Carry On
The Simon Snow series, Book 1
Rainbow Rowell
St. Martin's Griffin
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Romance
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Simon Snow was a wretched orphan in modern London, with no clue who he was or where he belonged, if anywhere... until he erupted with magic that burned his latest foster home down (while sparing the occupants, transporting them blocks away). That was when the Mage, leader of the Coven of English mages, found him and whisked him off to the Watford School of Magicks. That was when Simon learned that he might be the answer to an ancient prophecy about the "Chosen One", the most powerful magician to ever live, who will save the magical world from a terrible threat. And that was when Simon discovered he had a deadly enemy in a magic-nullifying force known as the Insidious Humdrum. Well, two enemies: in his first year at Watford, he was paired with the world's worst and most evil (and almost certainly vampiric) roommate in the body of Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch-Grimm.
Baz is descended from two long lines of powerful Old Families. Simon is still an orphan of unknown parentage. Baz is impeccably groomed and a top Watford student in every subject. Simon is neither. Baz has perfect command of his powers, while Simon just explodes at random despite his best efforts. And Baz has spent the past seven school years trying to humiliate, endanger, and kill Simon and his friends, genius Penelope and beautiful girlfriend Agatha. He even tried to feed Simon to the chimera in the Wandering Wood. This year, Simon's last at Watford, he can't imagine what the beastly Baz has in store for him. Except what Baz has in store is nothing, because he's gone missing.
Simon should be relieved. Instead, he can't stop thinking about his roommate and enemy. Is this Baz's most devious plot yet to end Simon Snow, or is his roommate in trouble - and, if so, why does he find himself caring so much? Then Baz's dead mother visits their room, charging Simon with helping her son avenge her death... if he can find both the boy and the killer. Meanwhile, the clock ticks down on Simon's prophecised destiny, and the Humdrum only grows bolder by the minute, yet Simon's protector and mentor the Mage is more scarce than ever. This final year at Watford is going to be his most explosive yet, in more ways than anyone can possibly imagine.
REVIEW: I read and very much enjoyed Rowell's standalone novel Fangirl, about a young woman who finds strength and comfort in a fictional fantasy franchise about Simon Snow (with clear nods to Harry Potter). According to the end notes, when Rowell finished that book, she couldn't let go of Simon, whose story was alluded to in clips from both "canon" work and the character's fanfic, so she decided to write his story. This is an unusual approach to writing a story, particularly a fantasy story. I'm still processing how well that paid off.
Simon Snow is a standard Chosen One, in the vein of Harry Potter and innumerable other heroes (and heroines) in middle grade and young adult franchises, a boy who finds himself at the center of everything despite not really having heroic qualities other than a refusal to give up, even in the face of near-impossible odds. Even his friends and enemies recognize him as the center of their universe, as though they somehow understand that they're part of a story written about Snow. This adds an interesting dimension to the tale, which is much more about how Snow and the others try to define their own lives, relationships, and futures under intense pressure and trying circumstances than about the impending war between mages and the threat of the Humdrum, but it also makes the magical elements feel like extraneous complications (even as they subtly satirize the subgenre). Indeed, the magical world itself feels almost deliberately thin and vaguely defined, like a children's game that the teenaged characters are bound to grow out of; the mages here operate more like a secret club than a hidden world (albeit a club that conceals vampires and dragons and other unnatural threats), and some mages even give up their powers and inclusion in that club to live a happier life among the "Normals". Magic is based on language and popular phrases or even nursery rhymes that gain (and lose) power over the years, about as loose and plot convenient as any spell at Hogwarts, but which can also be stripped from an area by the Humdrum's predations. There's also implied deep political schisms and struggles within the magical community, over who has power over the Coven and who even gets trained; the Mage staged a revolution of sorts, but struggles to hold onto the reins of power with increasingly draconian efforts... more background clutter. The story is written (deliberately) as if it is the final installment in a longer franchise, where the rules and dynamics were already established and only the odd hint and nod is made to that establishment as things rush toward the series finale of Simon dealing with his roommate Baz and the Humdrum. It's not really a spoiler that Simon and Baz discover their relationship is less about being mortal enemies and more about unexplored attraction, though - again, because this was written as a finale to a series nobody has read - I didn't entirely buy the transition, especially on Simon's part. (Simon overall is a flimsier character than Baz, again likely deliberately, as his main function in his world is to be a Chosen One who may or may not survive his confrontation with the Humdrum.) Meanwhile, best friend (and Hermione equivalent) Penelope struggles to help Simon prepare for his final battle and deal with the Baz "truce", while Simon's ex-girlfriend Agatha realizes she needs to learn to define herself as someone other than the hero's pretty companion/object to save, a need that may drive her to reject everything about her life, even magic. The story as a whole takes on an odd, surreal quality as it builds to a somewhat-telegraphed final revelation and fight, lots of threads and timelines flying together at last (and, again, hinting at a lot of establishment that happened "off camera" and which the reader can only guess at).
In the end, even after long thought, I'm not quite sure what to think about the experience. There's a lot to appreciate and admire; it is, after all, a totally different approach to the subject, oddly compelling, and I admit I'm curious about where Rowell intends to take things now that the main "franchise" story is resolved and the characters are left to deal with lives and relationships that have been distorted by cataclysmic events and prophecies. There's also a fair bit that just didn't work for me. I wound up giving it back the half-star it almost lost, though, for sheer ambition and willingness to approach the familiar, Harry Potter-like story tropes from an entirely different, borderline self-aware angle, and because I think I might want to read on someday.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Every Heart a Doorway (Seanan McGuire) - My Review
Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell) - My Review
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J. K. Rowling) - My Review
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