I was in two minds about reading this. In Fangirl, the Simon and Bas story was an amusing side plot and wasn't meant to be a story in its own merits. To me it was just a way of experiencing the main character's imaginary world...of getting into her head...living with her most intimate thoughts....
Which, of course, she put on computer and posted to the world. Fan fiction is great, don't you think? But I never bother to read fan fic--so much to read, so little time, you know.
So, I wasn't going to read this imaginary fan fic. But after I finished Eleanor and Park I felt hungry like a junkie. I needed a Rainbow Rowell fix and the library had this on CD. So I got it. And--tentatively--tried it. And I was hooked. Again.
In fact, I was so hooked that when it got near the end and I realized my copy on the Ipod had somehow missed a chapter or two, I couldn't simply stop listening, go get the original CDs again, and replace the missing pieces. Nope--I let her sweep me on to the end.
When I realized I'd missed something, I thought for a minute that maybe she'd just skipped on. But no, I realized--that's not her style. She doesn't skip the good stuff and leave you guessing. So I went and got the paper copy, and here it is, sitting here on my table, sure to deliver the missing piece of the perfect puzzle.
Enough about me and my Ipod+Itunes incompetence--what about the book? It's simply this--an imaginary fan fic about an imaginary wizarding world in its final hours before the ultimate battle of good versus evil. Sure, it's derivative of Harry Potter--except that it isn't. Not in any of the ways that matter. There's a wizarding school; there's a boy wizard of great but uncontrollable power with a girl sidekick; there's a powerful headmaster of enigmatic motives; there's an enemy of ultimate evil...but also there's a roommate who's a vampire, a love triangle that isn't quite, a magic-sucking menace, and a spirit from the past with a need for justice.
In short, it's smashing! You don't have to have read Fangirl first to enjoy it, but if you did then you do--it's that simple.
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