Name: Wayward Son
Rating: 3.871296296296296 (540 reviews)
ISBN: 9781432872113

Rainbow Rowell

Simon Snow is back and heading to America in the hotly anticipated sequel to #1 New York Times-bestselling Rowell's Carry On.

Wayward Son

Sarah Sammis

000000 --- a paranormal road trip that fits right at the bottom of the road narrative narrative spectrum. It's very similar (but with magic) to On the Trail to Sunset but with a city as the final destination (after vampire shenanigans) and a primarily interstate route. There's a hook for a third book.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2019/comm...

wayward son grabbed me by the collar and dragged me through sand dunes alongside the team and i wouldn’t have asked for anything else ❤️‍🔥

Julia

[3.5/5] Rainbow said this book would make her fans mad and she was right.

(Bre)anne✨

haley bertsch

y’all ever read a book and go !!!!!!! other people feel that too!?!!?
yeah this was me. def not the main intention of the book but i’ve never seen any other book show anything like the relationship that simon has with depression affecting his romantic relationships

I TRIED MY HARDEST TO DRAG THIS OUT AS LONG AS I COULD SO IT WOULDN'T END BUT I FINALLY FINISHED IT!

I can't believe the journey this book just took me on, I still can't believe there's even a sequel despite just reading it! I honestly don't know what to say about it except that I absolutely loved every single minute of it. I really wish Rainbow Rowell wrote more fantasy because I'd eat that up so fast, her writing is incredible. I swear I love these characters so much and I really can't wait for another book to come out. I usually don't like books with multiple perspectives but there's just something about these books I vibe with, it's just done so well and it just adds so much to the story there's no character I don't like to read from

I just love the world of this book and my boys Simon and Baz (Baz especially oh my god I adore himmm), I also absolutely love Shepherd my new boy!! He was such an interesting character and AT THE END OMG! I'M SO EXCITED TO SEE WHERE THE STORY GOES WITH HIM IN THE NEXT BOOK!
SPEAKING OF THAT CLIFFHANGER! I'M SO MAD I NEED THE NEXT BOOK RIGHT NOW I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS/WHAT'S GOING ON! ALSO I CAN'T JUST BE LEFT WITH SIMON AND BAZ LIKE T H A T. AHHHHHHHH

ANYWAY 5* I JUST FINISHED THIS ABOUT 5 MINUTES AGO SO I'M ALL OVER THE PLACE!

fizzy

** spoiler alert **
           The way this amazing book ended, I wasn’t expecting it. But anyway, it’s time for me to stalk Rainbow Rowell on every social media platform and to countdown the seconds till Any Way the Wind Blows.

Rachel Kanyid

Honestly did not love this. It was a lot slower paced than I would have liked for the first 175 pages, and then the last part of it kind of flew by so fast it that it didn't seem to build. Overall pretty lackluster - compared to how much I liked the first book.

taylor alyse pisanie

IM SO MAD DJFNTJDCJD THAT WAS NOT THE ENDING I WANTED

Jeff James

I barreled through this book while packing to move. The narrator is especially good, and it made me wish I’d listened to the first book in audio (although the hardcovers have such wonderful covers that I’d be sad to miss out).

I didn’t love this book quite as much as the first one, but it’s still a hell of a lot of fun spending time with these characters, and I’m always game for authors playing with what happens after the “chosen one” saves the day.

Can’t wait for book three.

Jude Moon

2022:
Editing this review because i feel the need to stand up for this book. I'm currently reading the last book in the trilogy and i can't stop thinking how much i love how the author has explored Simon's mental health, along with his relationship with Baz. This second book was highly important to Simon's character and I realize it now by reading his POV in the third book. Rainbow has explored the trope of "the chosen one" in such an interesting way !! I just wanted to say that, personally, even if people wish that it would've stayed as a stand-alone, I think that this story was meant to be a trilogy. And I stand by what I said !!!




2020:
WHAT IS THIS ENDING?????? listen rainbow rowell if you don't end this trilogy well i will sue you

anyways! it wasn't carry on but i read it in barely three days and ive been screaming through the last 50 pages so i feel well fed y'all

Claudia Ganea

read during the 2020 owls magical readathon for history of magic (book featuring witches/wizards)!!

y'all saw this coming, right? you can't not have seen this coming.

ever since reading "carry on", this world, these characters, this story has such a special place in my heart 🥺 not gonna lie, i was slightly nervous about the sequel, because i was afraid it wouldn't measure up to the masterpiece that is the first book, but LET ME TELL YOU IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT AND I'M SO HAPPY???? 

spoiler-ish thoughts below, so proceed with caution!

(view spoiler)[simon was... my heart and soul during this. i understand how he's feeling so, so deeply. i feel the exact same way almost every single day. i wish he wasn't going through this, but i completely understand where he's coming from, and it made him that much easier to love (as if i hadn't been stuck with him since the first book?? hello???)

i loved that we got to see this side of him, the side that doesn't quite know what to do with himself when the hero-being isn't really a thing anymore. the side that doesn't know how to accept love, because he feels like he's not worthy of it anymore. i truly love that rainbow didn't shy away from portraying simon like this. but ultimately, what made the book for me was the renaissance fair, simon learning how to drive, simon being excited about america, simon being amazed at the sights around him. simon, broken, defeated, who still finds hope and begins to get better. that's such an important message to send. 

here's the thing, though, i also wanted to scream at the boy 99% of the book (him AND his dumbass boyfriend who just need to COMMUNICATE FOR CROWLEY'S SAKE) and again, i 100% get why he's acting like this. i even understand why baz himself is pulling away (he's the king of self-loathing after all). but you guys just. need. to. TALK. and god DAMN am i happy that we're getting a third book because these two idiots need to be in love and happy and sappy and gross and HAPPY. OKAY.

i just. i loved this. i loved every single second reading it. i adore penelope, shepard's the sweetest, i hate micah, lamb and the now next crew were super compelling, agatha was slightly annoying at first but she's also a badass (also missed opportunity because her and ginger???? NEEDED TO HAPPEN). was the story the most mind-bending, plot-twisty thing i've ever read? no, but i fell hard and i'm SO BEYOND EXCITED FOR "ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS"!!! (hide spoiler)]

if you've also read the book, i'd love to hear your thoughts on it~ please drop a comment or feel free to dm me on any of my other social media!!

betty

** spoiler alert **
           3 ⭐️ 

Congrats on the Simon Snow series for being the only series with Tyrannus Basilton Grimm Pitch in it

No but seriously this book was weird it felt like nothing happened until like the last 100 pages it was kinda frustrating bc I really love these characters but the miscommunication between Simon and Baz the entire way through made this book so frustrating to read. They really could’ve solved all their problems with a sentence that was said in the last 2 pages. I heard this was everyone’s least favourite book in the series so I really hope any way the wind blows will be at least a little bit better paced (also pls just let snowbaz be happy this book was painful) I have to give it to them though this book was a lot more original than the first one, at times I don’t think that really worked in it’s favour though since the worldbuilding in the first book relied so much on you already having prior knowledge about Harry Potter so some things felt rushed or confusing. 

‘Carry On is about what if everything we knew about the world was wrong, and then Wayward Son is about what if everything we knew about ourselves was wrong’

What did the characters actually learn about themselves exactly? My main problem with this book is it didn’t expand on anything from the first book it felt kinda like an irrelevant side quest who’s only purpose was to traumatise the characters even further. Like we as readers know everything from reading carry on but the characters don’t? I thought the whole purpose of reintroducing Agatha and her taking the photo of Lucy to America with her was the resolve the plot of Simon not knowing his parents? It just felt like none of the characters really grew in this book and the whole purpose of it was just irrelevant like I genuinely didn’t know what they were still doing in America until Agatha called them and that actually gave them a purpose to ‘defeat a villain’ which is all Rainbow Rowell thinks these characters are actually capable of. 

Overall I didn’t hate this book but I also didn’t enjoy it as much as Carry On. A lot of people think that Carry On could be it’s own standalone novel and whilst I kinda agree I’m also grateful that it was turned into a series (I just kinda wish the series expanded more on them as characters and their issues instead of there just being a villain to defeat every time) I just really enjoy these characters (especially Baz) and I wish they were handled better in this book 😭😭 this series is a huge comfort for me but I just can’t look past some of the really problematic elements of it (and also Rainbow Rowell and her writing in general) that being said I am genuinely looking forward to any way the wind blows and I hope it’ll be a lot less messy than this and clear up the loose ends that I hoped would be but just weren’t solved in this book

riven

well that left me sobbing. still amazing though.

Isabela H 

Ok so this book was aggravating but in all the right ways (I suppooooooooose) but it felt like only a part of a bigger book. I don't know if that's what it was supposed to feel like but on the whole, it was very unsatisfying. Definitely looking forward to the last book.

sophia n

spoilers for book one!

  “Go ahead and shoot me. This isn’t my favourite shirt.”


for an “obviously middle book” (as rowell herself called it lmao) this book was ... near flawless. i knew rowell had hinted long ago/tweeted about continuing this series beyond just one more book, so i didn’t go into this thinking it would tie everything up neatly with a bow, what i EXPECTED was a book that would basically do the opposite of what JKR did with her ending and epilogue: explore the reality of what the aftermath and trauma of a 'chosen one' story looks like, after it's over. and boy did this book DELIVER.

from a plot perspective: i reread carry on right before reading this and i’m so glad i did, because i’m not entirely sure i would have remembered how important to the plot the vampires were to the first book, which carried so beautifully into this book. the conflict of baz's identity as a vampire himself thrown in with (view spoiler)[the realization that there were vampires in the us but living the complete opposite life that vampires were living in england, a gorgeous glitzy vegas narrative foil to book one's moody vampire underbelly, BUT taking the same driving reason why nicodemus became a vampire and cranking it up to 100 with silicon valley vamps (hide spoiler)] (more vampire world building, basically) was really a great continuation of a thread that had begun in the first book, and honestly i wasn’t expecting her to pick it up, which made me love it even more. so much nuance to it. 

from a character perspective: i loved that this book challenged each of the characters from the first book with what it really means to be yourself, choose for yourself, and heal in the aftermath of what was essentially grooming for war. i think rowell did an excellent job at showing this internal conflict with each character in different ways; (view spoiler)[simon challenged with learning to be vulnerable, baz learning to understand and care for himself, penny being challenged by her core belief that magic makes her unstoppable, and that she always has the answers/is always right, and agatha learning that she can’t run away from herself. (hide spoiler)] chefs fucking kiss, my dudes.
also re: simon & baz in this book: (view spoiler)[the balance of angst bc of uncertainty of self AND unconditional love simon and baz have for each other in this book ... i thought i was going to COMBUST. it's PERFECTLY done. of course i want them to just live happily ever after, but they have so much to work through to get there, and repeatedly choose to want to fight through it for each other, especially simon in this book, which is. the best. it's so lovely and gay and heartbreaking at the same time and you KNOW they'll get there but they have to struggle through it and man i loved it. slams mug on floor ANOTHER (hide spoiler)]

some new things: i adored shepard from the SECOND he was introduced. i kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with him, yet i also trusted him immediately because he was just so genuinely CURIOUS and it was infectious. (view spoiler)[i loved his crush on penny, and how in the end he really just was a monsterfucker and lbr the gang would be dead like 3x over without him. (hide spoiler)] amazing. what a great new character and a great way to introduce and integrate a new character into the core group. also the little reveal at the very end was SO intriguing! ahh!!!

here’s the thing. i love a good roadtrip story. especially through america, it really is such a wild lawless-feeling place, and this book captured that feeling perfectly without ever staying in it too long that it felt dragged out, but also touching it just enough that i felt the magic from each piece. british magicians at a ren faire in the midwest? driving for 10 hours before reaching a single town? but also running into trouble in the middle of nowhere, with (view spoiler)[the “quiet zones” (and what an incredible addition to the world and magic system she’s built already GAH) and magical creatures that had escaped to america, a mountain of fucking dragons, the water spirit creature living in the hoover dam, and even the fucking vampire king (hide spoiler)] ... god there are so many little DETAILS that i just ate up in this book.

i honestly could talk about this for ages but i feel like i’d get to a point where I’m just giving you a play-by-play of the book lmao so i guess i should stop ... i mean i did rate it nearly 5 stars for a reason so you knew what was coming :’)

also just have to mention: jealous (and invisible) simon, and baz’s with his mum’s scarf ... i am tears what a fucking gift

my two biggest criticisms: agatha wasn’t queer enough (lolol i'm joking ... but also not), and rowell keeps showing her ass with how uninformed she is with writing poc minorities. other people have said it better, so i won’t belabor it, but she really is just super ignorant and it’s obviously hurtful. i urge you to seek out other people’s commentary and reviews and inform yourself on WHY it’s harmful. i really want Rowell and her editors to do better.

i think some people went into this book thinking it was a finale to carry on, which will def harm your reading experience imo. enjoy it for what it is: further exploration and depth to a book that we all sort of expected to be a standalone. i don't think it promises anything else, and i feel it completely delivers on what it promises.

i can’t wait for the 3rd book, i can’t BELIEVE that we’re getting a simon snow trilogy in our lifetime. hashtag so blessed i might cry.

(also can we talk about how the title of the 3rd book is the last line of bohemian rhapsody aka the lyrics the mage was trying to use when he was attempting to take the magic from ebb ... you know what, no, on second thought, let’s not talk about it i will just scream)

(also also: (view spoiler)[i hope baz learning that he can drain someone without turning them OR killing them AND simon’s “i’d open a vein”/“i’d tie our hearts together, chamber by chamber” mean what i think it means ... AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE POETIC-NESS OF CH41 I AM DECEASED (hide spoiler)] okay i'm done time to go waste away until book 3 drops)

suffered from a bit of 'the sequel' trope but i'll set it aside bc i love them. i'm kinda upset about the sheer amount of miscommunication that would've been easily sorted. 

faith hurren

suffered from a bit of 'the sequel' trope but i'll set it aside bc i love them. i'm kinda upset about the sheer amount of miscommunication that would've been easily sorted. 

but all in all, good book-

Wayward Son

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