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A review by ellariawrites
Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
She held on until he found his way home
Now for the actual review (mild spoilers below)
This book was like mana from heaven. It wasn’t perfect but I loved every moment of it. I laughed, I felt stressed, I worried, I celebrated. I cleared my schedule just to focus on reading it and I wasn’t disappointed.
There are a few things I wish the book went into more, like actually seeing Simon process, well, everything. He changed, yes, and some things became easier for him to deal with. But I don’t feel like we really got to see him actually deal with his grief and trauma and him losing his sense of purpose (I’m not even sure he reached that conclusion himself, that a lot of what he’s feeling comes from the fact that he lost all sense of purpose). It never felt throughout the whole series that anyone took the time to fully understand how Simon was feeling after what happened with the Mage. I was really hoping we got to unpack that with him but we barely ever touched the surface. Everything between him and Baz was wonderful (though those boys would benefit a lot from couple’s therapy…and individual therapy), but there’s more to Simon than just Baz, and I wish we got to see him heal, really heal, instead of it being something that’s assumed to happen off the pages eventually.
Which leads into my next point, why was the one year later epilogue a half a page look at Agatha? I was hoping we could see what Penny and Shepard got up to (I loved them in this), how Simon and Baz were doing (especially since their final scene was rather heavy), but it was just Agatha. I like Agatha (she never quite felt integral to the story to me but I liked her well enough), I liked how her story ended, but I wanted to see how things were going for everyone else too.
There is something that didn’t sit well with me that happened very early in the story. As Shepherd and Penny are going to her house, she warns him that her mom won’t like him. Shepherd (who is Black) asks if she’s racist. Penny says no of course not and that she (Penny) is biracial. Here’s the thing, that’s not how racism works. Penny is half white and half Indian, none of that excludes her or her parents from being racist towards Shepherd, a Black person. It was a very unnecessary line. And it’s just…one of those ways you know all the eyes that fell on this book before it was released were anything other than Black. Anyway, I needed to rant about that.
All in all, it was a wonderful end to one of my all time favorite book series. I love Simon and Baz and I am truly heartbroken to say goodbye to them, but what a beautiful and tender goodbye it was.
Edit: I’ve thought more about the book and I have some additional thoughts.
1. I’ve been waiting so long for Simon to learn about his parents and when it finally happens, it’s rushed and not given nearly as much weight as it deserved. Simon had been dealing with the reality that he killed the Mage for nearly two years, then he finds out the Mage is his actual father and then…nothing. I wished the book addressed that so much earlier and we could sit with Simon and watch him process his extremely complicated grief. And not just that, he’s been an orphan his whole life and he’s finally found his family. Why couldn’t we get scenes of him sitting with his grandmother and uncle and getting to learn about his mother? He could’ve learned that it was her who called him her rosebud boy. But we don’t get any of that. I wish we got to see that.
2. Why couldn’t Simon process his grief? He doesn’t process any grief or trauma in this book, the final book to wrap everything up, and we don’t get that. I think I’m actually angry about this. I don’t feel like Simon ends the story in a better place. He is just as lost as before. He’s in just as much pain at the start of the story. He deserve to heal so why couldn’t he get that?
3. I truly have no idea what’s going on with his magic. It would’ve been wonderful for him to get it back but he doesn’t. And it would’ve been great if he fully came to peace with never having it, except he doesn’t really? Now he’s just impervious to magic. Which doesn’t resolve anything?
3.5. Is he going to keep his wings? We don’t get any definitive answers on that.
4. Simon and Baz could barely look at each other in Wayward Son. Now in this book, we actually get to see them be intimate and explore their relationship. But they don’t. I mean, they kind do, but then you realize everything happens over two weeks and that doesn’t leave me as reassured as the final book in a trilogy should. They have these strange sex scenes. I have to say, it was honestly pretty jarring (and confusing) to read. I think it’s important to have sex positive stories in YA books, but I don’t recall anyone begging for SnowBaz sex scenes. I certainly wasn’t. Simon clearly does not want to be touched, so why did they never talk about it? I don’t really know how to articulate this but I wish it didn’t feel like “Simon needs to be comfortable having sex” because that’s really what it felt like. There were so many more ways their relationship could have been explored, so many more ways to show their increasing intimacy with each other.
4.5. Simon and Baz, as much as I love them, have an incredibly unhealthy relationship and I wish the book focused more on it becoming healthy than on them trying to have sex without Simon having a panic attack.
5. This book was promised as answering every questions and tying everything up nicely. But a lot of questions weren’t answered and what was was just glazed over. I don’t feel like things tied up nicely, there’s so much that needs to be tied up.
6. It’s honestly extremely random that Agatha replaces Ebb. Agatha who wanted to get as far away from the world of mages as possible because the goat herder at Watford. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much sense it doesn’t make. I am happy she got a girlfriend though.
7. I feel like the second book should’ve had everyone spilt up and find themselves and then they all come back in the third book to face some big final challenge. But in the second book they miserably fight some big challenge and in the third book, everyone is split up and comes together for like 2 chapters.
Perhaps I am disappointed with how things turned out in this book. I still fully enjoyed reading it. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that it left a lot to be desired.
Now for the actual review (mild spoilers below)
This book was like mana from heaven. It wasn’t perfect but I loved every moment of it. I laughed, I felt stressed, I worried, I celebrated. I cleared my schedule just to focus on reading it and I wasn’t disappointed.
There are a few things I wish the book went into more, like actually seeing Simon process, well, everything. He changed, yes, and some things became easier for him to deal with. But I don’t feel like we really got to see him actually deal with his grief and trauma and him losing his sense of purpose (I’m not even sure he reached that conclusion himself, that a lot of what he’s feeling comes from the fact that he lost all sense of purpose). It never felt throughout the whole series that anyone took the time to fully understand how Simon was feeling after what happened with the Mage. I was really hoping we got to unpack that with him but we barely ever touched the surface. Everything between him and Baz was wonderful (though those boys would benefit a lot from couple’s therapy…and individual therapy), but there’s more to Simon than just Baz, and I wish we got to see him heal, really heal, instead of it being something that’s assumed to happen off the pages eventually.
Which leads into my next point,
There is something that didn’t sit well with me that happened very early in the story. As Shepherd and Penny are going to her house, she warns him that her mom won’t like him. Shepherd (who is Black) asks if she’s racist. Penny says no of course not and that she (Penny) is biracial. Here’s the thing, that’s not how racism works. Penny is half white and half Indian, none of that excludes her or her parents from being racist towards Shepherd, a Black person. It was a very unnecessary line. And it’s just…one of those ways you know all the eyes that fell on this book before it was released were anything other than Black. Anyway, I needed to rant about that.
All in all, it was a wonderful end to one of my all time favorite book series. I love Simon and Baz and I am truly heartbroken to say goodbye to them, but what a beautiful and tender goodbye it was.
Edit: I’ve thought more about the book and I have some additional thoughts.
2. Why couldn’t Simon process his grief? He doesn’t process any grief or trauma in this book, the final book to wrap everything up, and we don’t get that. I think I’m actually angry about this. I don’t feel like Simon ends the story in a better place. He is just as lost as before. He’s in just as much pain at the start of the story. He deserve to heal so why couldn’t he get that?
3. I truly have no idea what’s going on with his magic. It would’ve been wonderful for him to get it back but he doesn’t. And it would’ve been great if he fully came to peace with never having it, except he doesn’t really? Now he’s just impervious to magic. Which doesn’t resolve anything?
3.5. Is he going to keep his wings? We don’t get any definitive answers on that.
4. Simon and Baz could barely look at each other in Wayward Son. Now in this book, we actually get to see them be intimate and explore their relationship. But they don’t. I mean, they kind do, but then you realize everything happens over two weeks and that doesn’t leave me as reassured as the final book in a trilogy should. They have these strange sex scenes. I have to say, it was honestly pretty jarring (and confusing) to read. I think it’s important to have sex positive stories in YA books, but I don’t recall anyone begging for SnowBaz sex scenes. I certainly wasn’t. Simon clearly does not want to be touched, so why did they never talk about it? I don’t really know how to articulate this but I wish it didn’t feel like “Simon needs to be comfortable having sex” because that’s really what it felt like. There were so many more ways their relationship could have been explored, so many more ways to show their increasing intimacy with each other.
4.5. Simon and Baz, as much as I love them, have an incredibly unhealthy relationship and I wish the book focused more on it becoming healthy than on them trying to have sex without Simon having a panic attack.
5. This book was promised as answering every questions and tying everything up nicely. But a lot of questions weren’t answered and what was was just glazed over. I don’t feel like things tied up nicely, there’s so much that needs to be tied up.
6. It’s honestly extremely random that Agatha replaces Ebb. Agatha who wanted to get as far away from the world of mages as possible because the goat herder at Watford. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much sense it doesn’t make. I am happy she got a girlfriend though.
7. I feel like the second book should’ve had everyone spilt up and find themselves and then they all come back in the third book to face some big final challenge. But in the second book they miserably fight some big challenge and in the third book, everyone is split up and comes together for like 2 chapters.
Perhaps I am disappointed with how things turned out in this book. I still fully enjoyed reading it. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that it left a lot to be desired.