They fly into Chicago (on a plane, not magically) and Penelope rents them a truly beautiful convertible.Īnd then…Penelope’s boyfriend dumps her, it turns out that she didn’t make reservations anywhere, Agatha won’t answer her phone, and they realize that driving to San Diego will take thirty one hours: None of them are able to grasp the size of America which leads to Penelope deciding that they will visit her long-distance boyfriend in Chicago “on the way” to San Diego. Penelope interrupts all this romantic angst (and a very realistic portrait of clinical depression and trauma) to announce that she and Baz and Simon are going to go to America for a road trip holiday during which they will visit Agatha. Simon feels worthless and is convinced that Baz is only with him out of pity. All of the main characters are healing from trauma, but Simon is not only deeply traumatized and grieving but has also lost the one thing that always made him important. Simon lives with Baz and Penelope and lies on the couch. When you’ve done the thing you were meant to do.Ĭarrie: Wayward Son begins with Simon, Baz, Agatha, and Penelope preparing for life after Watford School of Magics. This is what happens if you try to hang on after the end. In fact, we start out with an epilogue (yeah, you read that right) pointing out that when stories end, there’s no ‘after’ for the hero. However, things are not going so great for our erstwhile Chosen One post-victory. Technically, there was a happy ending to that story: Simon Snow saved the World of Mages, defeated the bad guy, and got the boy of his dreams.

Wayward Son opens a year or so after the events of Carry On.

By page ten, my roommate told me to stop making faces and gasping like a Victorian maiden. Two pages later she did it again, but from Simon’s point of view this time. Also the review won’t make any sense.ĪJ: I was three pages into Wayward Son when Rainbow Rowell came into my house and personally punched me in the face with Emotions. At a bare minimum, you’ll know who lives, who dies, and who ends up with whom. I really can’t explain this book without revealing MAJOR SPOILERS for Carry On. I recommend reading Carry On first anyway, since there’s a lot of plot and character development in that book that sets up this one. I’ll try to avoid spoilers for Carry On here, but some are inevitable.

If you haven’t read Carry On yet, go do that. Wayward Son is the second book in a spinoff series - you might also want to check out Carrie’s review for the previous book, Carry On, and Sarah’s review for the book that started it all, Fangirl.Ĭarrie: Wayward Son is the sequel to Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell. Theme: Fish Out of Water, Road Trip, Vampire Genre: LGBTQIA, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult

Wayward son rainbow rowell