Title: Carry On
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Pages: 517
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5
Blurb: 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.
“He smiles, and he's made of trouble.”
Carry On has been my most anticipated book of 2015 ever since it was first announced. And that's a lot of mental hype for a book to live up to. But somehow this not only met my expectations it exceeded them. Carry On is easily my favourite book of the year so far - and I highly doubt it will be knocked off that spot any time soon.
The world of Carry On does have some similarities to Harry Potter, at least to start with. There were some things that read like references to the Harry Potter series that had me laughing. However this is by no means a copy or in any way unoriginal. The book starts at Watford (the magical school) but the action begins to move around about halfway through and I really liked what I saw of the world.
All the characters were amazing. I loved Simon a lot and his sections were always great to read from but I think I loved Baz the most. He was so interesting and sweet but dark and I loved his interactions with Simon from the quarrelsome at the beginning to the not-so-quarrelsome at the end. There relationship was wonderful and I loved every second of it. I also really liked Penny, her interactions with both Simon and Baz were great. She had such a great friendship with Simon and I loved that, despite her distrust of Baz, she never treated him as less than human. Agatha was a little difficult to like although always fairly entertaining! She reminded me a little of Catherine from Northanger Abbey - she had such a belief in herself being a heroine of a novel except she was the kind who looked dramatic on walkways in a floaty dress and ran screaming at the first sign of trouble!
The mystery wasn't the most difficult to solve, but it was definitely engaging and I loved reading and waiting for the characters to find out. Having the perspectives of Lucy and The Mage were quite interesting because they didn't give too much information away too soon but still didn't read as awkward or cagey.
I really liked the ending but I so wish this was a series, if only because I adore these characters and this world and Rainbow Rowell's writing and I just don't want it to end. Five minutes after finishing this book I was so ready to pick it up and start all over again (the only thing stopping me was my towering TBR pile). It put me into a book hangover of a sort I haven't had in a really long time. Believe me when I say that I definitely recommend Carry On.
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