Any Way The Wind Blows Review

In Carry On, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in Wayward Son, they wondered whether everything they understood about themselves might be wrong.

In Any Way the Wind Blows, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha have to decide how to move forward.

For Simon, that means deciding whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages -- and if he doesn't, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she's smuggled an American Normal into London, and now she isn't sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough.

Any Way the Wind Blows takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet.

This book is a finale. It tells secrets and answers questions and lays ghosts to rest.

Carry On was conceived as a book about Chosen One stories; Any Way the Wind Blows is an ending about endings. About catharsis and closure, and how we choose to move on from the traumas and triumphs that try to define us.

General Impressions

This is the end folks! And what an end. This is the stuff fandom dreams are made of. Rainbow gave us everything we wanted, needed and were too afraid to ask for.

If you are one of the few people that have never read or come across the 'Carry On' series, this is Harry Potter done right for a more grown-up audience and, more importantly, not written by a TERF. 'Any Way the Wind Blows' is the ending of the trilogy, and even though a part of me was dreading reading it and then having to live with the knowledge that I would never again meet these characters (Rainbow, please change your mind), it was one of the most joyous reading experiences I have ever had.

Rainbow carried on (get it?) with her tradition of grabbing all the fantasy cliches by the throat and then dealing with them seriously. All the characters in this book have not only thoughts, feelings and arcs of their own, they have to seriously work at facing up or avoiding not only adversities but the trauma they leave behind. PTSD, depression, isolation, discrimination, LGBTQ+ identities, all of these and many more feature throughout the series and this book as well but the one I noticed the most in this book was consent, not because it featured the most or was the most important but because I think it's the rarest to be featured in other YA books, particularly when it comes to non-straight, non-female characters. The romantic scenes between Simon and Baz were some of the most beautiful I have ever read because at the forefront of the author's mind was always making sure that the reader understood that those characters are communicating and asking for consent throughout instead of just magically knowing how to do everything and being able to read their partner's wishes. Seriously, this is better Sex Ed than most kids get in school.

The ending itself left the tiniest bit unfulfilled, but I know that's because I still have so many questions but this was an awesome book and I need a Netflix series for yesterday!

Rating: 4.5/5