bumblebree1903's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The only thing stopping me from really liking this book is that one of the main characters is an unapologetic bigot and this is never addressed or treated with the seriousness it should be.
SO, on to my more in-depth thoughts on the book. I thought the beginning was fairly strong. I really liked Simon’s POV and while the world-building could be a bit of an info dump, I didn’t fully mind it and thought Simon’s inner monologue made it rather funny. I thought Simon’s break from the traditional chosen one of selflessness and martyrdom was a nice change, I like that he wanted to be selfish and have his own life. I liked the women characters in the book for the most part, but it didn’t feel like the book could quite decide if being fem was a good thing or something to be shamed. The relationships felt realistic and I enjoyed getting into their dynamics. As for our other leading man, Baz, I thought his POV was hilarious. He’s so wildly dramatic is was fun to listen to. He’s funny and sarcastic, but more aware of his feelings and (mostly) how to handle them as opposed to Simon, which was a nice change. I thought the foreshadowing of the book was extremely well done and none of the twist were particularly dissatisfying and I thought every one made sense.
While the world building isn’t really something you can look at too hard, I don’t mind it, especially when it lends to interesting dynamics between characters and (sometimes) nuances in their world views and the conflicts happening. It made me wish the nuance could be carried into more things and when it wasn’t it fell short. A handful of things in the book were presented as shades of grey, but others were stark black and white with no variation in between and that felt like a bit of a let down.
Finally, there were a handful of more problematic things that made me dislike the book and kinda cemented for me that I wouldn’t be continuing the series, which is disappointing because I think the books have a lot of potential. To start with, Baz and his family are horribly bigoted and this is never addressed. It’s mentioned a few times, but this never gives Simon pause in making out with Baz nor does he bring it up as a sort of “hey this is a really shitty way of thinking and I want to see it change because I’m not going to date a bigot.” It’s largely swept under the rug by the end of the book unless Baz wants to angst about being a vampire. Furthermore on the topic of Simon and Baz’s relationship, I hated the way Simon’s sexuality was treated. Every character seems to drive home he HAS to either be straight or gay as if sexuality isn’t a spectrum and there aren’t other sexualities out there that he could be. As someone who themself is queer and is attracted to multiple genders, it was upsetting to read about these characters ignoring that and insisting Simon must be one or the other. Finally, there’s the book’s inconsistent treatment of femininity. It was strange to me the only opening feminine character was often depicted as a mean girl who did very little to help or care for her friends and it was never clear if Penny’s blatantly misogynistic views on felinity and women who want to be feminine were being supported by the author. Perhaps some of these are remedied in the later books, but they just left a sour taste in my mouth for the first one and have deterred me from continuing the series.
Overall, I think the book was just okay, but was held back by a handful of iffy writing decisions and the seeming pushing of some questionable views.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Racism, Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping
bornachoker's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
This was a cute read. I felt like the pacing was a little off, but I enjoyed the characters and the humorous tone. Also, is bisexuality not a concept in this book at all haha.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and War
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Biphobia and Eating disorder
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.johns6ka's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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: Death of parent, Murder, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Homophobia
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
eetishmeh's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
[This review was written after finishing the whole Simon Snow trilogy. It does not contain spoilers for the other books.]
This book was awesome! I love the trope subversion and this take on the Chosen One trope. (I also love golden retriever and wet cat dynamics so you've got me there. Also, I love Penny as well, so really I just love basically everything about this book.)
I accidentally sped through the entire trilogy—200+ chapters!—within 4 days, a feat which I'm pretty sure I haven't achieved before.
Baz stop simping for Simon for two seconds challenge (impossible)
Glad they portray the manipulative mentor as a manipulative mentor, unlike some people *cough*JKRfailingtowriteDumbledore*cough*
I have a soft spot for sarcastic gay vampires with dark hair and magic
I still don't know if I'm pronouncing the name Bunce properly.
Anyway, 10/10 would recommend. If you want a humorous Romeo-and-Juliet, enemies-to-lovers story (with less tragedy for the lovers) paired with fantasy happenings, banter between friends, a super epic magic system and much better representation than Harry Potter, this is the book for you!
This book was awesome! I love the trope subversion and this take on the Chosen One trope. (I also love golden retriever and wet cat dynamics so you've got me there. Also, I love Penny as well, so really I just love basically everything about this book.)
I accidentally sped through the entire trilogy—200+ chapters!—within 4 days, a feat which I'm pretty sure I haven't achieved before.
Spoiler
Some thoughts I had while reading this book, to sate your curiosity if you're like me and can't resist clicking all the spoiler tags in the review section:Baz stop simping for Simon for two seconds challenge (impossible)
Glad they portray the manipulative mentor as a manipulative mentor, unlike some people *cough*JKRfailingtowriteDumbledore*cough*
I have a soft spot for sarcastic gay vampires with dark hair and magic
I still don't know if I'm pronouncing the name Bunce properly.
Anyway, 10/10 would recommend. If you want a humorous Romeo-and-Juliet, enemies-to-lovers story (with less tragedy for the lovers) paired with fantasy happenings, banter between friends, a super epic magic system and much better representation than Harry Potter, this is the book for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt
Please look further into what warnings come with this book if necessary! I likely forgot a few thingsetmetmetm's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Kidnapping
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Homophobia and Suicide attempt
amandajsmith's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Fire/Fire injury
marciafelis's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Someone recommended this book to me as (in short) "Harry Potter but better and gay", and it did not disappoint on those counts. I love the way magic works in this book, and the characters were vibrant and most of them were very relatable. As some other reviewers have pointed out, the story does feel like very elaborate (and well-written) fanfiction at times. For me, that's more of a feature than a bug, but some people might be a bit exasperated by the tropes employed.
One minor gripe is that apparently none of the characters know bisexuality is a thing. It would be fine if it was just that hasn't thought of it (with emphasis on how often "doesn't think") or doesn't want to define self/use that label (yet), but someone (at the very least ) could have brought it up. I'll see how it's going to turn out in the next book, though, as I'm going to Carry On reading!
One minor gripe is that apparently none of the characters know bisexuality is a thing. It would be fine if it was just that
Spoiler
SimonSpoiler
heSpoiler
himSpoiler
the psychologist Simon starts seeing in the epilogue
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Animal death, Classism, Pregnancy, Biphobia, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Kidnapping
ajsterkel's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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? Yes
5.0
This book was my most-anticipated release of 2015, but I was still nervous about it because the Simon Snow parts of Fangirl seemed so over-the-top ridiculous.
It turns out that Carry On is ridiculous, but it’s ridiculous in the most epic way possible. Seriously, this book is over 500 pages, and I blew through it in two days because I loved it so much. I want to talk about everything in this review, but I can’t because of spoilers. (And the review would be ten pages long.)
So, Carry On is the final book in the “fictional” Simon Snow series from Fangirl. Simon is a wizard in his final year of magic school, and he has a lot of problems. He’s struggling in his classes, being ignored by his mentor, arguing with his girlfriend, and being harassed by his evil vampire roommate, Baz. To make things worse, Simon is the Chosen One who is supposed to save the magical world.
This book is a standalone, so you can read it without reading Fangirl. However, if you haven’t read Harry Potter, you might miss a lot of the humor. This book feels like a Harry Potter parody. That’s why I love it so much. I’m a fan of anything related to Harry Potter, even parodies.
Rainbow Rowell does amazing things with fantasy tropes. This book really lets you see how ridiculous and overused some of them are. Rainbow Rowell flips the tropes on their heads. Simon is an incompetent Chosen One. Baz is a loveable villain. The magic system is silly. The witches and wizards drive cars, own laptops, accidently forget their wands at home, rely on Google to solve their problems, and talk like modern teenagers. This book is full of literal laugh-out-loud moments. Like all of Rainbow Rowell’s books, the dialogue and characters are on-point.
Other than Simon and Baz, my favorite character is Agatha. I like that she doesn’t want to be Simon’s sidekick or his happily ever after. She knows herself, and she knows what she wants in life. I also really like Baz. This story is told from multiple points-of-view, and his was my favorite. He’s hilariously sarcastic.
There is a love story in this novel. I’m not the biggest fan of romance in books, but this one didn’t bother me. The book has enough politics and mystery to keep the love story from being the only focus of the plot. I also care about the characters enough that I didn’t mind seeing them fall in love.
I can’t find too much to criticize. If this book doesn’t mesh with your sense of humor, you might have a hard time “getting” it. I wish the ending had been a little clearer. I wanted more explanation about a few things. Also, some of the first-person POV voices sounded very similar, so I sometimes had to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to remember whose POV I was in. None of those issues are big problems for me. I enjoyed this book.
If you’re a fan of Rainbow Rowell, fantasy fiction, or Harry Potter, you need to read Carry On.
It turns out that Carry On is ridiculous, but it’s ridiculous in the most epic way possible. Seriously, this book is over 500 pages, and I blew through it in two days because I loved it so much. I want to talk about everything in this review, but I can’t because of spoilers. (And the review would be ten pages long.)
So, Carry On is the final book in the “fictional” Simon Snow series from Fangirl. Simon is a wizard in his final year of magic school, and he has a lot of problems. He’s struggling in his classes, being ignored by his mentor, arguing with his girlfriend, and being harassed by his evil vampire roommate, Baz. To make things worse, Simon is the Chosen One who is supposed to save the magical world.
This book is a standalone, so you can read it without reading Fangirl. However, if you haven’t read Harry Potter, you might miss a lot of the humor. This book feels like a Harry Potter parody. That’s why I love it so much. I’m a fan of anything related to Harry Potter, even parodies.
Rainbow Rowell does amazing things with fantasy tropes. This book really lets you see how ridiculous and overused some of them are. Rainbow Rowell flips the tropes on their heads. Simon is an incompetent Chosen One. Baz is a loveable villain. The magic system is silly. The witches and wizards drive cars, own laptops, accidently forget their wands at home, rely on Google to solve their problems, and talk like modern teenagers. This book is full of literal laugh-out-loud moments. Like all of Rainbow Rowell’s books, the dialogue and characters are on-point.
Other than Simon and Baz, my favorite character is Agatha. I like that she doesn’t want to be Simon’s sidekick or his happily ever after. She knows herself, and she knows what she wants in life. I also really like Baz. This story is told from multiple points-of-view, and his was my favorite. He’s hilariously sarcastic.
There is a love story in this novel. I’m not the biggest fan of romance in books, but this one didn’t bother me. The book has enough politics and mystery to keep the love story from being the only focus of the plot. I also care about the characters enough that I didn’t mind seeing them fall in love.
I can’t find too much to criticize. If this book doesn’t mesh with your sense of humor, you might have a hard time “getting” it. I wish the ending had been a little clearer. I wanted more explanation about a few things. Also, some of the first-person POV voices sounded very similar, so I sometimes had to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to remember whose POV I was in. None of those issues are big problems for me. I enjoyed this book.
If you’re a fan of Rainbow Rowell, fantasy fiction, or Harry Potter, you need to read Carry On.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Death, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Grief, and Violence