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jessjessthebest 's review for:
Carry On
by Rainbow Rowell
Well it's about goddamned time!
I was looking forward to this book coming out for months and then October came and went and I still hadn't read it.
Well, I was a little pre-occupied in October, if you remember, what with me being very invested in reading Magnus Chase and Life and Death. Not that that's an excuse! I just didn't feel like I could properly commit to this book.
And I was sort of right, because I've been book-dry for a while which means this one was like FWOOOOM!(That's the sound of a tidal wave in case you didn't catch it)
ANYWAY
To start, let's mention all of the little in-jokes in the book. Putting aside the fact that it's Drarry fanfic without being Drarry fanfic, it is absurdly rife with clever references and sly jokes that I was half laughing/half rolling my eyes every page.
This girl that happens to be a pixie gets a little manic? Manic Pixie Girl.
Rainbow, pls.
Saying straight up, to a vampire, 'I know what you are'? Twilight reference.
Rainbow, pls.
"There were even werewolve attacks back then - in London proper, can you imagine?"
AWOOOO Werewolves of London!
Rainbow, pls.
And having a concielment spell be 'These are not the droids you're looking for'?
Like, Jesus Christ, Rainbow.
But even beyond all that, or maybe because of it, the book just reads extraordinarily like fanfiction.
I read a lot - a lot - of fanfiction, and over time, you pick up the differences between fan works and independent works. Or whatever. It's really subtle and I don't think there's any one, two, or even a dozen things that I could pick out that would make me say 'aw yes, this is fanfiction' as opposed to something that wasn't. It's just a thing, you know?
Like I've read Rainbow Rowell's books. She did something different here. It's not like this story lacks nuance or that it's so much different than anything else she's written, because even if it is different, it's not lacking in nuance. And fanfiction can be TOTALLY nuanced, like I could give you some recs...
Anyway.
It's not anything she did wrong: on the contrary! I think she did something amazing.
IT READS LIKE DRARRY FANFICTION! Like change everything about Hogwarts and Harry and friends -but change it JUST A LITTLE- and you have this. Which was the point, right? Simon Snow was the Harry Potter of Fangirl, and Simon/Baz the Draco/Harry. And it TOTALLY WORKS. It's brilliant. She's totally pulling this off and I am amazed yet completely unsurprised because Rainbow Rowell is a goddess among us and I bow before her.
And even though I've resigned myself to totally being Rainbow's bitch foreveragain, goddamn these authors, I can still be amused/exasperated by the amount of title drops she managed throughout the book. All in wildly different contexts. Most amusing, though, is the last spiffing line of the book. "Carry on, Simon."
Like, Rainbow, how could you?
Wildly entertaining, absolutely squee inducing, it is 8am and I haven't slept(I'll let everyone take a moment to compose an artificial look of surprise) and yet the next thing I'm doing is looking for fan art of those two stupid boys because I love them and am never letting them go.
Goddammit.
I was looking forward to this book coming out for months and then October came and went and I still hadn't read it.
Well, I was a little pre-occupied in October, if you remember, what with me being very invested in reading Magnus Chase and Life and Death. Not that that's an excuse! I just didn't feel like I could properly commit to this book.
And I was sort of right, because I've been book-dry for a while which means this one was like FWOOOOM!
ANYWAY
To start, let's mention all of the little in-jokes in the book. Putting aside the fact that it's Drarry fanfic without being Drarry fanfic, it is absurdly rife with clever references and sly jokes that I was half laughing/half rolling my eyes every page.
This girl that happens to be a pixie gets a little manic? Manic Pixie Girl.
Rainbow, pls.
Saying straight up, to a vampire, 'I know what you are'? Twilight reference.
Rainbow, pls.
"There were even werewolve attacks back then - in London proper, can you imagine?"
AWOOOO Werewolves of London!
Rainbow, pls.
And having a concielment spell be 'These are not the droids you're looking for'?
Like, Jesus Christ, Rainbow.
But even beyond all that, or maybe because of it, the book just reads extraordinarily like fanfiction.
I read a lot - a lot - of fanfiction, and over time, you pick up the differences between fan works and independent works. Or whatever. It's really subtle and I don't think there's any one, two, or even a dozen things that I could pick out that would make me say 'aw yes, this is fanfiction' as opposed to something that wasn't. It's just a thing, you know?
Like I've read Rainbow Rowell's books. She did something different here. It's not like this story lacks nuance or that it's so much different than anything else she's written, because even if it is different, it's not lacking in nuance. And fanfiction can be TOTALLY nuanced, like I could give you some recs...
Anyway.
It's not anything she did wrong: on the contrary! I think she did something amazing.
IT READS LIKE DRARRY FANFICTION! Like change everything about Hogwarts and Harry and friends -but change it JUST A LITTLE- and you have this. Which was the point, right? Simon Snow was the Harry Potter of Fangirl, and Simon/Baz the Draco/Harry. And it TOTALLY WORKS. It's brilliant. She's totally pulling this off and I am amazed yet completely unsurprised because Rainbow Rowell is a goddess among us and I bow before her.
And even though I've resigned myself to totally being Rainbow's bitch forever
Like, Rainbow, how could you?
Wildly entertaining, absolutely squee inducing, it is 8am and I haven't slept
Goddammit.