Review
Simon is depressed. His and Baz’s relationship isn’t great. Penny decides they need a change of scenery, hence a road trip. That road trip causes multiple problems, and when they run into a Normal who seems to know more about magic than what is good for him, things go topsy turvy.
Everything is a story, and Simon Snow’s is over.
I absolutely, definitely cannot do this book justice. Carry On got me through a tough time. And I am ridiculously in love with that book. I worried that I wouldn’t love the sequel as much. But honest to god, the sequel was just as good as the first but in different ways. I could spend hours screaming over this book. This book has made me so happy on so many levels. It was the perfect pick me up. It was honestly so good that it was ridiculous. I mean, Simon? Baz? Penny? ALL PERFECT. Plus, we have a fun new character as well.
I guess I should get to the nitty gritty of this book about why this is getting a five star rating from me. There are a few reasons why, and that is partly because of the relationships in this book and the absolute hilarity that it is. None of this should work. It really shouldn’t. I mean, the book sort of has a plot? But? Not until the end? It really shouldn’t work, but somehow because of how the book itself is framed it does. This is essentially “what happens after the end of the big battle”.
The plot starts off as a road trip. And this road trip is hilarious. I was laughing for a good 90% of the road trip scenes, especially the banter. Rowell has always been so good at doing banter. And the banter in this book was perfect. I loved every minute of it. And then when we get to the more serious aspects of the plot it really gets going and you’re going oh my god, how is this going to end in twenty pages? Yep. I was clinging to the book for dear life the last fifty or so pages. I was certainly caught up in the plot.
Also the characters? Still as loveable, if not a bit different than before. In many ways, this book was so well done because it delved into Simon and Baz’s relationship, and showed the imperfections. I loved that portion. Because sometimes after characters get together it falters, and when random adversaries to the relationship are thrown in, it seems horrible. But it worked in this book. But perhaps that is because we got to see multiple POVs.
And that is something that would normally bother me. We were spinning through, Simon, Baz, Penny, Agatha and Shep’s POVs in this book. It could have been dizzying, but it all seemed to flow seamlessly together. I always loved Simon, Baz and Penny. I loved them even more in this book. And I even really began to enjoy Agatha’s character as well. Plus, Shep was a fun new character.
Of course, Rowell’s writing was engaging as always. I was thrilled with it every minute. She has a way of making you love the characters so much.
This was an absolutely fantastic read and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a light hearted, a fun, a silly read. But it is fabulous.