Carry On

It took me months to pick up Carry On after it initially caught my eye on the bookshelf. It was everything I could have wanted.

It is a less problematic Harry Potter, if Harry and Draco ended up getting together. It shows a really authentic representation of unrequited queer love and recognizing one’s own queer identity. It is character-driven, but also full of fun magic adventure. I love a book that knows how to give you exactly what you want.

This series is like if Harry Potter was in his early twenties, with the story told through an LGBTQ lens.

Plenty of tension, arrogant man candy, with the main story being the fantasy element. It starts quick and doesn’t slow down throughout the entire series. I laughed, I swooned, and most importantly: I reread it because I loved it so much.

Carry On is the ultimate work of subversive literature. Not only does Rainbow Rowell brilliantly parody the most popular series of wizarding fiction ever written, but she turns it on its head. Simon is about the least likely ‘chosen one’ ever and Baz is an arch nemesis with some surprising secrets. This book takes everything you expect from the genre and makes it even better. It’s like fanfiction come to life with a story that steals your imagination, characters that stick with you forever, and lines that make your heart stall, dip, and pound in your chest. This beautiful piece… show more.

Carry On is my favorite take on the Chosen One trope yet, and the book that got me thinking about writing my own series with this trope. It handles magic and monsters with a beautiful weariness and mundanity: there’s nothing quite as compelling (or funny) as a jaded Chosen One. And it asks the questions that I keep coming back to in my own series: what is it that really makes a Chosen One, and more importantly, says who? The answer may never be easy, but it’s always interesting.

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

Despite how much the characters initially seem to dislike one another there is so much warmth in this story. Is hugging a book a thing? If so, hug this one. It hugs back.

Did you ever read the Harry Potter series and think, “This is really good, but man, I wish Harry and his friends were a bunch of incompetent delinquents?” If so, Rainbow Rowell’s Simon Snow trilogy may be for you. From the very first chapter of this first book, Rowell establishes Simon’s strong voice and his history of misdeeds and failures, reminding us that contemporary books need to jump right in and get moving. It also proves that your protagonists don’t have to be traditional heroes—or even really know what they’re doing. Plus, the novel is named after a Kansas song… show more.

What if the Chosen One fell in love with his nemesis? I’d curl up with any Rainbow Rowell book, but the chemistry between Simon and Baz is second to none. Baz is the kind of bad boy you can’t help but swoon for. This book takes a fan fiction trope and turns it into an epic love story with so much heart.

It’s gay Harry Potter—your favorite slash fic, but better. Rainbow Rowell has an incredible grasp on writing the believably angst-filled, enemies-to-lovers pairing with the backdrop of a magic school background and a clever magic system. This is the first of a trilogy (so far) and I’m dying for more. No other book has made me squee like a proper fangirl and run around the house in delight like this one. The three books incorporate stellar character growth and, although bisexuality takes a back seat to being the Chosen One, there’s no bi-baiting (it’s blatantly discussed later in the… show more.

I have to admit, I didn’t immediately fall in love with Rowell’s take on “the Chosen One” story, but after a few chapters I realized that Rowell writes tongue-in-cheek, winking at the reader who’s reread Harry Potter half a dozen times, acknowledging the tropes of the magical-school-Chosen-One subgenre while placing the relatable human experiences of her characters at the center of her novel. While the first book feels like a continuation of a series that doesn’t exist before Carry On, I had fun putting together the pieces of the past narrative. Simon Snow was plucked from foster care by… show more.