Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

My review for Fangirl

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 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 Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up. 

Cover

I didn't think the cover was that special, but it was pretty nevertheless. It's just that it's a Fantasy book, and I missed the Fantasy ambiance. On the other hand, it does have the style Rowell prefers, so it didn't really bother me.

Simon Snow

I liked him. That's it. He wasn't special? I feel like I still don't know him too well, even though I've read a 520-page story about him. 

What I liked about him, was that he wasn't perfect. He is supposed to be the 'Chosen One', but he doesn't have the abilities a Chosen One is supposed to have. His magic isn't perfect, and I loved that.

Also, I love how he had some worries about being 'gay' (which isn't in the summary, but yes he starts a relationship with Baz), but he didn't feel the need to label himself and knew he had some better stuff to think about instead. 

Baz (Basilton ?)

I LOVE HIM. I LOVE HIM. He was so funny. There were these times where I literally snorted because of his remarks. Also, the GAY. BEAUTIFUL. There were these comments by him just stating he's 'hopelessly queer' and that was so nice. So nice to read about a character who couldn't give two fucks about being gay/queer, and is just like: I'm in love with my male nemesis, so what? AMAZING. What bugged me though, was how fast Simon got together with Baz, I'd have like some more build-up beforehand. 

The search for his mother's killer was interesting. When I found out who was the cause of her murder, I didn't even want to believe it. WHY?

The vampire part was a nice add too. His sarcasm was great. Basilton is great. I love him.

Penelope 

Simon's Hermione. How I loved her! She seems so casual and lovely. She's a bit nerdy, but not afraid of anyone and she does what she wants. And when she found out that Simon was dating Baz, she didn't even care! I'd love to have her as my best friend. 

I was aware of her crappy 'relationship' with Baz, but that actually made the book more interesting so I didn't mind. You can see she gradually started to understand Baz more and she starting liking him. They'll never be close, but she doesn't mind being around him anymore.

Agatha

Uhm, yeah, Agatha, awkward. I didn't like her. Whenever I read her parts (book changes perspective), I wanted to have read those so I could just read about another character.

She's a really interesting character nevertheless. She's the only character who wanted to be a Normal. She didn't like being a magician. She was... average? It was interesting to me how she wanted to be someone she was not and how her family pressured her into doing things she didn't want to do. She was a bit selfish and arrogant in my opinion, but I can understand why.

The Ending

Yes, a capital letter. It deserved a capital letter. Cause wow, holy shit. A lot of people say the ending was expected, but for me, it was the complete opposite of that. I didn't expect it at all! The death of ****, why would they do that to me? I liked them. Why did they make **** the villain? 

The epilogue was so cute, it is always nice to see how characters are doing some time later. The last sentence was good closure to the book as well.

Still, the ending was really great. That's all I can say, the book was great. (I've used the word great like 100 times this review haha).

I recognised the writing style I love again. Rainbow Rowell is a great writer. I love her view on this world. Her stories aren't filled with perfect people, her characters have flaws. I love her books. However, this was not my favorite book by her. It wasn't that special to me? Eleanor & Park was a masterpiece, but this deserves 4/5 stars in my opinion. 

Dominique