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natnurdock's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Vomit
mirandyli's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A cute, lighthearted, quick read that is very similar to Harry Potter, if Harry Potter was a chaotic bisexual who gets with a Draco Malfoy-esque vampire.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Abandonment, Blood, Animal death, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt
eenicem's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Kidnapping
Minor: Bullying and War
amy_in_the_city's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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 loved this book so much! And the audiobook had the best narration I've ever heard! The narrator did an amazing job making every character sound completely distinct. I'm glad they kept this narrator for the rest of the series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Bullying, Grief, and Violence
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
halaagmod's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Animal death, Death of parent, Death, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Homophobia, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
bree_h_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The only thing stopping me from really liking this book is that one of the main characters is an unapologetic bigot and this is never addressed or treated with the seriousness it should be.
SO, on to my more in-depth thoughts on the book. I thought the beginning was fairly strong. I really liked Simon’s POV and while the world-building could be a bit of an info dump, I didn’t fully mind it and thought Simon’s inner monologue made it rather funny. I thought Simon’s break from the traditional chosen one of selflessness and martyrdom was a nice change, I like that he wanted to be selfish and have his own life. I liked the women characters in the book for the most part, but it didn’t feel like the book could quite decide if being fem was a good thing or something to be shamed. The relationships felt realistic and I enjoyed getting into their dynamics. As for our other leading man, Baz, I thought his POV was hilarious. He’s so wildly dramatic is was fun to listen to. He’s funny and sarcastic, but more aware of his feelings and (mostly) how to handle them as opposed to Simon, which was a nice change. I thought the foreshadowing of the book was extremely well done and none of the twist were particularly dissatisfying and I thought every one made sense.
While the world building isn’t really something you can look at too hard, I don’t mind it, especially when it lends to interesting dynamics between characters and (sometimes) nuances in their world views and the conflicts happening. It made me wish the nuance could be carried into more things and when it wasn’t it fell short. A handful of things in the book were presented as shades of grey, but others were stark black and white with no variation in between and that felt like a bit of a let down.
Finally, there were a handful of more problematic things that made me dislike the book and kinda cemented for me that I wouldn’t be continuing the series, which is disappointing because I think the books have a lot of potential. To start with, Baz and his family are horribly bigoted and this is never addressed. It’s mentioned a few times, but this never gives Simon pause in making out with Baz nor does he bring it up as a sort of “hey this is a really shitty way of thinking and I want to see it change because I’m not going to date a bigot.” It’s largely swept under the rug by the end of the book unless Baz wants to angst about being a vampire. Furthermore on the topic of Simon and Baz’s relationship, I hated the way Simon’s sexuality was treated. Every character seems to drive home he HAS to either be straight or gay as if sexuality isn’t a spectrum and there aren’t other sexualities out there that he could be. As someone who themself is queer and is attracted to multiple genders, it was upsetting to read about these characters ignoring that and insisting Simon must be one or the other. Finally, there’s the book’s inconsistent treatment of femininity. It was strange to me the only opening feminine character was often depicted as a mean girl who did very little to help or care for her friends and it was never clear if Penny’s blatantly misogynistic views on felinity and women who want to be feminine were being supported by the author. Perhaps some of these are remedied in the later books, but they just left a sour taste in my mouth for the first one and have deterred me from continuing the series.
Overall, I think the book was just okay, but was held back by a handful of iffy writing decisions and the seeming pushing of some questionable views.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Racism, Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping
letiross'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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Homophobia
evelynyle_88'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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Homophobia and Suicidal thoughts
nonidude's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
I had high expectations, and unfortunately was less than obsessed. I think I'm just not a fan of Rainbow Rowell's writing both her style and choices.
First thing that made me actually upset? That I started this book and felt lost, like I was thrown into the middle of the the story with less than enough information to make sense. I had so many questions! At one point the book happened to flop open and I saw the Author's Note at the end of the book where it starts out, "If you've read my book Fan Girl, you know that Simon Snow began as a fictional character in that novel...." WHAT? I looked it up and it said they were independent of each other, but I wondered... Luckily I had that one in my TBR stack and so paused this reading to read that, and sure enough through the excerpts in that book, it shed light on some of the world of Simon Snow to help me not feel as lost which is frustrating since this is supposed to be an independent read.
I've heard this book described at Harry Potter but gay. Eh I see A LOT of similarities, but idk. I'd love to hear what someone who enjoyed the HP series thinks of this. Imo it's less scary than HP but the kids are ironically more normal (they kiss and cuss).
I was really confused with the romance. It seemed random and all of a sudden, but this is also a book that apparently had many books before it in this fictional series, so I'm sure you don't get the whole picture here.
It was a lot of nothing. The last 150 pages or so were probably my favorite.
Overall, not a bad book, but didn't leave me feeling WOW.
First thing that made me actually upset? That I started this book and felt lost, like I was thrown into the middle of the the story with less than enough information to make sense. I had so many questions! At one point the book happened to flop open and I saw the Author's Note at the end of the book where it starts out, "If you've read my book Fan Girl, you know that Simon Snow began as a fictional character in that novel...." WHAT? I looked it up and it said they were independent of each other, but I wondered... Luckily I had that one in my TBR stack and so paused this reading to read that, and sure enough through the excerpts in that book, it shed light on some of the world of Simon Snow to help me not feel as lost which is frustrating since this is supposed to be an independent read.
I've heard this book described at Harry Potter but gay. Eh I see A LOT of similarities, but idk. I'd love to hear what someone who enjoyed the HP series thinks of this. Imo it's less scary than HP but the kids are ironically more normal (they kiss and cuss).
I was really confused with the romance. It seemed random and all of a sudden, but this is also a book that apparently had many books before it in this fictional series, so I'm sure you don't get the whole picture here.
It was a lot of nothing. The last 150 pages or so were probably my favorite.
Overall, not a bad book, but didn't leave me feeling WOW.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Stalking
Moderate: Homophobia and War
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cursing, and Bullying
bornachoker's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
This was a cute read. I felt like the pacing was a little off, but I enjoyed the characters and the humorous tone. Also, is bisexuality not a concept in this book at all haha.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and War
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Biphobia and Eating disorder