Remember all the fanfiction we wrote about a certain magical boy in a magical school? The chosen one with the glasses? It’s okay if you didn’t but some of us did. There were theories about the books that never panned out, much to our sadness. In 2013 a book called Fangirl was written that was a love letter to fandom, fanfiction and those who dwell in it. There were snippets of fanfiction for a non-existent book series that we all kind of wished was real in the story. Then it was real.
Carry On is a novel about Simon Snow. Yes, the other magical boy who was in the fanfiction about the non existent book. Carry On is the creation of the mind of Rainbow Rowell. It was released to very excited fans in 2017. It is not surprising that fans adored the book. So much so that Rowell wrote a sequel and now there is a third book coming out in July of this year.
Simon Snow might very well be a terrible Chosen One. That is the opinion of his roommate Baz, who might be a vampire, and is certainly one of Simon’s least favorite people. Simon is supposed to be the savior of the world of Mages, who use words to create magic. There has been a terrifying threat to Mage society for years and Simon isn’t really sure how to stop it. Besides he is fairly busy dealing with Baz, the prejudices of the world of Mages, trying to get his magic to work properly, problems with his girlfriend, and did we mention Baz? Because Baz hasn’t even shown up for school yet. There is also an issue with a ghost. Simon may have to make an unlikely alliance for answers, and it will change everything.
Carry On is a lot of things. A ghost story. A love story. A story with queer characters. A story with a slightly better representation for non-white characters. Mostly, it is a story about what could be. It is a story for anyone who feels like they don’t belong, thinks they are broken, or just don’t know what they are doing.
The characters are dimensional and very real for a book that is a work of magical fiction. Are they perfect? No, but that makes it better. Who wants a perfect Chosen One anyway?
I highly recommend Carry On. I went in looking for a fun book about magic and ended up with a book containing many twists that left me surprised.
ALWAYS KEEP SPARKLING!!!
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