A review by marciafelis
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Someone recommended this book to me as (in short) "Harry Potter but better", and it did not disappoint. I love the way magic works in this book, and the characters were vibrant and most of them were very relatable. As some other reviewers have pointed out, the story does feel like very elaborate (and well-written) fanfiction at times. For me, that's more of a feature than a bug, but some people might be a bit exasperated by the tropes employed.

One minor gripe is that apparently none of the characters know bisexuality is a thing. It would be fine if it was just that
Simon
hasn't thought of it (with emphasis on how
he
often "doesn't think") or doesn't want to define
him
self/use that label (yet), but someone (at the very least
the psychologist Simon starts seeing in the epilogue
) could have brought it up. I'll see how it's going to turn out in the next book, though, as I'm going to Carry On reading!
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