Fantasy
Carry On
Rainbow Rowell

    Simon Snow is special, even for a mage. As the first known mage to ever be born to unmagic parents, Simon has been blessed with an infinite amount of magic and almost no way to control it. In his last year at Watford, Simon will reunite with some old friends and maybe even befriend a former enemy, all to hopefully defeat the monster that wears his face, avenge a ghost, and possibly discover his own origin.
    Well known for her young adult realistic fiction, Rainbow Rowell has brought back characters from her well-known novel Fangirl for this brand-new variation of the fictional “Simon Snow” series, a fantasy book series similar to Harry Potter. This novel is an incredible contrast to her previous works; a multi-part fantasy-filled book with a variety of magical characters including a ghost, several mages, monsters, and a vampire.
This novel follows Simon, a mage with overwhelming power, as he grapples with managing his abilities, preparing for the war that seems all too near, and the discovery that the side he's fighting for might not be all that great. You'll also meet Penelope, an independent mage and Simon's best friend, as well as Agatha, Simon's former girlfriend and a mage who may not want to be a mage anymore, and Baz, a vampire that everyone thinks they have figured out as Simon's natural enemy, even though he's not sure he wants to keep fighting Simon anymore.
I, along with many others, earnestly watched for the release of this novel and was greatly disappointed. Though the love story thrives, Rowell is obviously inexperienced at writing fantasy. With a magic-filled plot that’s thick, undeveloped, and hardly entertaining enough to force yourself to trudge through, this story falls flat on its face.