Carry On

Photo credit RainbowRowell.com

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell is an amazingly adventurous yet adorable love story. It is a fantasy story with all the other genres tied in beautifully, making it a well rounded, engaging story that you won’t want to put down. This book ties in to the characters created by Cath in Rowell’s other book Fangirl, but it is a completely stand alone novel. This book is so delightful in many ways but I think what pushed it over the top for me was the fact that within the action, love and magic, this book was laugh out loud funny!

Rowell creates such diverse characters that are incredibly well rounded, relatable and realistic within this magical fantasy world where their lives take place. Each character is provided problems and growth along their own lives, yet their problems intertwine with each other providing them the opportunity to come together to face a much larger problem that needs each and every one of them. The unique quirks and skills of each character collaborate perfectly to enhance each other and balance out the skill set to be able to help each other solve the major problem in the magikal world. They each have their own role and compliment each other wonderfully.

This book is written in a first person point of view from all of the main characters throughout the story, giving the reader the full experience of what everyone is thinking and feeling. Each chapter switches the point of view from character to character. Most of the story is told from the alternating points of views of Simon and Baz the two main characters who are dynamically different but end up coming together and seeing this from their own first person perspectives adds an engaging description of how the two are able to come together in both working together and their feelings towards one another.

The dialogue between characters is hilariously entertaining. The witty banter between Simon and Baz is sarcastic and fun, yet can show sometimes the depth of characters that they are. “Because we are solving a mystery, Snow. I like to organize my thoughts.” “Is this how you normally plot my downfall?” “Yes. With multicolored pieces of chalk. Stop complaining.” We can see how they seem to dislike each other and Simon’s skepticism of Baz, yet how they can come together and work on something. When they all three get together their dialogue plays off of one another so seamlessly. Penny says, “Simon imagine what we could do with all your power and my spells. We could finish the Humdrum off by dinner and then take on hunger and world peace.” “Imagine what the Mage will do when he realizes he has a nuclear power generator in his backyard.” Baz croons. The way they describe things and think about things within each person’s point of view tells a lot about each character’s personality, beliefs and motivations.

While this is a fantasy, it does intertwine topics such as good vs. evil, war, love, racial differences and all around issues within humanity. Even though this was a magical world, the characters are still facing real world difficulties that are present in our own lives. I think the way this book goes about it is showing us that we all have something to offer and our differences coming together can make the world a better place. Love conquers all, and I completely agree with that view of the world. I think fantasies help us look at the larger issues in life through the magic and fantastical events that take place in a story we may just read for entertainment, but that we can learn a lot about ourselves and the world around us. I think that Rowell delivers a mesmerising fantasy that is highly entertaining and such a fun read!  I give Carry On five out of five stars, as I could hardly put this down!

Carry On is a great read if you love magic, romance, mystery and wonderful characters. Rowell is a master at building dynamic characters who throughout the story you get to see their point of view and discover each one individually and how they come together. The characters draw you in, but the amazing plot line keeps the reader on the edge of their seat in this page turning mysterious, magical adventure with a beautiful love story throughout it all! I highly recommend Carry On to anyone and everyone, but especially to those who loved Fangirl!

Rowell, R. (2015). Carry On. New York: St. Martin’s Press.