Simon Snow is The Chosen One.
*Groan*
He, in his opinion, is the absolute worst choice for such a title. He can not keep the spells straight and half the time his wand doesn’t even work. His roommate Baz (who Simon is pretty sure is a vampire) avoids Simon like the plague, and his girlfriend is on the verge of being done with him and quite honestly Simon doesn’t blame her. Relationships are weird and he never knows what he is supposed to do. And now…. it seems that he has been chosen… or drew the short straw… to help solve a murder.
Seriously? Why can’t he just have a normal life?
I was drawn to Carry On because of a blurb I read that said Harry Potter fans were going to flip for this one. I am a pretty easy sell if you tell me a book is going to be like Harry Potter. For the record… it wasn’t- not really, and honestly nothing ever has come close to HP for me so it’s not a big disappointment. There were similarities to the Potter books that I thought were a little too close to a brilliant idea already taken. For example, Simon, like Harry, was an orphan. And Simon, like Harry was considered The Chosen One. There is also a creepy monster like character that had some of the similarities of a Dementor (see Potter books).
That said, Rainbow Rowell does carry off an interesting unique read that while it may have used the Harry Potter books as a jumping off point…. the book then takes it’s own direction. I don’t want to give anything away but I can say that RainbowRowell likes to take her characters in directions you may not expect. Simon surprised me. The book surprised me.
I listened to Carry On on audio and the audio music throughout the listen (don’t worry – it is not continuous or annoying) was brilliant and exciting. I enjoyed the narration very much, even enjoyed hearing some of the wording that is often used through out the Harry Potter books…. the accent brought me back.
I have to agree that Harry Potter fans will find a little dose of happiness in this book.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 13 hours and 42 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: October 6, 2015
- Hardcover: 528 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin (October 6, 2015)
Book Journey 
I really liked this book. I think it was supposed to be an HP parody but you’re right, it definitely jumped off to something all its own!
Have you read Fangirl? For me, my perspective on this book was very different having read it. The whole World of Mages thing is a Harry Potter stand-in in Fangirl, and the narrator writes Simon/Baz fan fiction (in case you haven’t read it). So with all that, and knowing that this is technically kinda like fan-fiction of a fictional Harry Potter stand-in just made the whole thing that much better for me. I definitely saw all the different Harry Potter characters reflected in the characters here, and felt like they were MEANT to be as close to identical as possible, while exploring very different themes. This ended up being one of my very favorites last year – no surprise, as Fangirl was one of my faves the year before!
I really loved this book, mainly due to the characters. I absolutely adored the relationship between Baz and Simon! I agree, it definitely wasn’t like Harry Potter at all but does make more sense having read it after Fangirl. Personally, I will read anything Rainbow Rowell writes! Great review 🙂
I love Rainbow Rowell but somehow haven’t read this yet. I need to rectify that soon!
I’m excited to read this since the excerpts of the Simon Snow fanfiction contained in Fangirl was a lot of fun.
Have you read any of her other books? Rainbow Rowell was in Cincinnati back in October for our Books by the Banks. The line to see her was impossibly long, and that was just to get a random number. The only let 200 people actually get to me her.