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.
Carry On – The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story – but far, far more monsters.
When I read ‘Fangirl’ I found the intrusion of the Simon Snow characters irritating at times, but I loved the characters and was curious to see what ‘Carry On’ would be like. The fact that Rowell has published this would suggest that the characters also got under her skin, and she was curious to see what their story would be like.
I felt the start was a little slow in setting up what became a really engaging story. It was great fun to see these wonderful characters a little more developed. I felt the way Rowell described their relationships was engaging. Top of the list for pure entertainment though has to be the Baz and Simon relationship – brilliant.
Rowell’s story bears very obvious similarities initially with Harry Potter, and there seem to be more than one or two nods to other culturally well-known relationships/stories. However, that doesn’t stop the novel being engaging and entertaining in its own right. The actual plot concerning the Mage and Simon’s role in all this was a brave move. For me, it highlighted the idea of Simon being a pawn in someone else’s game all the way through (or am I reading too much into this?)