This was a re-read. I read this book for the first time when it first came out and I absolutely loved it. When I heard the sequel was on the way... I had to put it on my immediate TBR. The second time around, I found a lot of things I didn't really like.

I understand why it has a satire feel for the Harry Potter series (from Fangirl... read it!), but it annoyed me this time around. I understand it, though. Rainbow did her best to spin it in a completely different direction though compared to the introduction in Fangirl. The Insidious Humdrum has an amazing story attached to it. The characters branch off of their intended counterparts. She tries.

Plus, Watford is incredibly different from Hogwarts. The setting is darker and it has a different type of leader. Now, I feel like I'm defending this book from being compared, but she did such a good job at branching because she knew she had to.

One of the other things I didn't really like about this book was the writing style. It kills me to say that because Rainbow is an amazing author with an amazing style. It took me much too long to read this book because I couldn't get sucked in. It felt like she was catching me up on the past happenings rather than showing me the now... through the whole book. I get that we're being plopped in Simon's last year on campus. I also understand that it needed to be that way because in Fangirl, **mild spoiler** the last book that Cath's writing is based off of is supposed to be coming out and she's racing against the clock to finish it. I get that. I just felt like I missed out on so much action.

However, I loved the plot. The story was deep and intense. The ending. WOW. It tied up all loose ends and it was beautiful. That ending scene (where the climax happens anyway) is one of my favorite scenes in young adult literature because of how powerful it was. I will have that image burned into my brain for years.

I also love how magic works in this book. I'm not going to spoil it because it's one of my favorite aspects of this book, but the relationship between Normals (non-magic folk) and magic gives me goosebumps.

The entire time I was reading it, I felt like I was inside of Cath's head. I loved reading this book because I could pick out phrases and quotes I recognized from Fangirl. I could just imagine Levi sitting next to her on her dorm bed, listening to her read as I read. It was a magical book for many different reasons.