Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Carry On

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

64 reviews

tomoshiekah's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Was a fast read for me & for the page count. It won't be a favourite of mine, and I don't like that Simon (and also Baz) apparently doesn't know that being bi is an option. But it felt like percy jackson but more (queer) romance to me :)

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eenicem's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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

4.0

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katievallin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

So good! Normally I find multi POVs to be a bit tiring, but I liked the pacing and short sections in this book. I liked the characters and romance and friendships.

It felt a bit like Harry Potter, but like if Harry and Draco got together.

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halaagmod's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-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

3.25

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reinik's review against another edition

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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

5.0

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blewballoon's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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

4.0

If you liked Harry Potter (especially if you liked Harry/Draco fanfic) you will probably really enjoy this. You've got a UK magical school, a "chosen one" who is more impulse than strategy, a best friend who is a super competent and intelligent girl, a rival who's family is elitist about bloodlines, a headmaster with dubious intent towards the "chosen one," and an animal-loving figure who lives on the grounds of the magic school who treats the "chosen one" like family. The main characters are older and more diverse, the magic system works differently, and there is some great humor along with the action and drama. (For anyone who has had Harry Potter soured for them after J. K. Rowling's words and actions in recent years, this may be a nice alternative that scratches the itch for a similar story and world.)

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letiross's review against another edition

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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

3.75

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crufts's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.75

18-year-old Simon Snow is a student in his final year at Watford, a school for British teens with magical abilities. But Simon isn't just anyone; he's the Chosen One of the magical world, singled out by a prophecy to defeat the evil and mysterious Insidious Humdrum.

For seven years, Simon has battled the Humdrum and its legions of dangerous monsters, while reluctantly sharing a dorm room with his nemesis Baz (Basilton Pitch). But this year, something's wrong. The Humdrum's reach is spreading further and further, and Baz has gone missing. Can Simon live up to the prophecies, find Baz, and stop the Humdrum before it's too late?

For context, Carry On is the epic-length fanfiction written by the protagonist of another book by Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl. The protagonist of Fangirl (Cath) writes Carry On as her imagined final volume to the end of the "real" Simon Snow series, which at the time was unfinished. I mention this to explain why Carry On jumps straight into Simon's final year at school.

The opening chapters of Carry On are rather slow-paced, as Simon spends a lot of time reflecting on his past seven years of schooling, effectively giving the reader the necessary exposition to bring them up to speed.

This was helpful to establish that despite some parallels drawn during Fangirl, the magical worldbuilding and character dynamics are significantly different to that of the Harry Potter series. Simon is not really a Harry Potter analogue at all; he's more of a generic Chosen One analogue who just happens to go to a magic school, as clarified in the author's closing notes.
This was refreshing and interesting. Without going into spoilers, characters like the Best Friend, the Girlfriend, the Wise Mentor Figure, and the Big Bad were all significantly different and created different dynamics to the Harry Potter series.

The other distinguishing quality was the use of first-person point-of-view, with the POV switching between many different characters. At times I found these rapid back-and-forth switches a tad disorienting. However, it was also intriguing to see the inner thoughts of the characters, and it made characters like

Agatha

more sympathetic.

By the 25% mark of the book, the inciting incident had been planted and I was keen to see how the rest of the story would turn out. I was enjoying watching the characters interact and seeing the magic system play out, and generally having fun following the progression of the mystery.

Some parts of the text were a little bulky, with a lot of navel-gazing and extraneous detail. Fortunately, if you read through these parts without paying close attention, you won't miss anything important. All points in the book that are actually important have attention clearly drawn to them.

Much of this bulky text was the exposition of the seven-year backstory. I couldn't help but feel that something was lost by jumping straight into this "final book" (well, the final fanfiction) of the Simon Snow series. To ensure that events made sense, the author had to frequently call back to events that would have happened in the "previous books". This was a little frustrating, but given that this is supposed to be Cath's "final book" fanfiction, I'm not sure how else it could be done.

On that note, I didn't notice much of Cath's influence on the writing. I was expecting to see some kind of hint that this was a story written by Cath, specifically, containing all the elements that she would want in a fanfiction.
But the text reads like it was written by a neutral, professional third party. And apart from the

Simon/Baz

relationship, there didn't seem to be any overt author appeal in the way that fanfictions often have. Arguably, this was a necessary stylistic choice to make the book palatable to people who haven't read Fangirl.

The ending of the novel was dramatic, exciting, and made logical sense. There was plenty of character development in supporting characters like

Agatha and Baz

, which was great.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel and would recommend it as an entertaining take on the Chosen One trope.

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