This is a review on the second book in the Simon Snow trilogy, free of spoilers. It will contain spoilers for the first book though so if you have not read it yet, you can start with my review on Carry On, the first book.
Synopsis
The story is supposed to be over.
Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after…
So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch?
What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light.
That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West. They find trouble, of course. (Dragons, vampires, skunk-headed things with shotguns.) And they get lost. They get so lost, they start to wonder whether they ever knew where they were headed in the first place.
Review
After loving the first book so much, I was a little disappointed with this book. It was kind of lacking and I didn’t enjoy it as much, but I still had a good time revisiting the world and the characters.
Setting
This book is in a complete different setting than the first book which changed things up a bit. Simon, Baz, and Penelope decide they need to get away so they fly to America and go on a road trip to visit Agatha. As an American, I laughed a lot when the trio realized that their roadtrip across the country was going to be more than 3 hours.
The magic is also different in America and so it was fun learning about the different creatures there and how the difference in the culture and language changed their magic.
Characters
All of the characters experienced major character development in this book. Starting with Simon, he was struggling a lot after losing all of his magic at the end of the last book. He had just killed the person he called a mentor and then lost a major part of his identity so he was having a rough time.
Simon was lost in this book and I’m not sure that going to America fixed that like he was hoping. I think it made it worse but some things need to get worse before they get better and I think that going to America forced Simon out of the frozen state he was in and made room for some processing.
Baz and Simon’s relationship really struggled in this book which made me sad. Baz was really worried about Simon and was trying his best to support him in this tough situation. Unfortunately, they were both just waiting for a breakup to happen even though they both wanted to be with each other.
It seemed like Baz was trying his best to hold on to Simon and Simon was doing his best to push Baz away. While Simon and Baz tried to work through some things, Baz learned a lot about his identity as a vampire in this book. Simon and Penelope were really excited to be in America but Baz had a harder time since it was super sunny and he was struggling to find time and space to hunt.
Penelope had the most character development in this book. She went through a really tough life event in the start of the book and had a lot of time to reflect and look inward with this big change. She discovered that she may not always be right. That’s a big thing for her because she was always the person that everybody looked to when they didn’t know what to do. She was always confident and never doubted herself, but in this book she started to question herself.
I’m thinking she needs to find a balance between confidence and knowing when she may be wrong and I’m hoping she finds that balance in the last book.
We also got introduced to some new characters in this book which I liked. One of them is Shepard, who just happens to be a Normal who is obsessed with the magickal world. He stands by always telling the truth and befriending everyone. Sometimes that gets him into trouble, but he has also made a lot of friends and helped a lot of people or creatures who desperately needed it.
Agatha got what she wanted in this book. She left her wand behind in England and moved to California to got to college with Normals. She’s doing good but it’s harder to escape the magickal world than she thought. Now she’s caught up with a dangerous group and may need her friends’ help to get out.
Plot
After the ending of the first book, I had no idea where the plot was going in this book. Wayward Son introduced a whole new plot with vampires. I was not a fan of this plot and I didn’t find it the most interesting. That combined with all of the characters going through hardship made it a little bit of a tough book to read.
It also felt like I went through half of the book before I really knew what the plot was. Unlike the first book, the ending of this book did not clear up everything so I’m assuming the plot will be continued in the last book.
Overall Thoughts
This was not my favorite book but I’m feeling optimistic for the last book and hoping that it was just like most other second books in trilogies where it’s a little slower and not much happens. It just made me sad because all of the characters were sad. I’m confident that they will rise up and put themselves back together in the last book.