Book Review – Wayward Son (Simon Snow #2)

Hello hello, and welcome or welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet. After the adventures of Carry On, the first book in the Simon Snow trilogy, I’m back with my review of book two, Wayward Son. As always, Rainbow Rowell delivers an emotional punch with this book, and kept me gripped throughout.

Synopsis
Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after…

So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch?

What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light…

That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West.

They find trouble, of course. (Dragons, vampires, skunk-headed things with shotguns.) And they get lost. They get so lost, they start to wonder whether they ever knew where they were headed in the first place…

With Wayward Son, Rainbow Rowell has written a book for everyone who ever wondered what happened to the Chosen One after he saved the day. And a book for everyone who was ever more curious about the second kiss than the first. It’s another helping of sour cherry scones with an absolutely decadent amount of butter.

Come on, Simon Snow. Your hero’s journey might be over – but your life has just begun.

Review
Simon Snow is depressed mess, trying to work out whether it would be better for the boyfriend he loves to let him go, and how to function without magic – but with wings and a tail. Baz is at his wits end. Penny is feeling desperate. A mission is just what they need. Right?

As always with Rainbow Rowell, the book is highly character driven, especially in the dynamic between Simon and Baz. As a reader, we’re so desperate for their happily ever after, while seeing how much they’re struggling. Simon, especially, was easy to relate to as someone who struggles with depression; it’s far easier to push people away than let them in when you don’t know how to cope with who you are. Despite the fantastical aspect of the storyline, this is something that so many people can see in their own journeys, and is something that a lot of people can take away from the book.

That said.

This book hurt my gay little heart, and the ONLY REASON I’m letting it get away it is because I know there’s ANOTHER BOOK to make everything okay again.

It very much has ‘middle book’ syndrome and the ending doesn’t wrap things up, simply opens more doors, and, after I’ve hidden my heart away somewhere safe so Rainbow can’t get at it, I’ll be diving in to Any Way the Wind Blows, which was gifted to me by MacMillian Children’s Books, and I am STILL grateful for it a month later.

Thank you for joining me in this beautiful painful journey, and be sure to tune back in for my review of Any Way the Wind Blows really soon! In the meantime, tune back in for daily posts ranging from book tags to interviews.