Review – Wayward Son (Simon Snow, Book 2) by Rainbow Rowell (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: September 24, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-1250146076
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Simon Snow series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“The story is supposed to be over.
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.”
Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd book in the Simon Snow series. I borrowed this book from the library.
Story (3/5): There isn’t much of a plot in this story. Simon is depressed and Penny and Baz decide a roadtrip across America will perk him up. They decide to go from Chicago, where Penny’s boyfriend is, out to California to meet up with Agatha. As things progress they think Agatha might actually be in trouble. This is mainly a wandering story across the American landscape. While I enjoyed watching a Londoners perspective on the American lifestyle, it was pretty bland. They do get into some misadventures along the way. However, the plotline involving Agatha and some New Age Vampires felt very forced…almost like it was added in as an afterthought.
Characters (4/5): I always enjoy Baz, Simon, and Penny but they didn’t seem to really grow or change throughout the story much. There are some new characters added in that are pretty entertaining though. Nothing is really resolved between Baz and Simon and in the end I felt like they were kind of back to where they left off at the end of the first book.
Setting (4/5): I enjoyed the American setting. It was fun to see our characters out of their comfort zone. The setting of Nebraska and other exciting Midwest places made me laugh because that’s the area I grew up in. I liked the addition of the magical dead zones and thought that the American magician culture was intriguing.
Writing (4/5): This was very easy to read, flow well, and was engaging. The chapters vary a lot in length. Some are very very short while others are very long. I did have trouble sometimes remembering whose viewpoint I was reading from; Simon and Baz sounded very similar. There were many times where I had to page back to remind myself whose POV I was reading from. Part of this was because there were so many really short chapters.
Summary (4/5): Overall this was good but not as good as “Carry On”. I just felt like the whole story was a bit aimless and I am not sure what the point was. I didn’t even feel like Baz and Simon grew that much. I am not sure if I will read future Simon Snow books or not. They are kind of entertaining and fun but they also just feel really empty to me.
