A review by troystory
Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

emotional funny hopeful inspiring slow-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

5.0

[RE-READ EDIT]
All I have to say is, I knew exactly how this book ends -- since I just read it a week ago -- but I still cried when I finished it today. It does such a wonderful job of wrapping up the trilogy -- our "Simon Snow chapter" is over, and now he and the other characters really do get to begin the rest of their lives.

[ORIGINAL REVIEW]

Holy. Shit. I'm-- wow, I'm so emotional about this book. Which is reasonable, I think, considering I just finished it like ten minutes ago. 

The first thing I should say is, I binged all almost-600 pages of this in one day, and it's been a while since I've felt like I really couldn't put a book down. Every few hours I thought, I should probably do something else, it's getting uncomfortable to sit like this, but I was never able to find the desire to leave. I kept needing to read. It was worth it, though, so I'm not complaining. 

I fell in love with this world and the characters for the second time around when I picked up Carry On again. I thought, I can't judge whether this book is a good finale if I don't remember the previous books enough. And I'm so glad I did read Carry On and Wayward Son first, because I think I wouldn't have appreciated this story otherwise.

Any Way the Wind Blows is so, so good. I absolutely adore it; there's nothing I didn't enjoy, nothing that irked me. The characters all had such wonderful arcs, the plot was interesting (and so realistic!), the ending was satisfying. I almost cried when I finished it, because I can't yet bear saying goodbye to these characters. Please, Rainbow Rowell, I'm begging you, write more for them. It doesn't have to be a full-length novel! Just, like, a novella!

I especially adored Simon and Baz in this. They were a little rocky in the beginning, and that made me so sad that I almost cried then too, but then things got better, and it was amazing. I was grinning all the time. The softness was good, the tension was good (y'all know what I'm talking about), their entire dynamic was spot-on. Shoutout to their Ikea date, I love you. 

I've always thought I couldn't get behind canon ships because they were boring and they didn't carry as much weight and depth as non-canon ships, in my experience. This trilogy has proved me wrong. I should find more canon ships I love, because it's such a delight to get to read their interactions in the literal book. 

The point is, I'm too emotional currently to fully process and be able to write about why I love this book so much. But I just do. I love it so much. I flew through it. It makes me so happy. I'm already looking forward to re-reading it, because this is a book that demands it.