Book Review: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

At the end of 2015, I finally got around to reading Fangirl and it very quickly turned into one of my all-time favorite books. The characters and writing is just amazing. Plus everything about the main character Cath is so relatable, especially the love she has for her fandom: Simon Snow. I was really intrigued by the short inserts of Cath's fan-fiction we got throughout the book and wanted to read more. Which is exactly what got me to buy Carry On and dig into it as soon as I could. I had heard a few mixed reviews about the book, but I always figure that everyone's taste is different and I wanted to give it a go anyway

What I loved

 Being a Harry Potter-like story I found the whole plot to be really comfortable and easy to get into. The castle that becomes home, magic everywhere, even breakfast in a great hall, it brings back that feeling of being at Hogwarts. It wasn't a push to understand a magical world, yet it's different enough from Harry Potter to be interesting.

The writing is quite fun and playful with Simon stopping to make little remarks every now and again. I also loved the separate chapters for the different characters and to see their view of Simon. It's like if we got to read Harry Potter from Hermione and Ron's perspective (how cool would that have been!?)

It really does have that fanfiction feel to it, where the characters can swear and say what they want. The chapters can feel a bit pieced together, but it makes sense when you remember that Cath is writing it a chapter a time.

Baz was by far my favorite character. He's sarcastic, confident, and even though he has his issues, I still love how he handles situations. Him and Simon make such a great duo, and the team meeting scenes with Penny are always chatty and hilarious with their three strong personalities.

What I didn't like so much 

 One of the only things I didn't like was that Simon was a pretty whiny guy at the start. He complained about A LOT which got annoying, but when Penny called him out on it a few times, I knew it wasn't just me. Some of his comebacks are quite funny, so he grew on me by the first half of the book. He got better in the second half as things got more serious and the different relationships changed. I can see how some people might find him annoying, but he made up for it in the end.

Agatha wasn't a character I particularly enjoyed, to be honest. She's kinda like the Lavender Brown from Harry Potter in this story. In saying that, even she questioned her place in Simon's story a few times (I always appreciate breaking the fourth wall.) She did make me like and appreciate the other characters a lot more for their humor and courage. I feel like that was her role all along.



 I definitely got  more addicted to this book as I got further through it. The characters really grow on you and I really wish we had the actual books to this series. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind reading another fantasy series like Harry Potter!

I would give it 3 & 1/2 stars out of 5.
It's definitely worth reading if you loved Fangirl and want a bit of light fantasy to read. I'm really glad that I picked it up and I'm really excited to go back and re-read Fangirl and understand more about the Simon Snow series that Cath always talks about in the book. I feel like I know the characters a lot more now, so it would be fun to see how my opinion matches hers.


Have you read Fangirl or Carry On? What did you think?
Steph x.