4.5/5 Stars
A bit of a disclaimer should be noted here that the main character in this story is gay, and there are some mild gay love scenes – nothing graphic, but still something not everyone may be comfortable with. Personally, even though this is the first book I’ve ever read that featured two gay main characters, I loved it!
I don’t like to give too many spoilers, especially when it’s a book like this that I highly recommend everyone who’s a fan of Young Adult (and in particular Harry Potter) reading, so I’m going to try not to give too much away.
When I first opened it up, I had high hopes and they were actually shot down immediately when it started out being nothing like what I had expected. A few chapters in and the F-bomb had already been dropped at least three times. It seemed a little juvenile for me at first. After taking a few days to clear my mind and read something else, I came back to this book and boy was I glad I did!
I’m sure that many people could argue that it was trying too hard to be like Harry Potter. There were extremely similar themes, even the same archetypal characters like the Mage who was obviously Dumbledore Jr. But that was kinda the point, as anyone who has previously read Fangirl would know. At first, I felt like I was reading The Deathly Hallows – without first having read Harry Potter books 1-6, but I soon got over that when I fell in love all over again with Rainbow Rowell’s writing style.
Simon (our hero) and Baz (our antagonist turned hero) have been at each other's throats for the past 7 years at Watford School of Magick. They were magically bound together as roommates when they were 11 and have been obsessed with each other ever since. Simon wants nothing more than to prove Baz is a vampire and Baz wants nothing more than to make out with Simon. After Baz is kidnapped by Numpties (dumb, rock-like creatures) and returns, Simon realizes that he would rather have Baz around.
The veil separating the living from the dead that only lifts once every twenty years has lifted while Baz was away, and his mother comes to the school looking for him. Instead, she finds Simon and gives him a message to deliver to her son, along with a kiss. When Baz finally returns, Simon tells her said message and the two soon embark on a journey to find Nicodemus, the man his mother told Simon to find.
Along the way, Simon, Baz and Penelope (she's the Hermione of the group) find themselves in hot water with the Insidious Humdrum, which just so happens to look exactly like Simon at eleven years old. The Insidious Humdrum sucks up all of the magic when he is around and can only be defeated by Simon himself.
Meanwhile, a war is breaking out against the Old Families and the Mage. They don't agree with his politics and want to get rid of him in any way they see fit. In the end, it's the Mage who ends up being evil, trying to kill Simon and steal his magic. There is an epic fight scene on the top of a tower (Half Blood Prince, anyone?) including Simon, Baz, Penelope and Ebb (the Hagrid-type goat herder of the school), which ends in death - although I won't say who. ;)
In conclusion, Rainbow Rowells characters are flawlessly developed and her plot sails along smoothly enough to keep you sucked into her story for hours on end. What is unique about her books is that they are not series, which there are over abundantly now in YA. Normally, this would make me sad, because when you fall in love with a story, you don’t wanna leave! But something about her stories give you the closure you need to wrap it up, close the book and still feel pleasantly content. She is a brilliant novelist and I cannot wait to get my hands on some of her other works.
If you haven't read Fangirl yet, I would highly suggest reading that first, as it makes the story that much more fulfilling, but any fan of Harry Potter should appreciate this wonderful book.
“You were the sun, and I was crashing into you.”