Carry on by Rainbow Rowell is a YA fantasy masterpiece about a magical chosen one (Simon Snow) who has to save the world of mages against the biggest threat they have ever seen with the help of his friends. I absolutely adored this whole book from the world building to the characters I just couldn't get enough.
I have to admit that in the beginning I wasn't too thrilled with the slow pace and seemingly none existant story as Simon described random things he liked about his school but it didn't take me long at all to fall in love with his character and get so wrapped up in the story that I didn't want to stop. Once I got past that slow burn point I though that the rest had good pacing that was easy to keep up with and still felt action packed. Throughout the book we get to see the story from countless perspectives which gives insight into lots of different characters and shows their motivations which I'm always a sucker for.
As soon as Baz Pitch was introduced, Simon's roommate who was missing the first month of school, I instantly fell in love and found myself hoping that every chapter was from his perspective. His personality and witty attitude stole the show for me and he instantly made it onto the list of my favourite book characters ever.
The ending came at the perfect point as much as I hate to admit because I wanted it to go on forever but it created the perfect narrative arc and didn't feel like it'd been dragged out just for the sake of carrying on. The characters had all come to a certain point where I was 100% satisfied with their development and the story was well-rounded coming to a point I was pleased with. The epilogue was such a happy little bonus, making my heart happy with how cute it was and how it gave me all the feels.
There was a perfect balance of romance where at no point did it feel like it was over powering the narrative or fantasy elements and created the perfect blend of everything I love in a good YA fantasy which I think few other books have been able to achieve.
I listened to the audio book on audible and being someone who has only read one other audio book I thought that I wasn't going to like it but boy was I wrong! I know it's because of the amazing story but the narrator (Euan Morton) added so much more depth to the story and I could really visualise the characters so if you get the chance you should listen to the audio book to get a completely different perspective on the story.
In all honestly other than the slow start which in retrospect I see was for Simon's character development I can't think of any flaws, I just can't wait for the sequel! That's right wayward son comes out on September 24th so mark your calendar and get ready.
So as you may have guessed I gave it 5 stars and it became an instant all time favorite of mine on the first read. I highly recommend it and believe that everyone should read it to understand the cuteness that is this story and characters and I promise that you wont be able to stop yourself falling on your face in love with this book.