Patrick Ness knows something about playing with classic science fiction and fantasy: He has just signed on to write a “Doctor Who” spinoff TV series called “Class.” His new YA novel has its share of post-Potter genre tropes. But it’s not as cut and dried as all that - instead, the characters have a fresh perspective on their Harry Potter-esque magical world, explaining things left unsaid in the Harry Potter novels, commenting on what works and what doesn’t, and describing how the current world came to be.Īs in Rowell’s previous novels, the prose is clear and succinct, and at the heart of the story is a solid mystery - who paid to have Bas’ mother killed all those years ago? - which recalls historical plots in Harry Potter books, like the Marauders in “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” or Voldemort’s Horcruxes in “The Half-Blood Prince.” The parallels to Potter are clear: The prophesied “chosen one” Simon Snow has a rich nemesis, Bas, reminiscent of Draco Malfoy a good, clever friend who comes off like the child of Ron and Hermione an enigmatic, professor Dumbledore-esque mentor and an enemy (the Insidious Humdrum) he’s destined to defeat. “Carry On” was inspired by Rowell’s own 2013 YA novel “Fangirl,” in which the main character writes fan fiction about a “Harry Potter”-type series called “Simon Snow.” (Rowell explains in an author’s note here that while one might recognize familiar elements from “Fangirl,” “Carry On” is neither a book from that imaginary series nor the main character’s fan fiction, but a different story altogether.)Īt the center of “Carry On” is the magical school of Watford in Britain.

Eleanor and park by rainbow rowell