At Watford Magic is just the air we breathe. It’s not what separates us from each other; it’s what keeps us together.  -Rainbow Rowell

Title of Book: Carry On

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Stars:  4/5

Why do you feel that way?

As an avid fan of the Harry Potter series reading this book brought me so many nods to that series at the beginning that I worried that I would never get into the individual story of these characters because I would constantly be comparing this book to that of the Potter series. Thankfully that worry didn’t last too long.

You start out reading through the eyes of the main character Simon Snow, who happens to attend a magical wizarding school, after discovering he is a wizard. Though Simon was unaware of his abilities for years of his life. He has a super smart best friend named Penny, who is referred to a one of the smartest witches of her class. He has a roommate enemy that comes from a well known, well established wizarding family. And he is being mentored by the school head master, who has taken the main character under his wing in his growth as the chosen one. Simon and his group of friends have been fighting a big bad, called the Insidious Humdrum, a malevolent character that has been destroying magic. Holy Potter everyone, I was laughing at all the references but I was also very concerned that these characters would just be rehashes without their own individual driving forces.

You soon discover that Simon’s arch nemesis at school is a vampire named Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch, or Baz. This also happens to be Simon’s roommate, and they have been at each others throats for the last few years of schooling. This books starts at the beginning of their last year, and Baz is late returning to school. While Simon is stalking around the school on the look out for Baz and how he will obviously return with some sort of plot to end Simon, he also has to deal with a break up with his long time girlfriend, Agatha, and questioning looks from his best friend Penny. By the time Baz actually shows up to the school, Simon has learned something that gives him reason to try and team up with Baz to uncover the truth of a deadly matter. The adventures after between Simon, Baz, Penny, and Agatha create an entire world of magic, lies, heart break, love, and self discovery.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the way it approaches the love stories of its characters. One character is confident in their gayness while struggling with acceptance from family. One character acknowledges an attraction to both boys and girls, but doesn’t know how to label themselves nor do they seem to have an interest in figuring out that label while they discover how they feel. There is a love triangle but not the way you would think, and it doesn’t become messy or sloppy or unnecessary. It is contained for a few chapters and then sort of works itself out enough to disappear without causing a disruption to the story. One character is in a long distance relationship, while another character wishes to have a relationship with a non-wizard. These characters shine as individuals and their love feels real and honest.

The ending of this story is different, and not what I expected. It really throws the Chosen One trope on a roller coaster and sees what happens when you shake that idea up. Did I predict who the main bad guy was pretty early on in the story? Yes. But in no way did that affect my enjoyment on the book as I finished it up, I might even say that it pulled me in further because I was so wildly interested in how the bad guy was going to be exposed to the characters and how they would react to learning this information.

If you feel like you’ve been missing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter but you also want to discover a whole new world with characters just as delightful I would strongly encourage you to check out Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. And there is good news! She is currently writing a second book to Carry On, called Wayward Son to be out in 2020.