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helalost's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal death, and Blood
Moderate: Gun violence and Kidnapping
ajsterkel's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I highly recommend this series because it's hilarious.
Simon Snow is a parody of the fantasy genre that follows a group of friends who have recently graduated (or dropped out) of wizard school. In this book, they decide to go on a road trip across the US because they need a vacation from constantly saving the wizarding world. Of course nothing on the trip goes as planned.
This series is brilliant because of how average the characters are. They're normal people in their early 20s who just happen to be wizards. They mess up their relationships and make impulsive decisions. They're insecure. They're not very good at saving each other from danger. It's a refreshing take on the genre. These characters aren't heroes. They're just kids with magic. And dragon wings.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Gun violence, and Death
ameliaj_adams's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I loved this book! It does an excellent job of building on the characters and world from the previous book, and the adventure is just so much fun!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal death, Blood, and Gun violence
frannyd's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury
emilyg0663's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book is dark! Be prepared to be at the edge of your seat the whole time, and be desperate for the third book afterwards.
Wayward Son shows Simon, Baz and Penelope in a new light, and a completely different world! If the first book, Simon and Penelope have magic and can hold their own in a fight, Baz too. But here, they are completely unmatched but extremely lucky!! Every situation, every fight, they are either completely defeated or won but beaten up to exhaustion. They are broken and depressed and dragging their feet as they travel through this book, which made me feel helpless. Even the finale was crazy because they completely got lucked out with the Talkers just randomly showing up. It wasn’t completely random as it’s all Agatha was talking about in the book, but damn! They are all bleeding and in pain at the end, which doesn’t make it feel like a victory at all!!
This makes me extremely nervous for the characters, as they are not good heroes anymore. They can’t do anything right, and even Penelope has no plan which is completely a left field! I actually don’t feel as strongly attached to the characters anymore compared with the first book. <Spoilers> Penelope is an arrogant ‘know it all’ who actually is just a child who knows nothing, Simon is a broken human who has lost his reason for life but is brash and jumps into trouble every second he can. I was absolutely furious with Simon for this, wanted to smack him and tell him ‘sit down!’ And Baz did the most growth as to finding about more about himself, but he’d tided down to my most hated troupe; strained relationships over miscommunication……..
Other thing that stressed me out was the fact that every group hates eachother for biases that they created. Everyone is doing wrong things and blaming the other groups for their misfortunes. It made me realised that there is no good guy in these books, that I don’t root for the vampires, the mages orange creatures. I don’t even root for Simon!
I can’t wait for book 3
Wayward Son shows Simon, Baz and Penelope in a new light, and a completely different world! If the first book, Simon and Penelope have magic and can hold their own in a fight, Baz too. But here, they are completely unmatched but extremely lucky!! Every situation, every fight, they are either completely defeated or won but beaten up to exhaustion. They are broken and depressed and dragging their feet as they travel through this book, which made me feel helpless.
This makes me extremely nervous for the characters, as they are not good heroes anymore. They can’t do anything right, and even Penelope has no plan which is completely a left field! I actually don’t feel as strongly attached to the characters anymore compared with the first book. <Spoilers> Penelope is an arrogant ‘know it all’ who actually is just a child who knows nothing, Simon is a broken human who has lost his reason for life but is brash and jumps into trouble every second he can. I was absolutely furious with Simon for this, wanted to smack him and tell him ‘sit down!’ And Baz did the most growth as to finding about more about himself, but he’d tided down to my most hated troupe; strained relationships over miscommunication……..
Other thing that stressed me out was the fact that every group hates eachother for biases that they created. Everyone is doing wrong things and blaming the other groups for their misfortunes. It made me realised that there is no good guy in these books, that I don’t root for the vampires, the mages orange creatures. I don’t even root for Simon!
I can’t wait for book 3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, War, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Classism, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Minor: Kidnapping
francestea's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Great second books are few, and this one makes a valiant effort. I really enjoyed catching up with our characters again. The plot is pushed forward by a road trip which I often find a little boring (and then this happened, and then this happened, etc.), but Wayward Son was pretty good. Simon is a lot like Harry Potter in book 5- angsty/traumatized - but Baz, Penelope, and their new buddy Shepard more than make up for it. Definitely worth a read if you enjoyed the first.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Kidnapping
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Gun violence
vaguely_pink's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Blood, Cursing, and Gun violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Abandonment, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, Infidelity, Alcohol, Biphobia, Fatphobia, and Vomit
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcohol, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Cursing
dillybar20's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
(Copied and pasted from my Goodreads review)
Excellent book! I only have 3 thoughts.
#1 I know America is a dangerous place but the hits never really stopped coming there was no down time and I would have like to see Baz and Simon with some time to spare mostly to talk. The only time they really had to do that was in the back of the truck and it was too windy.
#2 Penelope never learned her lesson to value other people's opinions. It was a whole book with no character development which is fine for Baz and Simon as there is a much bigger reason behind it that might take another book to sort out but Penny really should have grown up here. Will she ever develop as a person? Or is she going to be stuck in high school forever, wardrobe colours and all?
#3 Penny is a very organized person I do not believe that she never plotted out their itinerary on a map first. I know she's from England and it's very small but she plans too much to make a mistake like she did. It's unbelievable.
Excellent book! I only have 3 thoughts.
#1 I know America is a dangerous place but the hits never really stopped coming there was no down time and I would have like to see Baz and Simon with some time to spare mostly to talk. The only time they really had to do that was in the back of the truck and it was too windy.
#2 Penelope never learned her lesson to value other people's opinions. It was a whole book with no character development which is fine for Baz and Simon as there is a much bigger reason behind it that might take another book to sort out but Penny really should have grown up here. Will she ever develop as a person? Or is she going to be stuck in high school forever, wardrobe colours and all?
#3 Penny is a very organized person I do not believe that she never plotted out their itinerary on a map first. I know she's from England and it's very small but she plans too much to make a mistake like she did. It's unbelievable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Homophobia
kirsten_marie's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
I have mixed feelings about this one. I am not sure it was what I had expected after reading the blurb.
The thing I am sure of is that I enjoyed the sequel slightly more than Carry On. I think that is because of the faster pacing and the more varied scenery of the american desert, lousy motels and sin's city itself.
I found it intrigueing, but I missed more of what was promised in the blurb about Baz and Simon figureing out their relationship and themselves. Other than that, the characters just felt kind of distant from each other and there were scenes wich didn't seem necessary to the plot. I also didn't feel like I got as much out of the ending as I hoped for while reading.
The thing I am sure of is that I enjoyed the sequel slightly more than Carry On. I think that is because of the faster pacing and the more varied scenery of the american desert, lousy motels and sin's city itself.
I found it intrigueing, but I missed more of what was promised in the blurb about Baz and Simon figureing out their relationship and themselves. Other than that, the characters just felt kind of distant from each other and there were scenes wich didn't seem necessary to the plot. I also didn't feel like I got as much out of the ending as I hoped for while reading.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail