CARRY ON: Rainbow Rowell
This book is like a hardcore, teen version of Harry Potter, add in magical gays, .romance, absolutely gory battle scenes, utter betrayal, and you have Carry On. Rainbow is one of my favorite authors, I respect her work so much, her writing is simply put, amazing. This book follows 17 year old Simon, The Chosen One, in his adventures at Watford, the world's only magickal school. Simon, his sort of girlfriend, Agatha, his best friend Penny, and who can forget his sworn enemy, Baz, tell this story of evil not being what it’s perceived as. Simon feels like he has the weight of the entire magickal world on his shoulders because he is The Chosen One. The magickal world has been under attack by the so-called Insidious Humdrum, and according to legend, Simon is the one who will save them all. But what if he’s just not ready? Reading this story is kind of like playing Clue, you can only trust yourself. The ways in which Rowell took the plot were absolutely mind twisting (at one point I had to close the book, open it back up, re-read the paragraph to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, close the book again and go for a walk because the plot twist was so intense,) The character development is phenomenal and the growth in the plot throughout the book was perfect, not forced, not overdone, just right. The description of the scenes and character’s feelings made the story feel real, even if they were fighting a being I hadn’t known existed a moment ago. As if that wasn’t enough, towards the end of the book while it’s all being resolved, you can feel bad for the characters, even the ones you want to hate so bad. These were lovable and relatable characters that Rowell brought to life in this story. I hardly have critiques, but I do have one, that is generally one I give to all multiple-perspective stories, so it’s not their fault, but I did sometimes have a hard time, especially at the beginning with getting to know the characters. But like I said, I hardly have cirques, I just have praise. Normally, I’m not one for fantasy, but every now and then a good one sneaks up on you that you just can’t ignore. It’s safe to say that I loved this book, and I give it 5/5.
Readers Warning: There is some cursing in this book, head chopping, demonic
transformation, overall magic, and kissing scenes.