A new Harry Potter for a new score of years

I thought the “chosen one” trope was played out. Whether it was Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or literally any other main character from the books of my childhood, they all had a prophecy that predestined them for glory.

Growing up, I read book after book where the main character was fated to save the world from the big bad, from the evil that lurked behind every corner. I poured over black and white print, soaking in stories of the protagonist’s promised success.

And I slowly got sick of seeing the same story, time and again.

So, yes, I thought the chosen one trope was played out. And then I read “Carry On: the Rise and Fall of Simon Snow” by Rainbow Rowell.

From legendary heroes to true loves, worst enemies to wise mentors, “Carry On” has everything you’d expect from a chosen one book.

Except it’s completely different.

Simon Snow may be legendary, but that’s where the similarities stop. His true love, Agatha, dumped him; his worst enemy, Baz, may be his closest ally; and his wise mentor, the Mage, refuses to talk to him.

Simon is, to put it simply, a complete failure of a chosen one.

When Baz asks Simon to help him find his mother’s killer, Simon doesn’t really know why he agrees to do it. The two of them are on opposite sides of a war between the old magicians and the new, and they’re set to burn each other down.

Their unlikely alliance forces Simon to navigate through his feelings towards Baz, and his own uncharted past. And as the boys dig deeper into what really happened to Baz’s mother, they start to uncover a murder plot that’s larger than either of them ever anticipated.

Underneath everything is the daunting presence of the Insidious Humdrum, the biggest threat to magic in history. It’s slowly eating away at all of the magic, leaving nothing but emptiness in its wake. Simon’s destined to defeat it, but success seems futile unless he manages to get a handle on his runaway powers.

“Carry On” captures the fantasy of “Harry Potter” and the lifelike charm of Rowell’s previous works (“Eleanor and Park”, “Fangirl”). With fast paced banter, dynamic characters, and genius world building, “Carry On” leaves you with a renewed desire for magic, and the undeniable want to reread.

Plus, with a sequel promised for 2020, only one thing in Simon’s future is known for certain: “this will end in flames”.