Wayward Son, the second installment of the Carry On series written by Rainbow Rowell, follows Simon, Baz, and the rest of the gang in the aftermath of defeating the Humdrum. 

Simon is in sort of a depression due to losing his magic in his epic final battle at the end of Carry On, and his best friend Penelope has the grand idea to go visit Agatha, his ex-girlfriend in America. What was supposed to be a road trip across America turns into so much more when Agatha is held hostage by an organization hell bent on using her genetics to uncover the secret to magic. The question is: what will Simon Snow do now? 

This book truly depicts the age old question of what happens to the hero after the epilogue. Simon isn’t in the best shape, which is clear from the y happily ever beginning, but who can be after they have their entire identity stripped away from them? Baz is the ever-dutiful boyfriend and with Penelope by his side Simon learns that magic isn’t everything, that he’s still worthy even though his destiny is fulfilled. 

In addition, I thought that this book was better written than the first installment, but I’m not sure if it was the style of the descriptions of American landscapes that made it so. As someone who has spanned quite a bit of the western part of America, it was awesome to see it through someone else’s eyes. The setting plays such a bigger role in this work given the complexity of Dead Spots, but I thought that the explanations behind the reasoning was spot on and made the work much more enjoyable since readers got to experience so much more than just magicians (for the record, I could do without any more vampires; except Baz, he’s great.) 

My favorite part of this work had to be how friendship shined throughout the hardship, because being able to depend on your friends is a lesson that everyone should learn at one point or another. Ultimately it is what saved the trio, plus Agatha and new-character Shepard, so it was nice to see that the ending wasn’t exactly romantic as it is so many times, but rather platonic given the importance friendship played throughout the book. 

Wayward Son was a fantastic representation of the complexity of the magical world, a fact readers will soon realize given the amount of situations the Magee work themselves into and out of, but hearing about how they resolve the issues in the end never gets old. 

In my second venture into the world of mages and Rainbow Rowell, I can honestly say that I cannot wait to finish the series. The cliffhanger at the end there helps, for sure, but even so I’m still intrigued by what will happen to everyone in the final installment. Wayward Son is everything I expected it to be and more, so I’d give it a solid four out of five stars, solely because I’d liked to have seen more Simon and Baz. Here’s to hoping there’s more of them in Any Way the Wind Blows!