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

adventurous emotional funny medium-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

4.0

I loved the first book, and was disappointed by the second book. This book was very much in the middle! Went into this with lower expectations because of my experience with the second book, and I think that really helped me enjoy it. 

Some thoughts:

Happy with where Simon and Baz landed. Will put this into spoiler brackets, just in case someone wants to go into this completely cold.
I appreciated that Simon and Baz don't stay mad at each other for long. I actually really appreciated that the book broke them up and then got them back together quickly, within the space of only a few chapters. We didn't linger in the heartbreak for too long, nor was it over too quickly. I appreciated that they didn't go from rocky to perfect in the space of a heartbeat, and that a big part of their resolution is their promising to always <i>try</i> with one another. I think that realistically and honestly speaks to what relationships in your 20s look like, and was a great change from the usual path of YA relationships. Found some of their more explicit scenes to be cringe-y, just in how they were written, but overall content.
 

One of my biggest complaints with book 2 was Penny. I found her absolutely unbearable. She demonstrated a lot of growth in this book, which was appreciated. 

Shepard continues to be the best. Loved his characterization in this book. And the conclusion of his demon curse arc was really clever and honestly quite fun. 

The plot? I don't know her. There wasn't much of one in this book, and what little there was completely ignored what had been built up in book 2. A legitimate line in this book was something along the lines of "there are too many problems in the world that we can't solve, so whatever happens in America is irrelevant to us and we should only focus on England". This would be fine, if an entire book hadn't just taken place in America, AND if there weren't clear ways in which the plot of Wayward Son could have tied to the plot of AWTWB. I spent most of the book seeing those connections and thinking "yes, this is the moment when the NowNext connects to the Chosen Ones!" and then....nope. Again, the plot of book 2 is basically canonically thrown out in this book. Seemed like a waste.

There were plenty of threads that could have been tied together, but nothing was every connected.
The Watford Goats as the harbingers of the end of Watford; The Chosen One cult; Shepard's pact with a demon; Simon's family....4 entirely separate plotlines that had plenty of opportunity to be tied together but were left instead to languish on their own.
It made the ending of this book feel empty and hollow. The climax happened with (in the audiobook version) 2 hrs left in the book....and then it was just sort of limping along to the finish. For the ending of a series, it went out with a feeble noise instead of the triumphant, thunderous roar one might expect, especially after the second book set up so much internal and interpersonal conflict. 

Overall, this really did balance the scales of the series for me. I'm glad I read it, and glad for the resolution it brought to the characters and their relationships.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings