This book was introduced to me as a bestselling Harry Potter fanfiction with a BL storyline. I frowned at the description and looked up the book reviews. Some of them said that this was a shameless rip-off that was badly written. Others claimed it was an extraordinary take on the Chosen One trope filled with twist and turns. So, which is it?
Maybe both. The story starts as a badly written fanfiction, and I mean badly written. When I started to read it, I wondered if I had gotten my hands on the unedited version because it was so badly structured that I could only assume it hadn’t been edited yet. I frankly, had read more well written stories by amateurs and this one that had won prizes.
The first chapters are just a waste of space. I have no idea why they are even in the book. At least three chapters is merely infodumps of useless information not needed yet. The readers do no care why the main character wanted to return to Watford School of Magicks because they don’t know Simon Snow.
Simon Snow is the proclaimed chosen one. The only one from an ordinary family who has gained the abilities of a Magician. He is supposed to defeat the Insidious Humdrum, who no one really knows or has seen. They just know he is the source of all evil.
The story center around a mystery of who the Humdrum is, what has happened in the past and the characters. They start of flat to around the middle of the book when suddenly the book goes from being horrible to engaging and well developed. I cannot for the life of me figure out if the first part was meant to be bad and confusing in order to enhance the later part when you slowly start to get pieces to the puzzle.
This story is far from black and white though as this is in many ways the story about monsters. The people you think, or should be, bad is good and the good is monsters. I think Simon former girlfriend says it best.
“What’s wrong with you, Agatha?” I’m trying to control my temper now. “He’s a monster. An actual monster.”
“We’re all monsters,” she says.
She means that I am.-Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell.
This is one of the first signs of the story being a bit different than for example, Harry Potter. Practically none in this story is good. Not even the so called chosen one. They are all just monsters fighting to stay monsters. Some might be deterred by this but I found it to be a breathe of fresh air. The story felt more realistic that way compared to the normal fantasy stories that focus on the good and the evil.
The BL storyline is there but is not the center of the plot. The main character, Simon, just happen to fall in love with his rival Baz which in turn develops the characters. There is an open ending that do suggest that the love might had a bigger part of the chosen one prophecy but this is left to the reader to determine if it was the truth or not.
The characters themselves starts out flat. They keep speaking of things they did in the past. Fighting a chimera, being kidnapped by the Humdrum and other adventure making you feel like you started at the last book instead of the first. Which makes you have this resounding feeling that you should already know the characters which is why the book at first doesn’t develop them further.
This changes around when they meet Baz again and the plot takes off. The different perspective of the multitude of people in the books, suddenly become an asset as we start to see different viewpoints of the same world. Whether it is being forced into the role of bad guy, being a sidekick despite your immense power or knowing that you are only in this story to be killed as you have no important part of the story. They all understand this and must determine if they accept their role or move past it.
Something I found a bit disappointed at in the story is the lack of development on tha racial issues. They take up the Magicians hate for the Dark Creatures, such as vampires and how they either kill or exile those who was turned. If you are turned you are expected to kill yourself if not you will bring dishonor to your family and its their task to kill you. This plot point affect several of the characters but it does not really become resolved by the end of the book. It might in the second book but it left me a bit cold as it was a rather prominent part of this one.
Another thing I disliked, but I noticed that many actually adored, was the open ending. The main focus of the story is the concept of the chosen one. Who is truly the chosen one? What is the chosen one? The problem is that the ending doesn’t give you a clear answer and leaves it to the reader to discuss and come to their own conclusion. I am not sure you can call something a new interpretation of the trope if it actually doesn’t have any answer, but I might just have missed the answer among the chaos of this book.
I would also like to say that this one is hard to only call YA fantasy as the genre is far more complex. If you are going into this only looking for fantasy, you might be disappointed. If you go into this one looking for a BL romance then you might be disappointed. This one has a multitude of genres including those mentioned and if you don’t have an open mind on books with a mixture of genres then this one might not be for you.
Would I recommend it? Yes… If you have the patience to read through the horrible first part of the book. If you know you haven’t, skip the first part or search for another book. I would personally like to give it a 7 out of 10. I loved the second part of Carry On but not so much that I can forgive it for the hate I felt during the first part. The mere dullness of it makes me removed several points and I even considered putting it at a 6. But I loved the second part enough and was impressed enough with the development of the characters and the mystery that I gave it a 7 though I would warn you that this is a love/hate relationship. You seem to either love this story, or you hate it with a passion. I went through both to settle for love, what did you do?
With kind regards
Senefer
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