From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

Carry On (Simon Snow, #1)

Rainbow Rowell,

Jim Tierney (Illustrator)

Start date: November 1, 2015

Finish date: November 30, 2015

Discussion: Stand Alone

Why we're reading this: Won the poll for the stand alone BOTM
[close] Won the poll for the stand alone BOTM

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Stand Alone

* Stand Alone- Maybe Meant to Be
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last updated Aug 18, 2025 12:04PM

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What Members Thought

Oct 28, 2015 Michael rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2015, fall-reading-2015

If you finished Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl and wondered what it would be like to read some of Cath's Simon Snow fanfic then Carry On will push your buttons in all the right places.

Alas, the Simon Snow aspect of Fangirl wasn't my favorite part of that story -- nor did I necessarily find myself wanting to actually read Cath's final alternate version of the adventures of Simon Snow. So, I guess you could say that Carry On wasn't my cup of tea.

Coming back to school for his final year, Simon Snow has j If you finished Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl and wondered what it would be like to read some of Cath's Simon Snow fanfic then Carry On will push your buttons in all the right places.

Alas, the Simon Snow aspect of Fangirl wasn't my favorite part of that story -- nor did I necessarily find myself wanting to actually read Cath's final alternate version of the adventures of Simon Snow. So, I guess you could say that Carry On wasn't my cup of tea.

Coming back to school for his final year, Simon Snow has just defeated the forces of evil, rescued his friends and is preparing for his great destiny to come. But things are all going as well as it would appear. His girlfriend, Agatha, was seen last year talking in the woods to his mortal enemy and roommate, Baz. And there are forces of evil attacking his school in every effort to kill the anointed magical world savior.

Simon Snow was a thinly veiled Harry Potter stand-in used by Rowell for Fangirl to allow Cath to have a fictional wizard to obsess over and create fan-fiction for without incurring the wrath of J.K. Rowling's lawyers. We got hints about Simon and his world from Cath and her friends. And after reading all six-hundred or so pages of Carry On I feel like a little went a long way.

I never connected with these characters or universe in the way I have with other Rowell offerings in the past. Maybe my expectations were too high after her string of three great books in the last two years. And while I'm not one who would say an author can or should publish the same type of work over and over again, I'm not sure the world of high fantasy mixed with teenage angst necessarily works for Rowell. The authenticity of her characters in her first four offerings was what drew me to them -- something I found distinctly lacking this book.

This is the first time Rowell has let me down -- and based on the reviews I'm seeing on social media and book sites, it's apparently I'm alone in feeling this. It doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for Rowell in any way. It just leaves me feeling disappointed and like I missed something that all the other "cool kids" enjoyed but I didn't. ...more

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Dec 19, 2017 Mercedez rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

At first I didn’t think I was going to like it because I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. Who wants to read about a group of kid magicians at a magic school and the chosen one? But I’m glad I finished it! Fun read about a world of vampires and magic!

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Jul 17, 2016 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow, this book...I honestly didn't go into it thinking I would like it at all, I mean to many things looking like Harry Potter or close to it BUT OMWord, I love this book so much and never wanted to stop reading it. I really loved the character so much and the twists were amazing. I guessed a small bit of it but it wasn't much and not until I was nearing the end did a certain thing click in my head. Great book, I recommend it to everyone. ...more

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Jan 26, 2020 Michelle DeFields-Gambrel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own

If you are one of those people who take everything you read super seriously, then you will be disappointed in this book. It IS a parody of Harry Potter. It is supposed to be. It is like “shipping” fan fiction. It is over the top. And it is fabulous!

I can’t give it 5 stars because I thought it wasn’t always super obvious whose viewpoint some of the chapters were written in, and I had to go back to the beginning of the chapter a few times to remember who was talking. Or maybe it was just because I ...more

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Jul 06, 2020 JazzyReadz💜 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Not my favorite of books I’ve rated 4 stars. Being that this book was created by design to be a Harry/Draco fanfic it lacked originality for me. There weren’t any crazy things that made it feel different or new. And, naturally, there were parallels to HP, but I feel like she could have done more to have the base elements of HP there but still make this story different and unique. And I feel like that’s what it lacked the most to me. Not mad that it was created with HP in mind. I actually think t ...more

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