Carry On | Rainbow Rowell | Review

Carry On | Rainbow Rowell | Review

• Thursday 11 October 2018

I'm not going to lie, I was didn't think I would like this book. I knew going into it that people have compared it to Harry Potter fanfiction and my head just wasn't going to let that go. But it was Rainbow Rowell, and seeing as Anjali had recommended it and she's a big a Potterhead as me I thought I'd give it a try.

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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 starts 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.

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I won't lie to you, I went into this comparing every little character to a Harry Potter character and I wasn't the biggest fan. I didn't like how they had to say random phrases to make things happen, I understand Harry Potter spells are sort of random phrases but like different nursery rhymes would do certain things. It just sounds a bit rubbish compared to a snazzy word, imagine trying to have a serious duel and you had to say Mary Had A Little Lamb or something.

Another thing that confused me was the fact they were always going on about how some smaller spells were a waste of magic. The further I got through the book I realised this was because they didn't have unlimited magic, that using magic was like using energy and doing constant magic would make you exhausted. Again, definitely too into my mindset of Harry Potter.

However, once I got used to Simon as a character and wasn't constantly comparing everything to Harry Potter I did enjoy it more. Once the plotline thickened and I'd figured out whether Simon and Baz hated each other or loved each other I started to get into it. I'd gone into the book thinking Simon and Baz were a couple so you'd understand why I was slightly confused at their hatred for each other.

Although, while the storyline was great and I did enjoy it I did feel like this wasn't the first book. So many conversations touched on previous incidents and storylines that felt like I'd started reading the third and last book in a trilogy before reading the first two. This is just being picky though, I did really like it. Enough for a 3 1/2 - 4 stars worth anyway.

Have you read it yet? Did you enjoy it?