Any Way the Wind Blows

no <3 reviewed Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell (Simon Snow, #3)

Review of 'Any Way the Wind Blows' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This is a review of the trilogy as a whole.

I've got quite a lot of thoughts about these books, and they are mixed.
I loved the lighthearted humor in Carry On, and was disappointed to find it mostly gone in Wayward Son and Any Way the Wind Blows. The tone changed completely between books. While I do love the question what happens to the characters after their big adventure ends?, I think a humorous tone would have put a unique spin on it and continued the almost-satire of Harry Potter that Carry On was.

Simon is very unlikeable to me, and he was written to be rooted for. He was fine in Carry On and awful by the end of Any Way the Wind Blows. His character development just didn't make sense to me. I completely understand the way depression can stall you and make …

This is a review of the trilogy as a whole.

I've got quite a lot of thoughts about these books, and they are mixed.
I loved the lighthearted humor in Carry On, and was disappointed to find it mostly gone in Wayward Son and Any Way the Wind Blows. The tone changed completely between books. While I do love the question what happens to the characters after their big adventure ends?, I think a humorous tone would have put a unique spin on it and continued the almost-satire of Harry Potter that Carry On was.

Simon is very unlikeable to me, and he was written to be rooted for. He was fine in Carry On and awful by the end of Any Way the Wind Blows. His character development just didn't make sense to me. I completely understand the way depression can stall you and make a mess of everything, but once he started getting better his effort to improve was illogical. The solution is neither breaking up nor weird sexual stuff.

There's also a lot of inconsistencies between the books.
1. the NowNext vampires, where did they go?
2. the plot irrelevancy of Agatha, Shepard, and Niamh (I loved them all, but why are they there?)
3. where were the subtle mentions of the other chosen ones in Wayward Son?
The trilogy would have been so much better if these had been addressed.

In conclusion:
Carry On worked well as a standalone. Simon & Baz were vaguely toxic in the last two books. The plot choices were weird at best. I'm not a fan of vampires. (sorry Baz, I still love you)

the whole Shepard-demon-marriage plot was hilarious
**basically what I mean there is that I have anxiety, depression, and adhd. I'm a walking disaster when it comes to relationships too
thanks but I don't need to read that. please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no ple

Carry On - 4/5 stars
Wayward Son - 2.5/5 stars
Any Way the Wind Blows - 2/5 stars

B. Zelkovich reviewed Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell (Simon Snow, #3)

Review of 'Any Way the Wind Blows' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I loved this book. I loved Simon and Baz, Penelope and Shepard. I loved all the different kinds of relationships and the tension as I waited to see if Simon would ever figure out that the lady who kept feeding him so much cake was more than just a nice lady.

I cried.

My complaint? The ending. The ending scene with Simon and Baz felt like a beginning, not an end. I feel like their ending scene came a few chapters earlier. AND, and I'm sorry, but I honestly have never cared about Agatha Wellbelove. I liked how her sorry ended, but I still feel like she wasn't really ever necessary. She was a tool for the narrative and little else.

Overall I really liked the book and LOVED the serious. I'm sad I'm through with it already.

ish-i-ness reviewed Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell (Simon Snow, #3)

Review of 'Any Way the Wind Blows' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Wow. That barely got three stars. It's hard to write a review without spoiling everything. The least spoilery thing I can say is I don't really know that anything happened by the end of the book. I'm not sure anyone really grew. If anyone gained anything, we don't get to see what impact it has for them. We just know something changed. Very unsatisfying. It's fine as a contemporary romance I guess, but for a supposed end to a trilogy about mages? Disappointing, really.

finndr reviewed Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell (Simon Snow, #3)

Review of 'Any Way the Wind Blows' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is a very weird trilogy. The first book compelling in a very irritating way that left me feeling kind of hollow and manipulated. Book Two was just painful, for the most part. Through both books I often wondered why I was still reading them - probably because I had come to care for some characters too much to just leave them be.

And then there's this one, where to my complete and utter surprise, I found myself receiving gift over gift while reading. Everything I wished for these characters but didn't at all expect to ever get, I got.

As much work and frustration books one and two cost me, it was worth it. Kudos, Ms Rowell. I guess I was wrong about you.

Castor Starr reviewed Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell (Simon Snow, #3)

Review of 'Any Way the Wind Blows' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

It's finally here! And it's hollowed me out like a small, decorative pumpkin!

God, I was scared picking up this book, because I didn't know if I was going to love it because it was this series or love it for the book it was, and I didn't know if the pain (because of course there was going to be pain) was going to overcome the rest of it. But dear Lord this book is good.

This book is also really, really funny, which is a gigantic surprise. These characters somehow all got 70% funnier the second they figured out how to use their words to actually communicate. (And yay, communication is a thing in this book!)
And yet, Rainbow flexes fully here and gives up emotional wallops, derringdo, and a comedy hour in between, and none of it feels anything but organic or earned, and all of it …

It's finally here! And it's hollowed me out like a small, decorative pumpkin!

God, I was scared picking up this book, because I didn't know if I was going to love it because it was this series or love it for the book it was, and I didn't know if the pain (because of course there was going to be pain) was going to overcome the rest of it. But dear Lord this book is good.

This book is also really, really funny, which is a gigantic surprise. These characters somehow all got 70% funnier the second they figured out how to use their words to actually communicate. (And yay, communication is a thing in this book!)
And yet, Rainbow flexes fully here and gives up emotional wallops, derringdo, and a comedy hour in between, and none of it feels anything but organic or earned, and all of it works!
While I was reading I wrote down "How the hell did this book ruin me emotionally for 100 pages and then take me to the circus????" and I genuine cannot say it better than that.

There's so much romance in here, and it's all exceedingly cute. Every book in this series feels a bit like a fanfic of each other, but that's not a bad thing for this series, and it definitely remains true for this book. It's romantic and fun and full of "fix-it" in ways that feel so satisfying.
I love Shepard's piece in this so much, I love the new relationships, I love getting to see our golden relationship finally work itself out hiccups and all.

There are so many great new plot points in here, the only thing that let me down even a little is that things didn't feel like they got full closure. Everything from Wayward Son except Shepard pretty much falls to the wayside, and definitely doesn't get shared with the World of Mages, which I was kind of waiting for. And the major plot point of this book feels like it didn't get much room to breathe, in between all of the rest of it. But, personally, I would have been find with this book being 800 pages and I would probably read The World of Mage's phonebook, so, really, when is it actually enough? (Never! Rainbow, keep writing!)

God, this book was an emotionally rollercoaster and I want to ride it again immediately.

Pre-review comments below
OH MY GOD THE TITLE IS BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY OH MY GOD SIMON HAS A SWORD OH MY GOD BOOK THREE IS HAPPENING

Update: RELEASE DATE AHH. 2021, please be good to me and do not push this back, I swear to God

Update 2: RED ALERT I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S A WAND OR THE SWORD BUT IT SPELLS OUT M A G I C K