Wayward Son

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    I don’t know if I’ve ever been at such a loss for words before regarding a book. Actually, can I even call this a book? That seems a bit harsh, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I read something so atrociously written. If you’re about to scream and yell and throw a chair at me for hating on your sons Baz and Simon, please hold off the pitchforks (pun intended) until at least the end of this review. If you still don’t like what I have to say, then that’s fine, because if you did like this book then I would love to ask you why as I truly can’t wrap my head around it. 

    That being said. This novel was so awful? I actually found myself befuddled on several occasions while reading this thinking of how it got published. It doesn’t even read as a complete novel. I don’t even know what it reads as.

It honestly comes across more like a poorly written script from a creative seven-year-old that thinks they know how to write when they can’t actually spell their own name. This made Harry Potter and the Cursed Child come across as a beautiful masterpiece and we all know how garbage it actually was so that is a statement. 

    Essentially, Rainbow Rowell has created a meta-universe by ripping off several people, but mainly J.K. Rowling. In her original novel Fangirl, the main characters is-you guessed it!- a major fangirl for a fandom that is essentially Harry Potter in disguise and she hardcore ships Harry and Draco (I mean Baz and Simon-whoops) and spends all of her time ignoring her actual life and actual relationships and instead devotes all of her efforts to writing a famous fanfiction about the made-up (but not really) ship.

There is some character growth in this novel as she learns a healthy balance between her online persona and her real one, but that is neither here nor there regarding this book so I’ll leave it at that. 

    Then, the next thing we know, Rainbow Rowell actually wrote fanfiction from her book and published it as a standalone novel. Which...is kinda cool to be honest. Odd, but cool. At least that was my initial thought. Now, this book that is actually fanfiction but not, but is? Was originally published in 2015 and titled Carry On.

Now, as I read this five years ago I don’t recall much about it. I definitely don't remember toting it as a grand craft of literature, but I also don’t remember despising it, which is something. I actually remembered very little other than the characters’ names and the fact that it’s a Drarry knockoff crossed with Twilight. 

    Then, out of the blue in 2020, Rowell publishes Wayward Son, the sequel to her fanfiction-not-fanfiction Carry On and continuing the saga of Simon and Baz and the Hermione knockoff Penelope and it’s just...horrible. It truly is. Maybe one of the worst things I’ve ever read and I’m an avid reader of fanfiction. BTS fanfiction at that. 

    And bringing up fanfiction is actually an interesting point here considering the novel’s origins and how it is essentially a Drarry cover up but with different names and officially published. But, and I say this with absolutely sincerity, this novel is almost at the level of My Immortal. 

    The writing is completely shallow, the book lacks any concept of depth or character development, the action is confusing and nonsensical, the feelings and emotions that Rowell tries to invoke falls harshly flat as you don’t care about anybody as a reader, more than half of her plot doesn’t make sense, is never explained, or is discussed in the most brusque one-liners possible. 

Now, that being said, part of me wonders if this is intentional? Considering the fanfiction origins and Harry Potter influence, I considered that maybe Rowell didn’t bother explaining anything or actually developing anything as we already know this universe and these characters, that is one of the biggest draws of fanfiction in the first place.

The world is already largely created for you, leaving you room to explore the characters and enhance them how you see fit. However, what it boils down to is that this is a published novel. Rainbow Rowell is making money from publishing this utter and complete knockoff. 

I’m honestly disgusted by it. The book was horrible. Everything about it was horrible. If I wanted a Drarry fanfiction I’m sure there are hundreds online that are better in quality, feeling, thought, depth, and writing skill. If Rainbow Rowell tried to succeed in making this a good Drarry fanfiction in disguise she absolutely failed. If she tried making this her own novel without ties to Harry Potter or its influence she absolutely failed on that front too. 

Recommendation: It’s bad, folks. There’s no way of getting around it. If you’re that desperate for Drarry, I’d recommend you scour AO3 or some other multitude of Harry Potter fanfiction website as this was a complete waste of paper and trees. 

“Reading? I didn’t know you could read-” -Draco Malfoy

I wish I didn’t after this book, Draco, I truly do. 

Score: 3/10