A review by gloamglozergay
Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

4.0

Harry-Potter-PTSD-reckoning-that-never-was. "Carry On" felt like the setup (“carrying” another trilogy’s worth of backstory, which honestly I would have preferred to just see play out in a full series, thinly-veiled HP analogue notwithstanding). This is the payoff, or at least a payoff. The previous books' setting features not at all. Simon Snow deals with not being the main character anymore. Baz is more central to the plot, holding together their floundering relationship while confronting his own place in the world as a vampire. All of them are directionless, deeply depressed, and struggling with issues of identity and purpose after having fulfilled their teen destinies. They all find themselves in middle America, trying to manage the various manifestations of their traumas. While they’re at it, they finally do something about startup tech bros. Someone’s got to.

Overall it’s interested in its characters and psychology than its actual plot, but all ties together over the course of the story. Nothing was boring.