Carry On (edició 2017)

Rating: 96% (4.8 stars)

I've had this book (and wanted to read it) since it was released in 2015. It's now the end of 2018 and I've finally gotten around to reading it, and I'm so glad I did. ( )

I really did not like Fangirl, and I mostly skipped all the Simon Snow bits of that, so I went into this book with very low expectations. But it's Rainbow Rowell, and (Fangirl notwithstanding) I love her, so I figured I would give it a shot. And it was DELIGHTFUL. It is, essentially, novel-length fanfiction of a fictional universe that she herself created, which is in and of itself sort of a Harry Potter ripoff, but it worked. The world was both familiar and different, the characters were fairly well developed, and she did a good job of writing as if the reader was aware of the past 7 years of backstory, while still explaining various past plot points. ( )

I think I'm going to have to come back to this one. I feel like she is trying to cram 7 years of Harry Potter into one book. To much telling, not enough showing for me.

That was interesting - I was thinking as I was listening to it that I should have listened to this before I listened to Fangirl - then I got further into it and then I didn't feel too much like that - though I preferred Fangirl to this one - it was cool and somewhat harry potteresque - but different enough still. I definitely loved Simon, though Baz was awesome and I got distracted by both of them together lol .. cmon book I perhaps think I need more - maybe I should read some fanfic other than fangirl ......... ( )

First, I'm going to review the 1st 2/3 of the book (because that's when I wrote the following), followed by the last 1/3 of the book (which turned out to be quite different from the first 2/3, who knew?)

1. Yes, it's Harry Potter fan fiction, essentially. That is to say, it's entirely dependent on Harry Potter. There is an avatar of Hagrid, Dumbledore, Harry, McGonagal, Hermione & Ron (here they're the same person), the Sorting Hat, Draco, etc. It's enjoyable at times, and I have to say I love their method of casting spells far, far more than Harry Potter's hurl-Latinate-words approach, but the author has (no doubt intentionally) not strayed far from Harry Potterland. It can be viewed as a response to Harry Potter, a criticism of Harry Potter, something inspired by Harry Potter, but it's inescapably connected to Harry Potter.

(Hey, Shakespeare did it--most of his plays are based one earlier works with slight changes).

2. Nothing much happens, and this is where it falls far, far short of its inspiration. Most of the events that might be of dramatic interest are mentioned in passing, rather than delineated as they are happening. It's as if the Lord of the Rings only covered the bit where Frodo and Sam climb up the mountain. And it's annoying, because there was plenty of room for plot and action. Instead we get whinging and whining for almost half the book. If it were a TV show I'd think "wow, way to save money on special effects," but in a novel it just kills me. Special effects are free, Rainbow Rowell! It costs nothing.

(Have you ever read a book where you thought "Gee, I wished they just talked about the interesting things that happened to them instead of showing them happen?" Then this is your book).

So while I should be enjoying it, my mind keeps drifting to What If Other Writers did this ... "Rhett and I had quite a history together--we survived a war, a fire, a miscarriage, amongst other dangers--but I loved him, and if I played my cards right maybe he'd admit he loved me too," etc.

3. I don't find the characters particularly likable, perhaps because I refuse to carry positive Harry Potter associations over to them and are taking them at face value as presented. At this point (I'm halfway) I'm only reading to see if there does end up being hot magic man-to-man action eventually.

And the shame of it is, the author can write. When getting down to actual events (a goblin attack, a ghostly visitation, a trip to the stars), it's suspenseful/eerie/lovely. But that's 1% of the book, compared to 5% recalling and 94% moaning and groaning. If the writing were worse, this would be a disappointing 2 stars (or less), but it's actually good enough that I'm a'keeping at it. But it could have been (should have been) so, so much better.

ON TO THE FINAL THIRD

Really, unbelievably different. Stuff happened. Plot lines coalesced (I could finally tell there was a plot--for all I knew from the 1st 2/3, the Humdrum would never appear, nothing would get solved, and the book would end with more whinging). It was interesting and surprising and hard to put down. If the first 2/3 had been half as long, then (a) it wouldn't have annoyed me as much, and (b) the good bits would have come halfway through the book. So 4 stars for the final third, but it can't overcome the disappointing inertia of the initial 66%.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! ( )