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Book Review: Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell

I picked up a paperback copy of Rainbow Rowell‘s Carry On from a local Little Free Libary.

Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.

I generally enjoyed this once it picked up. The book is divided into three parts and an epilogue, and I was well into part II before I became invested. Up until that point, it was just too gimmicky—being a Harry Potter spoof and a spin-off from another Rowell book.

Once it finally managed to nab my attention, I found the humor endearing, the story fun to read, and the characters relatable. It’s a little predictable. There are a few threads left open (one presumes for future books), and it’s a little anticlimactic. But all in all, I’m glad to have finally read it.

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Book Review: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Book Review: Starling House, by Alix E. Harrow

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I’ve had an uncorrected advanced copy of Alix E. Harrow‘s Starling House on my shelf for ages. So, I finally read it.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland–and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

This was a roller coaster ride for me. I was hooked in the beginning. Then the corporate baddie showed up, and I was disappointed because it felt so tired and cliched. (Because it is an overused trope.) But Harrow turned it around and dragged me back in. I loved Opal and Arthur. I liked the bevy of side characters, especially House. (As a side note, Arthur having beef with a house was one of my favorite parts of the book.) The southern gothic feel of it all kept me rapt, and the writing kept me reading. There were a few bumps in the road. Opal and Arthur felt younger than their 26 and 28 years, for example, and until the epilogue, I was confused by the footnotes. But in the end, I loved this.