Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
FORD’S SIMON SNOW BINGE READ BOOK 1 OF 4:
✅ Fangirl (the meta introduction to Simon Snow)
🟨 Carry On (Simon Snow #1)
🟧 Wayward Son (Simon Snow #2)
🟥 Any Way the Wind Blows (Simon Snow #3 - releases July 6, 2021)
I’m the last one to the party in our book club to read this book and I think at this point, I’m the deciding vote. Some people didn’t like it and some people loved it. And those opinions swap when it comes to the Simon Snow books that follow, which I find fascinating. In anticipation for the release of the third Simon Snow, a series that Sky does not shut up about, I thought I would dig into the series for the first time and cast my vote into the **Chalice of Flames**.
The Simon Snow series really starts with this book, because Carry On, the first “official” Simon Snow novel, is the book that the main character, Cath is writing in Fangirl. Yes, it’s very meta. Let’s dive in:
I really liked Fangirl until the end. Why were the last 50 pages so rushed? Why didn’t we get closure on most everything that was affecting Cath’s life? The end said to me, “this book was about letting go of her fanfic goals and writing that paper for class.” Nope. No, thank you. I do not choose to believe that was the goal of this story.
Cath is a freshman, learning how to adult on her own. Her twin has set off to live her peak freshman life and introverted Cath feels unmoored and alone. But she always has her fanfic fans on the internet, because Cath is one of the most popular fic writers about a Harry Potter-ish series, Simon Snow.
Over the course of the book, Cath finds a boyfriend she wants to grow comfortable with (read: wants to have sex with), has to complete a short story for a class she gets an incomplete in, needs to finish her epic fanfic book before the final book in the canon series comes out, make sure her dad is okay without her and her sister after a mental breakdown, repair her relationship with her distant and alcoholic sister, and find closure in her relationship with her absent mother after she shows up again.
We, as readers, get conclusions on: the short story, the dad, and the sister. We don’t get to celebrate her finishing her fanfic. We don’t get to enjoy the awkwardness of her first time with her boyfriend, we don’t get any finality on her relationship with her mother.
This book was lost in the last act. It’s like she was afraid of it being too long. -Ford
