I have a lot to say about Carry On. WHERE TO BEGIN. Carry On is an extension of the book-within-a-book from Rowell’s last-but-one book, Fangirl, set in the world of Simon Snow where Fangirl‘s Cath chose to spend so much of her time. And yes, when you start out, you’ll think Gosh this is awfully Harry Potterish, but then of course you’ll find that Rainbow Rowell knows this and is playing with it, and you’ll be all right after that.
Simon Snow is destined to be the world’s greatest Mage; but as his maybe-a-vampire nemesis roommate Baz is constantly reminding him, he’s the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen. His magic doesn’t work for him half the time, and when he’s in extreme situations of danger, he goes off, releasing a burst of uncontrollable magic with the power to destroy (or protect) anything in his vicinity. He’s got to get a handle on it quickly, because the magickal world is counting on him to defeat the Insidious Humdrum. But all he can think about is finding Baz, who hasn’t come back to school this term.
I’m going to get my criticisms out of the way up front so we can spend the rest of this post talking about Agatha: I think Rainbow Rowell maybe just is not that good at plot. The plot of Carry On, which involves trying to defeat the Insidious Humdrum and finding out who was responsible for Baz’s mother’s death, does not fit together nicely, with pieces that slot satisfyingly into place as you go along. And for a book so reminiscent of the Harry Potter series (which is painstakingly plotted), it’s particularly noticeable.
THAT IS OKAY THOUGH. Not everyone is great at plot.
Where Rainbow Rowell does excel is character development, dialogue, and relationships, and she’s one of the best in the business at those things. Carry On absolutely shines on a scene-to-scene level.
Snow’s mouth is hanging slightly open. His tongue shines black in the dark. “Why are you such a villain?” He sounds disgusted. “Why have you already thought of that?” . . .
“Didn’t you?”
“No.”
“This is why I’m going to beat you,” I say.
“We’re on a truce,” Snow says.
“I can still think antagonistically. I’m thinking violent thoughts at you constantly.”
He grabs my hand. I want to pull it away, but I don’t want to look scared–and also I don’t want to pull it away. Bloody Snow. I’m thinking violent thoughts at him right now.
The other charm of the book is its winky-but-not-overly-winky awareness of the tropes it’s playing around with. Rowell is mightily aware of this book as both part of a fandom (Draco/Harry) and creating a fandom (y’all I am so psyched to talk about Agatha), and she’s able to be lighthearted about it without ever making her characters’ feelings and relationships less important.
OKAY GOOD, NOW AGATHA. Here will be some spoilers for the book (big ones!), so if you don’t want to know about it, stop reading at once.
Agatha is my faaaaaaavorite. Who’s going to write the longform fanfic about Agatha’s post-this-book adventures in California with her stolen-ass cocker spaniel? The internet exists for this, people, let’s get on it. For a quite secondary character, Agatha was my utter favorite. I confess that hers was the fate I read the ending to discover, and it was so unexpected and satisfying that I have been wanting to shriek about it ever since.
I was worried people were going to not like Agatha, but so far, everyone I’ve talked to (admittedly a small sample) has said Agatha is their favorite. And I can’t exactly put my finger on why. I guess it is because she behaves perfectly rationally and also in perfect opposition to what characters of her type are meant to do in stories of this type. She does that, and then she absolutely refuses to be sorry for it. And why goddamn should she! Good for you, Agatha! You enjoy your dog and your apartment!
Weigh in on Agatha in the comments! (Or anything else you may wish to discuss.)