This is a spoiler-free review on the first book in the Simon Snow trilogy
Synopsis
Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.
That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.
Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here – it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.
Review
This book has everything I could have asked for in a fantasy book. I highly recommend if you like books with queer characters, mysteries, magick schools, or enemies-to-lovers.
World Building
I really liked how the world was introduced through Simon telling us about his list of favorite things about Watford, the magick school he goes to. It was simple to understand but not boring at all. It is similar to Harry Potter, but is different enough and easy to love. The story takes place at Watford in England although we also get some time outside of campus too.
The magick system is based on the power of words. Spells are all common phrases that the Normals, non magickal people, say. The more common the phrase, the more powerful the spell is. This makes it interesting because you can’t always rely on the same spells and gives a lot of room for experimenting with new spells.
Writing Style
The writing was fast paced and spread out well throughout the story. I never felt like something was being rushed or going too slow. The book is in multiple POV’s but I liked it because it wasn’t divided by chapters. Sometimes there would be only a paragraph, or less, of one character’s POV before it would switch again which kept me intrigued.
This book was also really funny and I laughed a lot. It was lighthearted and a breeze to get through but also still had its serious and emotional moments.
Characters
I love these characters so much. Both Simon and Baz are really funny. Baz never tries to be funny, he just is. One of my favorite scenes was when we were finally introduced to Baz. There was a lot of anticipation leading up to it so I was very excited when he finally showed up.
It was funny watching Simon try and convince himself he was straight. He has a girlfriend at the start of the book and he says he hates Baz, but he is also really obsessed with him in a way that he wouldn’t be if he actually hated him. Baz, on the other hand, has always been gay and pretends to hate Simon but actually has a huge crush on him.
It was really cute seeing them slowly figure out what they mean to each other. Baz started giving in to his feelings, Simon leaned in to his confusion, and they both started taking risks.
Penelope is the best of the best friends and I love her so much. She takes care of Simon and sticks with him through the worst of it. I think she loves him more than Baz and Simon love each other, but in a best friend, sisterly way. You can always rely on Penelope to know what to do in a life-or-death situation.
I think Agatha is also an important character to acknowledge. She was Simon’s girlfriend at the start of the book and she hates the magickal world. Agatha wants to be a normal teenager with normal problems. She literally wants to be a Normal. I think that’s a little more unusual for books like these and I’ve never seen a character who actually ran for their life when someone told them to and didn’t act all brave. Agatha would much rather be saved than do the saving.
Plot
The story is about solving the murder of Baz’s mother. She died when Baz was little and it was obvious that vampires killed her. However, when her ghost crosses over to tell Simon that there’s more to the story, Simon, Baz, and Penelope take it upon themselves to figure out who sent the vampires.
Through solving the mystery, Simon and Baz grow closer and Simon discovers some important things about himself. I found the plot really interesting and I liked how there seemed to be a few separate problems that all connected by the end.
The ending worked really well for me. There was a plot twist and all the separate pieces came together nicely. It was emotional and life-changing for the characters. The only problem that I had was that it felt too much like a standalone.
Other than a few small things, the story felt like it was at an end and like there was no need for two more books. I would have expected certain events to happen at the end of the series and not at the end of the first book. I loved the characters and the book too much to not want to continue with the series though.
Overall, I had a great time reading this book and I’m super excited to finish the series! Let me know what your thoughts are on this book.