Carry On

Title: Carry On

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Rating: 4.5 stars

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Number of Pages: 517

Publication Date: October 2015

Publisher: Macmillan Press

Summary: Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen. That's what his roomate, 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 sets 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 is Rainbow Rowell's version of the Simon Snow fanfiction Cath write in her novel Fangirl. While it is not necessary to have read Fangirl I personally found that by doing so I got that little bit from the story. In Fangirl Simon Snow is in many ways their version of Harry Potter.

Carry On was a hugely refreshing take on the fantasy genre. So many fantasy books are weighed down in deep and emotionally intense plot lines or on the flip side they are cheesy and don't take anything seriously. Carry On finds a nice balance by making sure that the magic is believable and realistic while making the characters fun, devious and a little crazy. The spells were a little on the cheesy but not too much.

The beginning of this book starts off at a relatively medium level then suddenly up and dumping you before taking off full steam ahead for an action packed ending and bringing together the final clues of the mystery of the Watford Tragedy.

One of the things I loved most about this book was the character development, and I don't just mean the bad guy learning to be good. But the fact that the good guys weren't perfect, in fact they were kind of far from it; but learnt to accept this and keep trying any way. This book also showed the importance of over coming differences and how important teamwork and friendship really is.

However, what I loved most was Simon and Baz's relationship. Simon and Baz has perhaps the sweetest relationship ever, despite the fact that they are "nemesis'". As these two grow and the dynamic of their relationship changes you just want to smile and watch all the problems of the world fall away as they realise what their relationship has really been like all along. The relationship of Simon and Baz is progressive and well done, Rainbow Rowell doesn't rush the changes but works it so that it is a seemless and a naturally expected change.

Rainbow Rowell has an incredible ability to write amazing characters that you can't help but love. They are smart, witty and just a little crazy, but they are also deep and so very real.