Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2)

by Rainbow Rowell

[yendysyerb]

When you write fanfiction for your own book (except the fanfiction is bad. Like really bad).

I adore Carry On but geez... this is a hot mess. Really lacking in the developed character relationships department (which is the most important part of storytelling sooooooooo... And odd, as the first book was all about developing a character relationship). Such a humdrum (get it?), superficial story. Do I care what's going on with Agatha and her cardboard cutout friend? I damn well do not. The antagonist is such a pile of nothing, I can't even remember what frat boy name he had. This entire book really lacked stakes, which made the conflicts feel so null and void. Worst of all, this book doesn't function well on its own. It adds almost no development of the characters or their relationships, and feels very much like a throwaway story. There is hardly any resolution, as the ending is basically an advertisement to buy the next book. Even on the basis of adding to the world building it does a piss poor job. How do you possibly make a tour across America, Route 66 style, boring? By forgetting to take a hot second and write about it. The story stampedes ahead with little to no room for pause, and becomes just a blur of hotels and restaurants. We hear mention of all the mythical wonders out there in America, but we hardly get a good look at any of it. There is just such a lack of depth to everything here.

That's all I got right now. Peace out!