I really have absolutely no idea how to rate this in a way that's fair, but it's come to my attention that ratings are never fair and always depend on the biases of the reader, so instead I think I'll just do what I always do and rate it however I want and then explain why here in the review.

1) I think it's important to note that I read Goblet of Fire yesterday. Literally yesterday, and my heart is never so big as it is when I read Harry Potter. It was utterly impossible for me to read a book that was basically a retelling of Harry Potter without making the comparison and without that book (or rather, this book) losing.

2a) I am extremely susceptible to hype. And the hype surrounding Carry On and Simon/Baz is massive.

2b) I think that because of this hype (and also just partially due to the story itself), I was invested in the Simon/Baz part of the story. I enjoyed the development of their relationship. A lot. Unfortunately, though, it was pretty much the only part of the story I did like.

3) While, admittedly, many parts of the actual magical plot of Harry Potter is ludicrous, Carry On felt like an exacerbation of that ludicrousness.

Spoiler

The people (and most importantly, the villains) in Harry Potter are people. They act recognizably as people, and that is part of what makes fantasy worth reading. The notion that through the fantastical, you can tell a story that is utterly human, and demonstrate the universality of those stories. The villain (and by this I mean the Humdrum, as I suppose needs explaining) of Carry On is a non-human creature who exists as a weird loophole in the magic system and offers no moral to the reader. Rowell's reach for this human element is The Mage as the villain, but to be honest, this, to me, felt underdeveloped. Because of these opinions about the villains of Carry On, I honestly felt like the main plotline was a bit of a waste of time. I was bored by it.

4) I am aware of the controversy surrounding Rainbow Rowell and it took me a while to decide to actually read this book. Although I did, in the end (obviously) decide to read it due to the excess of hype and the recommendations of some friends and family, I would be lying if I said that that controversy wasn't at all in the back of my head.