Book Review: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

As a little gay kid obsessed with magic and boys, this book was everything. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell is essentially longform Drarry (Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter) fanfiction, but it’s so much more than that. While it shares Rowling’s basic premise of a wizard school for teenagers, Carry On’s Watford has an entirely different feel than the damp shadows of Hogwarts. Rowell’s wizarding world is lighter, airer, with more space for one-liners and asides. The basic characters are the same (an unknowing hero, a whip-smart sidekick, an obnoxious prep school graduate) but they don’t carry the baggage of their Harry Potter counterparts. The emotional chemistry of the characters, both alone and as a group, feels different  - Harry and Draco (Simon and Baz) have been reimagined so they actually fit together as a couple. Magic in Carry On is based on how attached people are to particular sayings - the more often a phrase is said, the more powerful it becomes as a spell. The characters, even as they mimic Rowlings’, are sharp, vulnerable, and dynamic in their own right. Rowell’s world is expansive and rich in lore and backstory. 

Carry On told me that other people were imagining the same worlds I was, and as a corollary, I wasn’t alone in thirsting for a queer teen wizard slash romance. Rowell’s world is so well-done, and there was (and is still) something deeply compelling about the fact that it stands alone. It doesn’t need Rowling’s blessing, system of magic, or really even characters to make it tick. For anyone that has ever read Drarry fanfiction, this book is soul-satisfying. It gives dimension, pleasure, and space to a queer reimagining of Harry Potter.