Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Carry On
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Macmillan
Pages: 522
Format: hardback
Source: bought

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

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters.

When Rainbow Rowell announced the release of Carry On I, and a million other book bloggers and bookworms, knew that we had to have it. If any of you have read my previous posts, you'll know that I'm a massive Fangirl fangirl. So to say that I liked this book even better than Fangirl, is saying something. 

I have read 3 of 5 of Rainbow's novels, and from what I can tell, this is unlike anything else she has ever written. Normally her books are more contemporary, and focus on real life. But this one is full of magic... but has just as much romance.

In Rainbow Rowell's book Fangirl, the main character, Cath, writes a lot of fan fiction. Like, A LOT. And they're all about her favourite book series, Simon Snow by Gemma T. Leslie; think Harry Potter. Her most popular fan fiction is Carry On... which is this book.

I love everything about this book. I love the gorgeous cover, with Simon and Baz and Watford on it, I love Rainbow Rowell's style of writing, I love the Harry Potter-like theme, I love the magic and the adventure and the suspense, and I love the romance. I think my biggest complaint would be that the romance doesn't come in until halfway through the book and SPOILER how Simon didn't realise that he loved Baz until later in the book. SPOILER

This book is the first fantasy book that has managed to sneak it's way onto the list of my top 5 favourite books. In fact, this is my second favourite book of all time. Rainbow Rowell has a style of writing that I love. She hooks the reader in, and leaves you thinking about the book long after you've finished it.

Carry On is a book that I'm going to recommend for everyone to read. It's got literally everything in it; vampires, magic, romance, mystery, adventure. I can't imagine how someone couldn't like this. This is a must read for anyone who wanted to find out more about Simon and Baz who we learnt a bit about in Fangirl.

It's an awesome, awesome book, and I can't rave about it enough. I give it a perfect 5 stars, because it's just that good.

★★★★★