Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

Title: Carry On
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2015 (Hardcover)
Length: 517 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Adult; Fantasy
Started: June 29, 2017
Finished: July 9, 2017

Summary:
From the inside cover:

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.

Review:
If you've read this author's novels, particularly Fangirl, you will immediately recognize the characters from Carry On. This is  the Harry Potter-esque story and universe mentioned in Fangirl that the main character writes fanfiction about; Carry On is the author's take on her own invented universe mentioned in another work, a story within a story (let your brain tackle that for a second). You don't need to have read Fangirl first to understand what's going on in this novel, I only mention it because I do think one needs details and background to understand the context in which a book was written.

Carry On follows protagonist Harry Potter Simon Snow to Watford for his final year of magical studies. After events a few months prior, which involved Simon and friend Penny almost being destroyed by the Insidious Humdrum, Simon is glad to be back to normal...well, as normal as its gets being the Chosen One in the middle of a war in the World of Mages. But things just aren't the same without his (rumoured) vampire roommate and arch enemy Baz around, and with everything else going poorly for him, Simon just can't seem to catch a break.

First off, yes this is a thinly-veiled Harry Potter-esque story, and some people won't be able to get past that. The novel relies on the reader knowing details of the Harry Potter novels, however, in order to do what it does best: take fantasy tropes and turn them on its head. Though Simon is the Chosen One and is a magical powerhouse, he can't properly control his magic at all. Rather than being revered, he's actually pretty isolated outside of his small circle of friends. His mentor, the Mage, doesn't act like the father figure that mentors are supposed to emulate. His nemesis, Baz, is more than what meets the eye. The war and its opposing factions (and even the Humdrum itself) aren't as clear cut either. Though the Harry Potter series did get past pure tropes and into some more depth in its latter instalments, we can all agree that there are a lot of fantasy properties that are guilty of this; even Harry Potter was at the beginning, there's a reason why we study the first Harry Potter novel as an example of the Hero's Journey in grade 9 English.

In addition to being a parody of the "Chosen One" narrative, this novel is impressive for including an LGBT romance (spoiler-not-really-a-spoiler, Simon and Baz end up together). The two are adorable, and the alternating points of view that the author employs make for some very amusing scenes where we see what Simon and Baz are thinking nearly simultaneously. Baz was very well-developed and my favourite character second to the Mage (even though we learn more about him from other characters and their narration than from his own since he's absent for a good chunk of the book). I also enjoyed how magic worked in this book: rather than spells said in Latin (or languages that sound a heck of a lot like Latin), spells are made by saying a set of words or a phrase with conviction, so many of the ones that Simon and his friends use are actually sayings or a turn of phrase from popular culture, such as a concealing spell made using the words, "These aren't the droids you're looking for." (I laughed at so many of these).

Recommendation:
You should give this a read, if not for the positive LGBT portrayal or turning the "Chosen One" portrayal on its head, then give it a read just for the Harry Potter-esque parts....think of it like an alternative universe.

Thoughts on the cover:
The image above was from the hardcover version, but I have to say I much prefer the paperback version shown below:

I mean, come on, how can you not like this one better, it's pretty drool-worthy (does the cover image then technically count as fan art?)