Review | Carry On

Welcome to 2018 everyone! To celebrate surviving another year and carrying on (get it?) here is a review to kick start the year:

The Book: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Date Published: October 6, 2015

Dates Read: October 13 - 18, 2017 (yeah, yeah I know. I still have a lot of thoughts about this book)

Current Goodreads Rating: 4.2/5

Look, you all know several things about me since I started this book blog: I am scarily obsessed with Libba Bray, I read a lot of Young Adult literature because I am terrified of getting old, and I re-read the Harry Potter series every year. Every year that I finish Harry Potter I feel like I have to wrench myself out of that vibrant world and then stuff myself into a different world that is just a little dull around the edges. I chose Carry On as my P.H.P (post Harry Potter) book because of its similarities to that beloved series. I thought it would be a good book to ease myself away from that world.

Wrong.

This story is basically a parody on Harry Potter which isn't a terrible thing. Parodies can be good. They can open your eyes to things you were blind to in the original series. This story was not a good parody. At least in the first 1/3 of the book it read like a bad fanfiction.

I will give the book some credit. It did improve over time. I thought the relationship between Harry Potter character Simon Snow and his Draco Malfoy vampire roommate (yes, you read that correctly) Baz was very sweet and realistic. However, that was really this book's only true saving grace.

The characters in this book are flawed, like any good character should be. However, sometimes these characters are a little too flawed. Let's break this down by character:

Simon - He is the hero, the Harry Potter of this story. Simon spends most of his chapters whining about how unfair the world is, the Mage (a Dumbledore look-a-like) doesn't tell him the full story about the Humdrum (a.k.a. Voldy himself), but expects him to fight in this war. Despite his constant bitching about this war, Simon fights in it because something about prophesies. Who actually knows?

Simon is also obsessed with whatever his roommate Baz is doing and regularly stalks him. In this book Baz goes missing for several weeks and Simon actually loses sleep over it, stalking around the campus looking for him. He says its because he knows Baz will be out there planning to get him, but like, come on. Simon you're like one of those middle school girls who get creepily obsessed with the boy two grades above her so she breaks into his locker to leave him a love note (not speaking from personal experience or anything).

Speaking of...

Baz - Like I said, he is the Draco to Simon's Harry, but he has this incredible sexual tension with Simon. What drives me crazy is that he falls into that "I hate that I think my sexuality is different from the norm so I'm going to bully you" trope. He is constantly trying to harm Simon in some way because he has these feelings for the kid that he doesn't even understand. However, despite his flaws, Baz is the most interesting character in my opinion. Yes, he's frustratingly stereotypical at times, but some aspects of his story are actually fascinating. He's a vampire in a family of pureblood magicians who want their school back. Despite being a member of that family, Baz doesn't want to attempt to take it back. He just wants to finish his education.

I was particularly interested in his storyline because I felt like he had only two ways to go. He was either going to actually end up with Simon Snow in the end or he was going to have to die. While that might sound a little cliche, it was actually kind of endearing and I found myself rooting for the guy.

Finally there is...

Penelope: I'm like 99% certain she's supposed to be a weird Hermione/Ginny hybrid. They talk all the time about how she and Simon don't have feelings for each other. Like. All. The. Time. Which makes me think that maybe there are some feelings there?

I really didn't like Penelope because she's very much a placeholder character. The story is mostly about Simon and Baz falling in love and also Simon kind of saving the world, but mostly the love stuff. She really only appears in the book to say or do something kind of smart, tell Simon to calm down, and then slip away. I honestly don't remember anything about her character except the fact that she can somehow slip through the charms in the boy's dormitory so she can sneak in without being caught. I only know this because Simon mentioned it every time she appeared in his dorm room.

One last thing, as an honorable mention...

Agatha: If Penelope is a placeholder character, Agatha is a "why the hell are you in this novel?" character. She is Simon's beautiful girlfriend he suspects is cheating on him with Baz. She adds nothing to the story whatsoever and their break up (SPOILER) does not make me feel sorry for them in the slightest (also because at that point I was fully on the Baz/Simon train). I don't think she really does anything except look sad and look beautiful.

At one point she and Penelope hang out because I think Rainbow thought to herself, "Oh, I should probably have the two girl characters talk to each other about their magic and how strong they are because #girlpower." In my opinion I thought that scene felt incredibly forced, but it did give me one of my favorite quotes ever:

"It's good to have a life that passes the Bechdel test."

Which, thanks to that scene, technically Carry On does pass the Bechdel test. The rest of the book may not necessarily reflect that, but there are two named female characters who have a conversation about something other than their boy problems. So props to Rainbow for that.

***

In the end I think my main issue with this book is that it was created from inside another one of Rainbow's books. The world of Simon and Baz was created in Rainbow's 2013 novel Fangirl. I read that book several years ago and totally fell in love with Rainbow's writing. Every single one of her books is like a little love letter to all the romantic comedies out there. Everyone, that is except this one.

Carry On is supposed to be the last book in the fictional Simon and Baz series. Therefore, Rainbow had to create this book as though her audience had grown up reading this series, but she also had to introduce that world without it sounding too forced and I don't think she pulled it off. With Harry Potter the love was built up gradually, one small tidbit of information at a time. This book is lore that has just been completely piled on.

Final Thoughts: I think the big saving grace in this novel was the ending. Simon was raised with the belief that he was the Chosen One and he had to defeat this Insidious Force to triumph, when in reality, he was basically an eco-threat. He absorbs a bunch of magic and the environment just couldn't bounce back. The Humdrum was just its defense mechanism when he absorbed so much magic that he saps the area dry. I thought it was a very refreshing take on the Chosen One story.

Long Story Short:

• Don't create big ass worlds without at least 3 prior books

• Bechdel tests are important

• Switch up the norm once in awhile. It could totally change someone's outlook.

My Rating: 3/5 surprisingly.

***

Happy New Year everyone! As a New Year's Resolution, why don't you follow me on Goodreads?

Pictures in this post were found here, here, and here.