I really enjoyed Fangirl and when I saw that Rowell was going to write the book Carry On (which is the book the character in Fangirl was working on) I was ecstatic. I pretty much devoured this book. Definitely a guilty pleasure here.
If you read Fangirl you know the premise of this book. Simon Snow has returned for his last year of magic school only to find that his nemesis and roommate, Baz, is missing. Throughout the story Simon is struggling with controlling his magic which is meant to fight the Humdrum, an evil entity that is destroying magic throughout England. When Simon receives a ghostly message from Baz's mom, Simon and Baz end up joining forces to solve the mystery Baz's mother left behind. In the process Simon and Baz find out that they might not be the enemies they thought they were.
This wasn't a great fantasy book, but it was a well done relationship type of book and I enjoyed the fantasy backdrop to it. If you were a fan of Fangirl and really wanted to know more about Baz and Simon Snow (the characters Cath from Fangirl wrote fanfic about) this was a great read.
I really enjoyed it a lot and absolutely loved having the opportunity to read more about Simon and Baz. Watching as Simon and Baz fall in love and learn to join forces despite their star-crossed relationship was sweet and engaging. For those who care....this story does feature two teen boys who fall in love, so if that bothers you...
You can't help but compare this to Harry Potter (it was kind of meant to be Harry Potter fanfic). However the story has different enough elements to it that it kept me interested. I ended up enjoying how the issue with the Humdrum resolved. I also liked some of the twists and turns involving the Headmaster.
It's really too bad this wasn't a better filled out fantasy; I would have liked to read about the adventures between these characters for all the years leading up to this book. However I do realize that fantasy is not really what Rowell writes about. In the end it was probably a better decision for her to just have this be a guilty pleasure sort of stand alone novel.
Overall this was a fantastic opportunity to read more about Simon and Baz (who I absolutely adored in Fangirl). While it's not a great fantasy in itself; it was an engaging relationship based book with a decent fantasy backdrop. I really loved it and would recommend to all those Fangirl fans out there. I would also recommend if you are interested in reading a more relationship/romance based fantasy.
In some ways the book is very similar in tone to Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald Mage series. If you are interested in reading another GLBT fantasy with a lot of romance/relationship stuff and with a solid fantasy world I would recommend that series as well.
If you read Fangirl you know the premise of this book. Simon Snow has returned for his last year of magic school only to find that his nemesis and roommate, Baz, is missing. Throughout the story Simon is struggling with controlling his magic which is meant to fight the Humdrum, an evil entity that is destroying magic throughout England. When Simon receives a ghostly message from Baz's mom, Simon and Baz end up joining forces to solve the mystery Baz's mother left behind. In the process Simon and Baz find out that they might not be the enemies they thought they were.
This wasn't a great fantasy book, but it was a well done relationship type of book and I enjoyed the fantasy backdrop to it. If you were a fan of Fangirl and really wanted to know more about Baz and Simon Snow (the characters Cath from Fangirl wrote fanfic about) this was a great read.
I really enjoyed it a lot and absolutely loved having the opportunity to read more about Simon and Baz. Watching as Simon and Baz fall in love and learn to join forces despite their star-crossed relationship was sweet and engaging. For those who care....this story does feature two teen boys who fall in love, so if that bothers you...
You can't help but compare this to Harry Potter (it was kind of meant to be Harry Potter fanfic). However the story has different enough elements to it that it kept me interested. I ended up enjoying how the issue with the Humdrum resolved. I also liked some of the twists and turns involving the Headmaster.
It's really too bad this wasn't a better filled out fantasy; I would have liked to read about the adventures between these characters for all the years leading up to this book. However I do realize that fantasy is not really what Rowell writes about. In the end it was probably a better decision for her to just have this be a guilty pleasure sort of stand alone novel.
Overall this was a fantastic opportunity to read more about Simon and Baz (who I absolutely adored in Fangirl). While it's not a great fantasy in itself; it was an engaging relationship based book with a decent fantasy backdrop. I really loved it and would recommend to all those Fangirl fans out there. I would also recommend if you are interested in reading a more relationship/romance based fantasy.
In some ways the book is very similar in tone to Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald Mage series. If you are interested in reading another GLBT fantasy with a lot of romance/relationship stuff and with a solid fantasy world I would recommend that series as well.
