Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell -review-

Title: Carry On
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release date: October 6th 2015
Find on Goodreads here

To quote the great Julius Caesar: Veni, Vidi, Vici (I came, I saw, I conquer). For me, Carry On wasn't anything special and I felt let down because of all the hype that surrounded it. I want to talk about the plot first.

There was a lot of good moment in this book. I love the scenes between Simon and Baz, between Penny and everyone. I liked the main arc of the story. What I did not like is how it was all put together. 

For example, we get Simon's point of view only for the first part of the book, which means that we make up our mind regarding certain characters. Then comes the second part of the book where we get to hear the point of view of other characters and they turn out be completely different! I would have prefer to have everyone's POV alternatively from the start because when I got into book two, I felt like this one character we had been hearing about from the start was a new one entirely!

Also, I wasn't blown away by Carry On because it reminded me a lot of the Hex Hall trilogy, by Rachelle Hawkin. Magical school. The MC who is destined to save them all. A hatred that turns into teasing and then love. It was nothing new or overly special for me.

I want to discuss the characters too. It's one thing when I don't personally connect with the MC, for example Mae in Gameboard of the Gods, by Richelle Mead. It's another thing when I don't like the MC. 

I found Simon very childish for seventeen years old. The way he saw things and handled situations, it annoyed me. Especially this one scene with Agatha. 

spoilers ahead.

Agatha breaks up with Simon for reasons that she explains clearly to him. It is a really clean break up if you ask me, done with both respect and kindness. But Simon refuses to hear it! I wanted to take him by the shoulders, shake him and tell him: "She doesn't want to be with you anymore! You can't refuse to end a relationship, you can't force her to stay with you!" It is something that really turned me off while reading and I had this thing against Simon for the rest of the book. 

Another thing was how he and Baz ended up together. Simon kisses Baz out of nowhere. Until that very moment, Simon was still saying how much he despised Baz; he gave no clue to the reader, or none that I picked up. I knew they were going to end up together, just not like that. 

end of spoilers

For the fact that it was a déja vu for me, that the story didn't flow and because I didn't like Simon, I give this book three stars. Did I have fun? Yeah I did. But I had doubts about reading books by Rainbow Rowell and I don't think I'll be reading any more in the future. I came, I saw, I conquer and I'm not coming back.

Did you read Carry On? If so, how did you like the story?

Sophie