I don’t know how many times I have stated this in my other social media—I am in a reading slump. Or, I was, I guess. I don’t think I am cured yet but by this week I have already finished two books that can’t be said as thin books, so, I have no idea what state I am in right now. (Indonesia, but that’s not what I mean.)

Anyway, I have read two Rainbow Rowell’s book and I just finished one in less than 5 hours, and her writing style rubbed on me temporarily, as it always the case every time I finished a book. (It’s a problem when I was writing my grad thesis a year ago, but it certainly not a problem now.)

And I’ve heard about Simon Snow and his sexy vampire boyfriend Baz since I read Fangirl years ago. When I knew RR released an actual book about them, I was ecstatic. I only could get my hand on them (my eyes on them) recently, and I definitely missed all the fandom euphoria.

Anyway,

(Anyway, I noticed that there’s a lot of anyway in everyone’s POV in Carry On, and I couldn’t help but feel represented lol. I use anyway a lot, my friends have told me that a lot. It’s handy! It’s nice!)

So, Carry On. And Wayward Son.

Carry On is nice. It’s a very light reading; I love how we are directly thrown in the middle of Simon’s life—it’s his last year!—and we get to know tidbits of his past adventures along the way. I can see a lot of people might not like this, because it leaves so many plot holes that people want to fill (yes this is a Humdrum reference)—but I don’t care about other people, I like this!

Yet with Wayward Son I have to agree with the majority of its goodread’s review—it’s just feel so rushed and shallow. Well, I don’t mind the rush, but the characters feel as shallow as my bathroom’s water tube. There’s this major communication issue in all of the character in this book, and someone in the GR comment said that it is not addressed and cooked well enough, and I agree. And leaving us with the ‘prologue’ for the next book right at the end of the book? Well I have had that experience with the Red Queen series, and I don’t really want to repeat that again lol.

At least, at least, it is acceptable if the resolution for Wayward Son is not like that. The ending of their ‘battle’? I don’t think that’s satisfactory. I think, if RR settle with a more satisfactory ending, I think a lot of us can accept Penny’s last line on the ‘prologue’.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love it, though. Both book magickally cured my reading slump—or I just in dire need of a light read. (I finished two historical fiction novels two months ago, and currently reading another one. I guess my brain refuses to accept more of that.)

If RR wants to give us a more satisfactory ending in the third book, hopefully she could water down the reader’s thirst and regrow their enthusiasm.