carry on: wolfstar stans rise
- paigenherbooks
- Mar 6, 2024
- 7 min read
5/5
How do I even begin talking about this novel?
How do I reach into the depths of my soul and showcase just how much Simon Snow and Baz Pitch mean to me? How do I possibly convey the range of emotions that Rainbow Rowell had me feeling during my time at Watford?
It’s nearly impossible…but I do love to put my voice out into the void so dare I say, I will try.
Carry On was phenomenal. It might be one of my favorite reads ever. It was quick, witty, magical, with complex characters, beautifully conveyed and sometimes critiqued cliches, impeccable world building, all the while there's’ a feral, frothing at the mouth, amazing enemies to lovers, slow burn romance happening. This book was written for me. For the Wolfstar girlies, for the girls who still giggle when reading in public, who scream into their pillows after the first kiss…and second, and third. Who cry at the ending because it’s so moving but also because the grief of being done with the story is almost too much.
This book is for Twilight fans, Harry Potter Fans, Wolfstar fans, and honestly just fans. Rainbow Rowell delivers a book that does such a fantastic job of creating a world I never want to leave as well as giving us some tropes and politics that kept the plot engaging, interesting, and sometimes even a little unpredictable.
Synopsis: The story follows the final year of magical schooling for Simon Snow, the "Chosen One" of the Magical world, prophesied to defeat the Insidious Humdrum, an evil force that has been wreaking havoc on the World of Mages for years.
I loved so much about this book. So much so, when I hit half way I jumped onto the Barnes & Noble website and ordered the next two immediately.
The world.
The world building is evidently similar to the world of Harry Potter: there’s a school for kids with Magic, the Normals (their version of Muggle’s) don’t know, there’s a Chosen One, an Evil Foe, and everything else you’d expect from a magic fantasy story.
Though Rowell kills it.
She absolutely devours this story.
The World of Mages within the Simon Snow series, to me, makes sense. Their way of doing magic is connected heavily through written and remembered word–which as a fellow literature enthusiast made my heart oh so happy. The spells make sense. I could understand what was going to happen when someone said “Up, Up, and Away” and so forth. This concept that the spells keep updating and being re-written due to the way that the English or other languages evolve is honestly intelligent and just cool. That to be a wizard or witch you have to always be learning and understanding, as well as growing. Coming up with new spells, uncovering old one’s all within the slang and time period that you’re growing up in. This concept of magic being tied to words and the one’s that are used most often is just something I would have never thought of, it brings a modernity as well as classicism into the magic realm that I really enjoyed.
There’s also more than wands.
This was also so cool, Penny, one of my favorite characters (I’ll touch more on her later) has a ring. She also has a wand but when she doesn’t have her wand she can use her ring to conduct magic as well. Seeing these magic conduit’s be present in more than just wands is another cool attribute that Rowell gave to her world.
The politics.
The World of The Mage’s is intense.
There’s civil wars popping up, disputes with who deserves to be Mage’s and who doesn’t, everything you could think of is being discussed. The Mage, the guy who took over is this almost All Powerful being. Some people blindly accept him while others don’t. Within our cast of characters we have a mixed bag. This leads to some interesting struggles, conflicts, and conversations–one’s that you can of course attribute to real life. The concept of blindly following someone just because they’re good to you, or what they do doesn’t inadvertently negatively affect you. Finding out what someone is actually doing for “the greater good”, and having to sit with it. The thought process of being on the “right” or “wrong” side of history. These big political themes are ever so present within Carry On and are touched on in a way that continues the plot & story, but still makes you sit back and reflect.
The characters.
I adored all of them.
The book is set up in several different point’s of view, which I always just love. That way we got to see a wide variety of the story, from many different and sometimes conflicting angles. This really rounded out the world, the story, politics, as well as the plot in a way that wasn’t only engaging but informative. The way that Rainbow Rowell did her exposition for this world was stunning. Through “lived experience” of the different characters thinking and reflecting on things, we the readers were able to learn so so so much from them, without having to sit through paragraphs of catch up or Simon just telling us everything that has happened in the last seven years.
Which leads me to Simon, Baze, Penny, Agatha, and the Mage. These aren’t the only POV’s we read from but are the one’s that we see the most. Every single one of these characters were unique and complex, not one of them felt flat or not rounded out enough and it made the story that much more enjoyable.
Simon Snow.
Simon Snow thinks he is worst Chosen One to ever exist and he truly is.
I love him.
He’s honest, good, he’s brave, and he does what is right all the time, he’s there to be a hero, even if he knows he sucks at what he’s technically suppose to do. He’s loyal, and kind as well as stubborn as hell. Meeting Simon was sweet and tangy, it was witty and sometimes so dull because he really is an idiot at times. Following Simon meant following the Chosen One Who Sucks and Doesn’t Really Want To Be The Chosen One But Does His Best Because He Cares About His Friends And The Fate Of The World—pretty badass if you ask me. He has such a never give up attitude that was refreshing. Like Oh? I’m bad with my wand, well I’ll just use this magical sword and if I die, I died trying to save everyone. Like, he just instantly thinks this and is instantly trying to save the day, no thinking, no contemplating, just plain hero badassery.
Baz Pitch.
Baz is so Sirius Black coded it warmed my heart to a wild extent.
He’s dark, mysterious, wickedly powerful, and sometimes mean. Sharp as a blade in both wit and intellect he’s made it his goal to be Snow’s nemesis since they met at 11. I love him. Rowell doesn't just leave him as the “bad boy” trope, instead she gives us insight, insight into how soft, lost, and alone he is. How he has hobbies other than scheming, how much family and those who he cares about mean to him, how much Simon means to him…
The banter between Simon & Baz is top tier, almost unlike anything I’ve ever read. It’s fun and playful, flirty and just a little steamy, while all the while being drenched in sweetness and love.
Absolutely perfect.
Penny.
Penny is our feminist, intelligent, top of the class badass female companion. She’s Simon’s platonic best friend who actually doesn’t like him at all (love this) and she’s funny. I loved reading and interacting with Penny so much because she’s so full of life. She’s loud, and takes up space, always has something to say and unfortunately is almost always right. Let’s just say I saw alot of myself within Penny. Her intelligence is noted and championed by her friends, her vivacious way of living is something they all adore and not once does anyone try to diminish her personality.
It was refreshing.
Agatha.
I didn’t love Agatha but I understood her.
She was such an interesting character to read and interact with. She doesn’t want to be magical, she simply wants to be normal. That is something I feel like we don’t see very often within the fantasy genre, someone who truly doesn’t want it. They’ve lived with it, they’ve seen the great parts and the horrific, and at the end of the day they simply want to be Normal, with a capital N. Agatha tries to be a good friend but she simply just isn’t–it all becomes too much for her. She doesn’t want this gilded bright destiny, instead she wants something quiet and normal, something peaceful and out of reach of the World of Mages. She gives an interesting and enlightening perspective on the world, the book, as well as the conversation of what makes someones life great?
The Mage.
We didn’t get too many chapters with him but the ones we did were powerful. They were erratic and short, punchy, and just confusing enough that you kinda had no idea what was going on. The Mage himself was a complex character that was so intoxicatingly intriguing. Seeing some snapshots from his point of view helped thicken the plot as well as reveal some interesting information.
The plot itself was engaging, with lots going on and so many people doing something at once. While a little predictable, Rowell does a fantastic job of making it so there are still surprises and things you just don’t see coming. The build up to the climax was intense, it was raw, and quite frankly made me sit straight up and yell a few times. This story of the Chosen One being wrought out in fruition and understanding what that means for each and every character as well as the World of the Mages was good, even better than good, it was great.
Fantastic even.
I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s pretty freaking cool.
I know you’re waiting for me to spill the details on the romance, but I’m not going to.
Going into Carry On and having no idea when or what will happen in terms of that is something I absolutely enjoyed. All I will say is that if you’re a Wolfstar girl…you’ll be excessively happy with how things turn out. If you’re an enemies to lovers or slow burn girly as well…you’ll be in the same boat. Rainbow Rowell knows how to do romance.
Carry On had me laughing, crying, screaming, and giggling. I went through probably every emotion possible while reading this book and I adored every single second of it. It was fun, fast paced, witty, cute, magical and simply just lovely. I can’t wait to dive into the next installment in Simon’s story.
I have a feeling it’ll be one hell of a ride.
xoxo,
paige
Comments