Woah woah, hold up. I just realised that I haven’t talked about Wayward Son yet. I’m really surprised, wow.
Alright, so lets get started with what I thought about it.
As you all know, Carry On is a fantasy novel. Sure, it’s mostly known for Snowbaz, but it’s still a fantasy novel, with goblins and magick and all that. In that perspective, I quite liked Wayward Son. It was really good and fun and exhilarating. (Though not as much as Carry On.)
But looking from a Snowbaz perspective, I was highly disappointed at first. Like, 2 chapters in and I’m already bawling like a baby. I was freaking out because I thought that we were gonna get yhis fluffy and sweet road trip book with so many happy Snowbaz moments (I’m pretty sure we all expected that), but what we got was the opposite. And I wasn’t really taking a break from reading it, so I couldn’t really even take some tome to comprehend all the stuff happening.
But now, in retrospect, their relationship was realistically portrayed, and I was looking for perfect. Sure, their imperfections are definitely what make them perfect in this book and I love that, but it was also realistic. This is what all of us should’ve been expecting, except only a few did. Now that I look back, this is obviously what would’ve happened. It all makes so much sense. Of course Simon wouldn’t be happy after having all of that happen to him. After killing the Mage (ugh) who was like a father figure to him. After having his magic, the only thing that he thought defined him, taken away. Of course Baz would’ve still been insecure and his worries for Simon must’ve grown a lot after all that happened. Of course Penny would’ve been miserable watching her best friend all through school become this depressed person. Of course Agatha would’ve freaked out a bit and definitely left after what she (almost) witnessed that night when she didn’t even like being a mage.
All of this, it’s all perfectly realistic and realistically perfect.
I felt really betrayed at first. It was like I had given my heart and trust to Rainbow on a silver platter and she broke my trust, stomped on my heart and ran away. But she didn’t. Instead she gave me something that I love more than I love what I hoped Wayward Son would be about. She gave me something even better and I love it. It’s imperfect and messy and complicated and I love it.
(Another thing, I think it’s pretty obvious that there’s going to be a third book (I mean, c’mon, Wayward Son ended on an obvious cliffhanger) so let me just say: RAINBOW ROWELL YOU BETTER NOT PULL AN ‘ELEANOR AND PARK’ ON MY PRECIOUS SNOWBAZ OR SO GOD HELP ME I WILL SUE YOU!)
