Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

67 reviews

danny_fox's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

When I tell you that I ate this book up-

I have never been so interested in a book that I read it in 3 days, especially a book that has 500 pages.

I adored everything about this book. The characters, the world, the plot, oh my gooood.

I cannot believe this book isn't more popular. I NEED this book to be more popular.

Definitely became one of my all time favorites, and can already see myself coming back to it in the future.

Baz and Simon have officially become my new comfort characters <3

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Bullying

Minor: Violence, War, Car accident, and Cursing

crufts's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

18-year-old Simon Snow is a student in his final year at Watford, a school for British teens with magical abilities. But Simon isn't just anyone; he's the Chosen One of the magical world, singled out by a prophecy to defeat the evil and mysterious Insidious Humdrum.

For seven years, Simon has battled the Humdrum and its legions of dangerous monsters, while reluctantly sharing a dorm room with his nemesis Baz (Basilton Pitch). But this year, something's wrong. The Humdrum's reach is spreading further and further, and Baz has gone missing. Can Simon live up to the prophecies, find Baz, and stop the Humdrum before it's too late?

For context, Carry On is the epic-length fanfiction written by the protagonist of another book by Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl. The protagonist of Fangirl (Cath) writes Carry On as her imagined final volume to the end of the "real" Simon Snow series, which at the time was unfinished. I mention this to explain why Carry On jumps straight into Simon's final year at school.

The opening chapters of Carry On are rather slow-paced, as Simon spends a lot of time reflecting on his past seven years of schooling, effectively giving the reader the necessary exposition to bring them up to speed. 

This was helpful to establish that despite some parallels drawn during Fangirl, the magical worldbuilding and character dynamics are significantly different to that of the Harry Potter series. Simon is not really a Harry Potter analogue at all; he's more of a generic Chosen One analogue who just happens to go to a magic school, as clarified in the author's closing notes. 
This was refreshing and interesting. Without going into spoilers, characters like the Best Friend, the Girlfriend, the Wise Mentor Figure, and the Big Bad were all significantly different and created different dynamics to the Harry Potter series.

The other distinguishing quality was the use of first-person point-of-view, with the POV switching between many different characters. At times I found these rapid back-and-forth switches a tad disorienting. However, it was also intriguing to see the inner thoughts of the characters, and it made characters like

Agatha

more sympathetic.

By the 25% mark of the book, the inciting incident had been planted and I was keen to see how the rest of the story would turn out. I was enjoying watching the characters interact and seeing the magic system play out, and generally having fun following the progression of the mystery.

Some parts of the text were a little bulky, with a lot of navel-gazing and extraneous detail. Fortunately, if you read through these parts without paying close attention, you won't miss anything important. All points in the book that are actually important have attention clearly drawn to them.

Much of this bulky text was the exposition of the seven-year backstory. I couldn't help but feel that something was lost by jumping straight into this "final book" (well, the final fanfiction) of the Simon Snow series. To ensure that events made sense, the author had to frequently call back to events that would have happened in the "previous books". This was a little frustrating, but given that this is supposed to be Cath's "final book" fanfiction, I'm not sure how else it could be done.

On that note, I didn't notice much of Cath's influence on the writing. I was expecting to see some kind of hint that this was a story written by Cath, specifically, containing all the elements that she would want in a fanfiction.
But the text reads like it was written by a neutral, professional third party. And apart from the

Simon/Baz

relationship, there didn't seem to be any overt author appeal in the way that fanfictions often have. Arguably, this was a necessary stylistic choice to make the book palatable to people who haven't read Fangirl.

The ending of the novel was dramatic, exciting, and made logical sense. There was plenty of character development in supporting characters like

Agatha and Baz

, which was great.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel and would recommend it as an entertaining take on the Chosen One trope.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Abandonment, Death of parent, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Eating disorder

Violence: A number of magical fights break out.

Abandonment: Simon reflects on being an orphan.

Pregnancy: Occurs in a flashback sequence.

Homophobia: Mentioned in backstory.

Eating disorder: A character is suspected of having one, but does not actually have one.

Death, death of parent: A supporting character dies onscreen. A parent is mentioned having died in a character's backstory.

evelynyle_88's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Homophobia and Suicidal thoughts

levesc17's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is everything! I encourage all Harry Potter fans to pick this up— it’s inclusive and truly hilarious. It’s romantasy and with an emphasis on lol moments. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia

squinnittowinit's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book reads at first like an excellent Harry Potter parody, lightheartedly poking fun at the plot holes and loose worldbuilding moments of the HP series as the main character, Simon Snow, recounts his misadventures (a humorously self-aware reskinning of many HP plot points) at his magical school during years 1-7. 

I was ready for this book to be a Harry Potter parody and nothing more the entire way through (and would have loved every minute of it), but I was very pleasantly surprised to find an actual, original plot that played very well with the humorous setting and premise. The plot and the surprisingly complex characters took this book from parody to a genuinely gripping Harry Potter rewrite that successfully delivered a more complex (and plausible) plot, alongside characters that were more flawed yet more understandable at the same time.

I felt like this book was wholly satisfying as a standalone. I don't really feel any need to read the sequels, though I'm sure I'll get to them someday. For now, I'm left with that same soul-satisfied feeling that I get when I've just finished a 100k word fanfic with no tags and I can't remember what it was like to have ever not known about something so wonderful.

4.5 stars because of complete bi erasure and minor racism (not the inclusion of it in the world but rather minorly problematic descriptions/inconsistent descriptions of poc by the author)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Death, Animal death, Biphobia, War, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Classism, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Confinement, Stalking, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

Minor: Abandonment, Racism, Ableism, and Infidelity

Bi erasure details:

Once Simon allows himself to voice his feelings for Baz, he almost immediately questions if this makes him gay, an already tired question. He ends up not answering that for himself, continuing to wonder several more times to the end of the book. Never once does he even consider that he could be bi, despite having had a girlfriend before. It is perfectly acceptable for Simon to not know what labels he wants to use for himself, or to never subscribe to using labels, and it would also be acceptable for Simon to determine that he isn't actually attracted to girls after all, but by only including the words "gay" and "straight", it makes it seem as though Simon can only be one of those two things, which is harmful to other LGBTQIA+ identities like bi and pan.

Minor racism details:

Mostly my issue is with Baz's physical description being inconsistent. Baz is described as having red-gold skin before becoming a vampire, as his mother was Egyptian. Most of the time, as a vampire his skin is described as "gray", which is a great way to describe someone being bloodless without changing their skin tone (because skin tone isn't really determined by whether your body has blood in it or not). However, there are a few times where Baz is inexplicably described as having "white" skin in reference to his vampirism. It reads like Baz was originally written to have the race-erasing white skin of classic vampires and then the author decided to update the description to the better "gray", but didn't catch all instances.

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was a title that I heard of through Lighthouse Library Bookclub (it was a previous fiction read from Sept, 2021). I found this book a little hard to get into at first. It felt a little like reading a later work of Rick Riordan's in the way that it referred to previous adventures of the characters from time to time, and left me wondering what I had missed. I went back to listen to the first hour of the audiobook on 125% and then I felt a bit more grounded. This was not a title that I could make the most of if I wasn't concentrating on it.

++edit to add++ After writing this review I stumbled upon an article that describes how this book fits in with its previous books.. which don't exist. Rowell writes "a book that was inspired by fictional fanfiction of a fictional series". 
https://lithub.com/how-rainbow-rowell-weaponized-fandom-for-good/
++

The story deals with a couple of lads at a Magic-School, who are roommates, constantly paranoid about each other and secretly-notsosecretly plotting to kill each other. Their relationships is utterly dysfunctional, which is possibly one of the weirdest and truest part of the story. Mostly teen stories come across as a bit simple and based in pointless misunderstandings, but this enemies to lovers plotline felt a lot more like my memories of highschool, which were a twisted mess of love and hate. Don't call me emo.

I think the stand-out bit of Simon Snow's world is the way that the magic works. It is triggered not necessarily by ancient dead languages but by living ones. Concentration and intent is coupled with incantations that come from clichés, catch phrases, idioms, and commonly known poems and songs. You can literally throw up a wall to protect yourself with "Can't Touch This!"... though it may only be powerful against people who are familiar with the song. It feels a lot like "Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board" only with common memes and quotes. They actually use "These aren't the droids you're looking for" to hide things from people's perception... and as phrases pass out of common use, so do their potency for weaving magic. 

The evil baddy in the story is a mysterious force that swallows magic, and leaves the world mundane in its wake. Simon and his best friend Penelope, work with their friends (and enemies) and for much of the time nobody knows who is allied with whom... And at the equinox, ghosts come back to tell people the things that they think are most important to pass on to their still-living loved ones, which spices things up a bit with revelations, spilled secrets and quests. The Principal of the school is in a simmering conflict with the aristocracy of the magical world, as he wants to provide magical training regardless of lineage, to anyone with the talent.

As far as the story is concerned, the characters are a hot mess. The kids rely on the guidance of teachers, who are about as messed up as they are themselves, which means that adult support is not all it cracked up to be, though it's cool if you have a kickarse punk-rock Aunty who can bust you out of trouble when you are in too deep. The characters are a diverse ethnic mix, and the depiction of how Penny copes with her best friend's casual Racism about her looks and South Asian background rings true.

Ghosts, Vampires, Pixies, Numpties, Worsegers (like Badgers..only...) populate this world replete with silly wordplay and a main character who didn't find out that any of this existed until he was 11. This is a very queer love story, and I like the characters, even if they are jerks.
Well worth the read if you have the patience for being dropped in at the deep end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Cursing, Gore, Pregnancy, Racism, Stalking, Ableism, Confinement, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Alcohol and Eating disorder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Deportation, and Medical content

eetishmeh's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

[This review was written after finishing the whole Simon Snow trilogy. It does not contain spoilers for the other books.]

This book was awesome! I love the trope subversion and this take on the Chosen One trope. (I also love golden retriever and wet cat dynamics so you've got me there. Also, I love Penny as well, so really I just love basically everything about this book.)
I accidentally sped through the entire trilogy—200+ chapters!—within 4 days, a feat which I'm pretty sure I haven't achieved before.

Some thoughts I had while reading this book, to sate your curiosity if you're like me and can't resist clicking all the spoiler tags in the review section:
Baz stop simping for Simon for two seconds challenge (impossible)
Glad they portray the manipulative mentor as a manipulative mentor, unlike some people *cough*JKRfailingtowriteDumbledore*cough*
I have a soft spot for sarcastic gay vampires with dark hair and magic

I still don't know if I'm pronouncing the name Bunce properly.
Anyway, 10/10 would recommend. If you want a humorous Romeo-and-Juliet, enemies-to-lovers story (with less tragedy for the lovers) paired with fantasy happenings, banter between friends, a super epic magic system and much better representation than Harry Potter, this is the book for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

Please look further into what warnings come with this book if necessary! I likely forgot a few things

akrafi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood and Violence

amandaplease50's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Author took the best things about that other chosen one and made them better. Characters seem to have more personality and are more self aware! And just fun to read about! 

Beginning was a little slow but understandably needed to build the world. Once past that first  1/4 quickest 350+ pages! 

The switching POV did give me a little trouble sometimes because I’d forget who was “talking” but that’s just my own reading issues. 

Already have the second book on hold at the library can’t wait to finish the series. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Violence

magical_sof's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was a very great book. If you're looking for a fantasy book with all the tropes, this is it. It was very world heavy and I wish it focused more on the relationships between characters specifically

Simon and Baz's romantic relationship. The epilogue left me disappointed I think because I was searching for a longer, drawn out, enemies to lovers storyline.  However, their relationship is very cute and Baz's personality really shines in this book. You get the kind of person he is during his first chapter.

.

Despite that, all the characters are loveable. Penelope is quite the foil to Simon and their friendship is great, she provides a lot of insight and chuckles in this book. The whole cast of characters really grow and you learn their secrets as you go along which kept me engaged throughout the whole story (lots of twists and turns and surprises). Something else I loved about this book was the chapters being written from different characters' perspectives. I think this makes books more interesting and I loved the different view points. It made especially tense scenes more exciting and fast paced! I loved that. 

If you're looking for a queer magical school fantasy world with LITERALLY every AO3 trope, this is the book for you. It looks hefty, but its a fast read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, and Violence