Here we are: the final book. I don’t think I’ll be reading Rowell again. I’m good. This trilogy is enough, haha.

Any Way the Wind Blows begins days after Wayward Son ended. The gang has been called back to England due to a critical mass of problems forming. Baz’s step-mother, Daphne, has gone missing. Cults of personality have popped up around self-styled Chosen Ones. Penny’s parents finally noticed she’s loose in the USA with a credit card. Agatha’s mental health demands she retrieve her wand. Our beloved characters have some big decisions ahead. Rowell’s descriptor for this book is “an ending about endings. About catharsis and closure, and how we choose to move on from the traumas and triumphs that try to define us.” And ya know what? That’s about right.

I think I’ve figured out an important dividing line with Rowell. She shines with pure, ruthless storytelling skill. She can write a sentence and a paragraph. She can structure a novel. She can create compelling characters. What she has not figured out yet is the socio-political implications of her tales. If stories could exist in a vacuum, the Simon Snow Trilogy would be five stars all the way down. But it doesn’t. Writing doesn’t exist in a blank space, and I want to grab Rowell by the ear and ask wtf she was thinking. Do you know what you’re implying with your words?

As it is, Any Way the Wind Blows left me with a strange melancholy. Rowell touched upon many societal issues and failed to resolve them. It was like minority stress sore spots were poked and prodded for no real reason. The old high-magic families have political clout again in magic society, and they’re undoing the Mage’s laws. Home raids and book burning should be a thing of the past—but the Mage’s insistence that all are welcome at Watford is nicked. That’s bad. Rowell mentions that the Mage’s Men are committing suicide out of shame and despair. There’s an ongoing attempted genocide against vampires. Baz’s home life is as hostile to his queerness/vampirism as ever. In newly upsetting content, blood quantum and magic-white supremacy dovetail with disability rights and mental health, as characters with low magic struggle for equity and Simon struggles with his wings. Anti-Normal racism plunges new depths. These are massive problems on an individual and societal level. Rowell provides no answers nor do her characters go looking for them. Why did I have to read about all these fantasy parallels to real world issues? I didn’t need reminding. I came to escape. There’s a smidgen of hope for the future, but certainly not enough to justify a happy ending. If I had to guess, I think Rowell meant to point towards the conclusion of “do what you can, when you can,” “help whoever enters your sphere of accountability,” or “life sucks, but do your best” but the book’s murky as all get out. I’m stretching too far for these conclusions. 

The two new romances and Agatha’s storyline disappointed me. There are three love subplots in the Trilogy, and they’re all enemies to lovers. I would prefer some variety. Agatha and her journey hit a brick wall for me. After realizing she can’t rely on privilege to protect her, she…continues to do so. True, she strikes out on her own, but I expected, IDK, a training montage at the very least. Sure, she can set things on fire, but she could do that before and it didn’t help. Worse, she chooses a job position that literally killed off the last queer woman to hold it. This decision made me question whether Agatha has grown at all. It felt like she was still setting herself up to be fridged for the next male hero. Where the book leaves her, it feels like Agatha is trapped in her damsel role, and that’s so depressing. The only difference between her and Ebb is that she’s out. Because yes, after insulting her love interest way too much, Agatha falls for a butch lesbian. We STILL don’t see the word bisexual. I screamed.

Like she misses the obvious place to say Simon/Agatha were bi4bi, Rowell also fails to wrap up many plot threads. I don’t know if she meant to write another book or what. The words “Trilogy” stamped all over the cover beg to differ. Some “resolutions” are a single, overheard line of dialogue, which the characters take as FactTM. These moments felt like a cop out and made me gnash my teeth. Here is a list of abandoned plot threads: Baz’s vampire/hunter heritage, the extent of vampire abilities and mage-vampire history, Simon’s wings, Penny living in the USA or UK; how/why is Simon immune to magic. These issues are in addition to the big ones described above.

What gave Any Way the Wind Blows any stars are the characters. Stephen continues to delight. The delayed character growth from Wayward Son happens with impressive speed in this volume. Watching Penny’s journey is marvelous. The kisses and sex scene are wonderfully written, with all the young fumbles in tact. In a moment where we’re not in Simon’s POV (this infuriated me), Simon does a 180 degree turn on his outlook on life and decides to combat his self-destructive depression. The remainder of the book, he and Baz undergo fanfic levels of snuggles, cuddles, and kissing. I’m a sucker for schmoop. The topic of cults is relevant and interesting.

Thus, we finish the Simon Snow Trilogy aka “Harry Potter but Okayer.” My partner pointed out that the Simon Snow Trilogy exists well in relation to Harry Potter, but standing on its own legs, it fails to meet reader expectations. Well said. I’m quite glad to be done with it.

Review of Carry On: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/175a42c6-618d-412a-9178-d20104035b8b

Review of Wayward Son: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f9975b76-637f-44ff-878e-471c2e63ebdf