly paranoid about each other and secretly-notsosecretly plotting to kill each other. Their relationships is utterly dysfunctional, which is possibly one of the weirdest and truest part of the story. Mostly teen stories come across as a bit simple and based in pointless misunderstandings, but this enemies to lovers plotline felt a lot more like my memories of highschool, which were a twisted mess of love and hate. Don't call me emo.
I think the stand-out bit of Simon Snow's world is the way that the magic works. It is triggered not necessarily by ancient dead languages but by living ones. Concentration and intent is coupled with incantations that come from clichés, catch phrases, idioms, and commonly known poems and songs. You can literally throw up a wall to protect yourself with "Can't Touch This!"... though it may only be powerful against people who are familiar with the song. It feels a lot like "Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board" only with common memes and quotes. They actually use "These aren't the droids you're looking for" to hide things from people's perception... and as phrases pass out of common use, so do their potency for weaving magic.
The evil baddy in the story is a mysterious force that swallows magic, and leaves the world mundane in its wake. Simon and his best friend Penelope, work with their friends (and enemies) and for much of the time nobody knows who is allied with whom... And at the equinox, ghosts come back to tell people the things that they think are most important to pass on to their still-living loved ones, which spices things up a bit with revelations, spilled secrets and quests. The Principal of the school is in a simmering conflict with the aristocracy of the magical world, as he wants to provide magical training regardless of lineage, to anyone with the talent.
As far as the story is concerned, the characters are a hot mess. The kids rely on the guidance of teachers, who are about as messed up as they are themselves, which means that adult support is not all it cracked up to be, though it's cool if you have a kickarse punk-rock Aunty who can bust you out of trouble when you are in too deep. The characters are a diverse ethnic mix, and the depiction of how Penny copes with her best friend's casual Racism about her looks and South Asian background rings true.
Ghosts, Vampires, Pixies, Numpties, Worsegers (like Badgers..only...) populate this world replete with silly wordplay and a main character who didn't find out that any of this existed until he was 11. This is a very queer love story, and I like the characters, even if they are jerks.
Well worth the read if you have the patience for being dropped in at the deep end.
++edit to add++ After writing this review I stumbled upon an article that describes how this book fits in with its previous books.. which don't exist. Rowell writes "a book that was inspired by fictional fanfiction of a fictional series".
https://lithub.com/how-rainbow-rowell-weaponized-fandom-for-good/
++
The story deals with a couple of lads at a Magic-School, who are roommates, constantly paranoid about each other and secretly-notsosecretly plotting to kill each other. Their relationships is utterly dysfunctional, which is possibly one of the weirdest and truest part of the story. Mostly teen stories come across as a bit simple and based in pointless misunderstandings, but this enemies to lovers plotline felt a lot more like my memories of highschool, which were a twisted mess of love and hate. Don't call me emo.
I think the stand-out bit of Simon Snow's world is the way that the magic works. It is triggered not necessarily by ancient dead languages but by living ones. Concentration and intent is coupled with incantations that come from clichés, catch phrases, idioms, and commonly known poems and songs. You can literally throw up a wall to protect yourself with "Can't Touch This!"... though it may only be powerful against people who are familiar with the song. It feels a lot like "Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board" only with common memes and quotes. They actually use "These aren't the droids you're looking for" to hide things from people's perception... and as phrases pass out of common use, so do their potency for weaving magic.
The evil baddy in the story is a mysterious force that swallows magic, and leaves the world mundane in its wake. Simon and his best friend Penelope, work with their friends (and enemies) and for much of the time nobody knows who is allied with whom... And at the equinox, ghosts come back to tell people the things that they think are most important to pass on to their still-living loved ones, which spices things up a bit with revelations, spilled secrets and quests. The Principal of the school is in a simmering conflict with the aristocracy of the magical world, as he wants to provide magical training regardless of lineage, to anyone with the talent.
As far as the story is concerned, the characters are a hot mess. The kids rely on the guidance of teachers, who are about as messed up as they are themselves, which means that adult support is not all it cracked up to be, though it's cool if you have a kickarse punk-rock Aunty who can bust you out of trouble when you are in too deep. The characters are a diverse ethnic mix, and the depiction of how Penny copes with her best friend's casual Racism about her looks and South Asian background rings true.
Ghosts, Vampires, Pixies, Numpties, Worsegers (like Badgers..only...) populate this world replete with silly wordplay and a main character who didn't find out that any of this existed until he was 11. This is a very queer love story, and I like the characters, even if they are jerks.
Well worth the read if you have the patience for being dropped in at the deep end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Cursing, Gore, Pregnancy, Racism, Stalking, Ableism, Confinement, Toxic friendship, and War
Moderate: Alcohol and Eating disorder
Minor: Animal cruelty, Deportation, and Medical content
amberinpieces's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Murder, and Cursing
Minor: Blood, Kidnapping, Animal death, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Confinement, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Car accident
the_chocolate_bookshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Oh my god, I absolutely fell in love with it as soon as I opened the book and saw there was a map! The characters were so loveable and I felt like I had formed a close connection with them. Everyone should read this!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, War, and Vomit
Minor: Cursing
vaguely_pink's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Animal death, Biphobia, Classism, Murder, Violence, Death, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Vomit, and War
sabinehunter's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Violence, Bullying, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
sadig27's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing and Animal death
Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Homophobia, and Murder
inkyinsanity's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.0
Before I start this review, I would like to point out the absolute frustration I have suffered trying to mentally and verbally distinguish Rowell and Rowling. I know the difference. But when you’re in the middle of a rant, it’s really easy to say the wrong name.
Since Carry On is a parody/riff-off/published-fan-fiction of Harry Potter, originally created as the Harry Potter stand-in for Rowell’s main character of her YA contemporary <i>Fangirl</i> to write fan-fiction of, and then turned into an attempted original novel, mixing the authors’ names up is exceptionally irritating.
Five short disclaimers:
1: I have not read Fangirl, nor do I plan to.
2: I actively disliked the vast majority of contemporary fiction I ever read, and so generally avoid it.
3: I adore Harry Potter and fantasy fiction is my favorite genre.
4: I have read, and continuously read, a lot of Harry Potter fan-fiction. I like fanfiction as it’s own genre, fan communication, and/or literary analysis, etc.
5: I can count the number of romance-centric stories I like on one hand. Similarly to contemporary fiction, I tend to avoid them.
I knew Carry On was parodied meta-fiction inspired by fictional fanfiction when I got into it. I tried to be a cautious buyer: I read reviews and an excerpt before getting the book. I expected mediocre writing; tongue-in-cheek copy/pasted characters, world building, and plot; a cliché slash (m/m aka gay) romance between pseudo-Harry and pseudo-Draco (not a ship I like, but whatever—I expected it to be somewhat original); and I expected it to be ridiculously, hilariously cheesy.
I expected to have fun.
I laughed occasionally, but that’s not the same at all. I’m still debating if the rating should be dropped another star. (I decided on yes.)
First of all, this is not actually Harry Potter fanfiction. This is <i>Twilight</i> fanfiction dressed in a Gryffindor uniform, waving a wooden stick.
The “i know what you are—say it!—vampire!” scene was literally word for word. It’s just as ridiculous in here as it was in Twilight, except this adds the insult of plagiarism. Mockery is not an excuse, because Rowell played it straight. (Pun unintended.)
For all that I’ve seen other people in the reviews complain about the Harry Potter plagiarism, I have to disagree a little. Yes, Simon Snow is clearly a riff off of HP, but Rowell does change characters, world, and plot enough that the ideas are actually full of potential: The mentor might be the antagonist, the bad guy literally eats magic, spells are made from common vernaculars, do the ends truly justify the means, why don’t traumatized fictional kids ever get therapy, etc. It’s poorly written trope parody, but I can understand why it gets the legal pass.
But she literally takes the Twilight scene word for word.
Twilight is an apt comparison. Both boys were continuously described as gross, which is the opposite of how I thought romance is written. I naively assumed one should find their love interest at least somewhat physically attractive and intellectually/personally stimulating or whatever too.
It isn’t until over 400 pages in that Simon even remotely considers Baz good looking…and it only happens once or twice. Baz, at least, finds Simon attractive, (I don’t know how), but the descriptors given are really pretty nasty.
Examples: (Simon about Baz)
Since Carry On is a parody/riff-off/published-fan-fiction of Harry Potter, originally created as the Harry Potter stand-in for Rowell’s main character of her YA contemporary <i>Fangirl</i> to write fan-fiction of, and then turned into an attempted original novel, mixing the authors’ names up is exceptionally irritating.
Five short disclaimers:
1: I have not read Fangirl, nor do I plan to.
2: I actively disliked the vast majority of contemporary fiction I ever read, and so generally avoid it.
3: I adore Harry Potter and fantasy fiction is my favorite genre.
4: I have read, and continuously read, a lot of Harry Potter fan-fiction. I like fanfiction as it’s own genre, fan communication, and/or literary analysis, etc.
5: I can count the number of romance-centric stories I like on one hand. Similarly to contemporary fiction, I tend to avoid them.
I knew Carry On was parodied meta-fiction inspired by fictional fanfiction when I got into it. I tried to be a cautious buyer: I read reviews and an excerpt before getting the book. I expected mediocre writing; tongue-in-cheek copy/pasted characters, world building, and plot; a cliché slash (m/m aka gay) romance between pseudo-Harry and pseudo-Draco (not a ship I like, but whatever—I expected it to be somewhat original); and I expected it to be ridiculously, hilariously cheesy.
I expected to have fun.
I laughed occasionally, but that’s not the same at all. I’m still debating if the rating should be dropped another star. (I decided on yes.)
First of all, this is not actually Harry Potter fanfiction. This is <i>Twilight</i> fanfiction dressed in a Gryffindor uniform, waving a wooden stick.
The “i know what you are—say it!—vampire!” scene was literally word for word. It’s just as ridiculous in here as it was in Twilight, except this adds the insult of plagiarism. Mockery is not an excuse, because Rowell played it straight. (Pun unintended.)
For all that I’ve seen other people in the reviews complain about the Harry Potter plagiarism, I have to disagree a little. Yes, Simon Snow is clearly a riff off of HP, but Rowell does change characters, world, and plot enough that the ideas are actually full of potential: The mentor might be the antagonist, the bad guy literally eats magic, spells are made from common vernaculars, do the ends truly justify the means, why don’t traumatized fictional kids ever get therapy, etc. It’s poorly written trope parody, but I can understand why it gets the legal pass.
But she literally takes the Twilight scene word for word.
Twilight is an apt comparison. Both boys were continuously described as gross, which is the opposite of how I thought romance is written. I naively assumed one should find their love interest at least somewhat physically attractive and intellectually/personally stimulating or whatever too.
It isn’t until over 400 pages in that Simon even remotely considers Baz good looking…and it only happens once or twice. Baz, at least, finds Simon attractive, (I don’t know how), but the descriptors given are really pretty nasty.
Examples: (Simon about Baz)
“He has these droopy dog eyes…it’s like his face was designed for pouting.”
“Today, [his eyes] are the color of wet pavement.”
“He looks like he’s been in some American terror prison.”
“He’s got a cruel mouth. It looks like he’s sneering even when he’s happy about something. Actually, I don’t know if he ever is happy. It’s like he’s got two emotions—pissed off and sadistically amused. “
(Baz about Simon)
“Snow blusters like no one else. But! I! I mean! Um! It’s just! It’s no wonder he can never spit out a spell.”
“He’s half a f*cking numpty [ogre] himself.”
“...he says through a maw full of roast beef.”
“…Simon Snow is standing there like a lost dog. Or an amnesia victim.”
“Snow’s table manners are atrocious—it’s like watching a wild dog eat. A wild dog you’d like to slip the tongue.”
Forget attractive. Those are disgusting. They should not be used to describe the love interest from the other love interest’s point of view. Worst of all, there’s a lot more. That’s just a selection of my personal worst offenders.
It’s one thing to portray an average-looking anybody as a love interest. That’s not my problem. The problem is when the person supposedly attracted to the love interest repeatedly describes the love interest as disgusting.
Regarding the actual writing quality, it is literally all tell and no show. Worse, there’s no explanations ever given. We get 500 pages of words talking about nothing.
We don’t get action. We don’t get even flashbacks! We just get told some things, sometimes. Mostly, we get talked at and told nothing. Every other sentence could be removed and it would probably be for the best. It was sometimes fun, but mostly I remained bored and disappointed.
“Is this how you usually plot my downfall?”
“Yes. With multicolored chalk. Stop complaining.”
The magic had some very cool potential. Basically, the more often non-magical people speak phrases, the more powerful that phrase is when used as a spell. So all the spells were things like references, song lyrics, or little sayings.
Unfortunately, this often became comedic at the wrong time as characters would choose the most ridiculous phrases to shout at moments when there was supposed to be tension or drama, and it really broke the emotional beats.
Speaking of poor word choices, “gay” isn’t actually said until the last parts of the book; instead, the q slur is what the author chose to use. I can kind of see Baz using it, since his family’s homophobic and he explicitly has internalized homophobia of his own, but it’s used textually as a completely acceptable term to use instead of gay or homosexual and I hate that. So also please be aware of its presence if anyone else has issues with that slur.
Also, when gay is finally used, it’s used in reference to Simon, when what should actually be said is “bisexual.”
If the author wanted to write a gay character, she shouldn’t have had him fall in love with a girl first. She shouldn’t have given Simon literally the same exact feelings towards both Baz and Agatha, and she shouldn’t have described those feelings in the exact same way (when they were actually described).
That’s called bisexual.
I don’t think this was done with any maliciousness or intentional biphobia (I saw other reviewers being extremely paranoid about it, so clarifying my thoughts here). It is extremely difficult to change your own world view, and I think Rowell simply didn’t consider making Simon bisexual because she’s most likely attracted to only one sex, and so that’s what she assumes her characters also are, even if which sex they like varies person to person.
She wrote it in a way which made it easy to interpret differently, but to be fair, the rest of the book is also easy to see in a way I really don’t think she intended: boring.
Returning to slur usage: she uses the British word for cigarettes, which is the same as the f-slur used in America against gay men. Interestingly enough, this word was used only when Baz was involved. Again, I put it on the poor writing.
Plotwise, there’s none. The big bad didn’t do a thing until over 200 pages in, which we later find out why as we also find out that the big bad doesn’t actually mean a thing to the story. The actual antagonist is useless and mostly uses his social status as a threat, because he sure isn’t.
This is where you can tell this story is not an epic fantasy of any sort, and is actually a character-driven contemporary without either character development or likable characters.
I saw every single plot twist coming until I grew too bored to think. There weren’t many to start with. Guessing them correctly was not satisfying.
To wrap up this rambling rant so I can finally be done thinking about this book, Here are some loose thoughts and quotes from when I was taking notes during my read-through:
—•—•—
[when talking about Baz’s magic:] “Someone else’s magic never feels like your own—like someone else’s spit never tastes like your own.”
“Them’re” is not used as dialogue, unfortunately, and is used in the actual prose.
Baz: “I bloody well should marry [Simon’s ex-gf]. My father would love it. Marry her. Give her the keys to whatever she wants keys to. Then find a thousand men who look exactly like Simon bloody Snow and break each of their hearts a different way.”
Agatha’s an interesting storyline but NOT in an epic modern Fantasy, the thing this is ’supposed’ to be.
”Looks like a race...”
???
Baz rolls his eyes. “Well, it’s not like you have any family of your own.”
Oh god, Penny and Agatha have the Can Girls Like Pink Debate. Pg 310.
So manyyyy POVs
Magic or magick
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Biphobia and Homophobia