Any Way the Wind Blows

“Any Way The Wind Blows” by Rainbow Rowell is the gloriously queer & beautiful conclusion to her Simon Snow Trilogy. A book that I never thought would exist a few years ago. What started as an homage / parody / deconstruction of Harry Potter Drarry fanfiction became a wonderfully humorous & yet deep thing of its own. I love this book, & frankly, to me, it is perfect (or as close as I need it to be). Penelope & Shepard, Simon & Baz, & Agatha & a new character all get their own separate plot lines that weave in & out of one another. I love these & so many of the secondary characters so much. This is a book of healing & love & loss & courage. There’s boy x boy kissing, & girls kissing girls, & a badass witch kissing a Normal. There’s also so many tender family moments. I can’t recommend this series enough. I look forward to re-reading it too many times & shoving it in anyone’s hands I can. It makes me believe or wonder (maybe?), that I’ll find love again too.

Such a good series, I bought the first two books at my local bookstore and immediately jumped online to buy the third when I finished them. These characters are so lovable and the story is heartbreaking and sweet and epic and beautiful. The kind of story where you have to hug the book to your chest for a second and just process (because you can’t hug the characters, and oh my word do they need hugs) I absolutely 100% recommend this series.

NOTE: There are some spoilers for the book and the series in this review. If you haven't read the book yet, go read it, and then come back to see if our thoughts about it are similar! To say I was eagerly anticipating the release of this novel would be a massive understatement. I loved the first two books in this series, and Simon and Baz are some of my favorite characters I've ever read. The first novel was a fun deconstruction of the Chosen One story. The second story was not what I expected but turned out to be a really interesting look into the psyche of someone who loses everything they've ever known. I don't think I've ever read a book quite like it that explored what happens to the Chosen One once he's fulfilled his role and is no longer 'chosen' anymore. So, I was excited to see what the finale of the narrative had in store, and, for the most part, the book lived up to my expectations. The pace of the book was lightning fast. I never really wanted to put it down, and the overall plot was interesting and kept me hooked. There was a lot going on because each of the main characters had their own subplots that sort of came together in the very end. They were all enjoyable to varying degrees and seemed focused on a central theme for all the characters: identifying who they were and what that means for their life moving forward. For the most part, I enjoyed getting the multiple POVs throughout the story, but there were times I think it was used a bit too much. For example, one chapter had multiple POV changes during the same scene, which created some confusion in keeping up with the dialogue because I couldn't remember whose POV it was to know who was talking at times. All of the characters really shined in this book and exhibited quite a bit of growth and change from where they were at the start of the novel. Simon was still struggling with determining who he was after losing all of his magic and spent most of the book on a journey of figuring out his identity. His hardships and growth were compelling to read, and the book's exploration of his sexual orientation and his struggle to attach a label to himself were great representation for people still unsure of how to define themselves. Baz spent a good bit of the story coming to terms with some of the bad things he did in the name of his family, and Penelope learned how to color outside the lines a bit by breaking more rules than ever and being more independent from Simon. Agatha also grew to find her place in the world now that she is no longer the girlfriend of the Chosen One who is always getting kidnapped. Overall, all their stories were engaging, but I did miss having the entire gang together. They spent most of the book on their individual journeys, which resulted in a loss of the spark their interactions as a group gave the two previous books. The main plot of the book about the arrival of new Chosen Ones was interesting and created a great dilemma for Simon. It also acted as a good reflection of some current political affairs with its focus on conspiracy theories and leaders who promise salvation and restoration of former glory but instead bring nothing but lies and deceit. Although, I can't make up my mind if the ending was somewhat repetitive or just a great mirror of the first story to bookend the series. The ending also left quite a few things unanswered and felt a bit rushed. I would have liked more time to see what Simon does with the information he learns at the end of the book, and the book never answered what got amplified within him from the spell. The best part of this book was undoubtedly the relationship between Simon and Baz. The writing does a great job of conveying how difficult it was for the characters, especially Simon, to build intimacy and connection. The book also shows excellent examples of how consent works within a relationship, and I was happy to see it explored in such depth. ***MAJOR SPOILER***They really were great together, which I was happy about after how horrible they were together in the last book. The first part of this book continued their relationship problems from the last novel with the rest of the book focusing on how they overcome them. If I have one major complaint, I think the first part of this book should have actually been the ending of the second book. It would have made some of the turnabout in their relationship seem less sudden and drastic, especially if their was a slight time gap between the two stories. Despite this flaw, the growth of their relationship in this book was a joy to read and made me happy for them. Overall, I enjoyed this book just as much as I expected. The relationship between Baz and Simon was front and center while also giving each individual character an interesting arc of growth. I still have some questions and think some things could have been done differently to improve the story. But I'm sure I will re-read this book and the entire series over and over again. Therefore, I rate the book 4 out of 5 stars.

To put it simply I loved everything about this book. I loved carry on. I loved wayward son(though it broke my heart at times) and I loved anyway the wind blows. I never would have that thought that reading carry on half heartedly would lead me here, three books later. I don't think I've ever read a trilogy so fast before( I'm a bit impressed with myself and a bit shocked to say the least) Rainbow truly did something here with the world she created and I am honored that I was given the opportunity to experience it. The mending of broken hearts and interactions with old and new characters made this book so enjoyable that I wish I could read it a second time. I found my self placing a sticky note on every part that I liked but i decided that I probably shouldn't because then I would run of of sticky notes. (Spoiler warning)The intimate scenes between Baz and Simon really made the book for me. It pained me the way they were in waywardson and the beginning of this book just hit me while I was down. But I loved the reconstruction of their relationship from the ground up and the challenges they had to overcome together. My heart is now at ease and I hope that Rainbow will continue to make beautiful worlds like this one, with even more beautiful written characters.

I loved this book SO MUCH! I loved Carry On. A lot. It’s one of my favorite books. But I was disappointed by Wayward Son the first time I read it. (I enjoyed it much more when I recently did a re-listen.) Wayward Son served it’s purpose, it gave us Shepard, and it made me like Agatha and brought her back to London, and it gave them all a fun side quest. But this book is the sequel we’ve been waiting for. It ties up all the loose ends. It was emotional and it dug deep into relationships and was exciting and full of revelations. It was absolutely wonderful!!! I can’t wait to listen to the audio version. Euan Morton has done an amazing job narrating this series. This trilogy has just been awesome. I can’t wait to see what Rainbow comes up with next.

This book is perfect and i love it.

J’ai tout aimé et c’était tout ce que j’attendais. J’ai vraiment retrouvé ce que j’avais adoré au début de la saga, et l’auteure a su développer et finir son histoire avec brillo. Déjà, ces personnages ! On ne peut que les adorer. Baz et Simon c’est juste la base, et je les aimes d’amour. Quel bonheur de les voir grandir et s’épanouir. Si au début du tome, je voyais pas trop où on voulait m’emmener, j’ai décider de me laisser porter par le récit, et j’ai pu vraiment apprécier la tournure des événements et la conclusion. Au final, pour ce tome conclut merveilleusement bien cette saga. C’est fais avec beaucoup de délicatesse, de douceur. Pour ceux qui cherche une lecture doudou je ne peux que vous conseiller Carry On.

The first book was definitely the best one. The second one the worst. The last one was okay. I feel like the story just got worse after the first book. In the first book the biggest problem got solved and then the story continues when it doesn’t really need to. The book just creates more and more problems.

After the painful second book full of heart pain (mine), this book was just exactly what was needed. We got some answers, many smooches, a bit of pain because why not, but most of all we got communication which is something I always appreciate in a book. This was a bit more new adult compared to the previous books, but not overly descriptive nor explicit. The magic element of the story was as usual interesting and there were many side plots to follow among the main one, which may have resulted in questions but, in the end, for me everything worked well. I will miss these characters and this world!

I discovered Carry On by chance sometime early this year and immediately fell in love with the characters Rainbow Rowell has created. I wanted more of Simon & Baz and of course, of Penelope. So when this third book was announced I immediately preordered it (had some trouble with that but eventually I got to reading it) and I loved every second of it. I usually dont enjoy when books change perspectives this frequently, but Rainbow Rowell really pulls it off. The tension and chemistry between characters is outstanding and I loved the story. there were one or two things I would have preferred to be a little different but that didnt take away from my enjoyment of this trilogy Spoilers the (almost) breakup scene broke my heart. From how perspectives between Simon and Baz shifted to the language, the dialogue, the tension. It was bloody perfect. That followed by the love, the tenderness and the sweetness between the two had my heart just melting. I dont tend to go for books that feature a lot of romance but Rowell is damn good at it