Instead of the limited worldview first-person narration usually gives us, in Carry On, ALL of the main characters take a turn at narration, so we get to see the world of Mages through six different sets of eyes. Despite the homage this story pays to HP, it is not HP fanfiction the world-building and characters are original (essentially, this novel is Rainbow Rowell writing fanfiction about her own characters…) and I loved them all (a lot!) in their own right. It’s a mishmash of fantasy tropes (a lot of which are turned on their head rather nicely – more on that later!), and there’s a strong Harry Potter vibe, as the story takes place in a magical boarding school, and our protagonist Simon is the magical world’s ‘chosen one’, not unlike Mr. I loved following Simon and Baz’s subplot, as the hate-charged rivalry between them intensified, eventually turning into a totally different kind of relationship (well, at least, in Cath’s version of the story!)Ĭarry On, the novel, is naturally a million times more polished than actual fanfiction, but it reads like a celebration of it. In Fangirl, each chapter begins with an excerpt from either the canon Simon Snow series, or one of Cath’s fanfictions, including her longest and most popular story, ‘Carry On’. If you’re a fan of Rainbow Rowell’s you’ll already know that Simon and his roommate Baz appear in her previous novel, Fangirl, as characters from the fictional ‘Simon Snow’ series the protagonist Cath writes fanfiction about.

To save you the pain of reading an essay filled with my incoherent fangirling, I’m just going to give you 5 reasons why you should read this bloody marvellous book.ĭISCLAIMER: You’ll now be treated to 5 essays instead of 1, and there may still be some incoherent fangirling… #sorrynotsorry

I loved this book so much that I don’t know how to write about it without my review turning into a 1000-word-long squeal of joy, because SIMONANDBAZSIMONANDBAZSIMONANDBAZ. 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. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon’s face. Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire.

And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right. Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.

Simon snow series in order