Rainbow Rowell lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband and two sons. She's also the author of Carry On, Wayward Son, Landline, Fangirl, Eleanor & Park and Attachments. You can find more of my reviews of Rainbow's works here.
In Carry On, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in Wayward Son, they wondered whether everything they understood about themselves might be wrong. In Any Way the Wind Blows, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha have to decide how to move forward. For Simon, that means deciding whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages—and if he doesn't, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile, Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she's smuggled an American Normal into London, and now she isn't sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough. Any Way the Wind Blows takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet. This book is a finale. It tells secrets and answers questions and lays ghosts to rest. Carry On was conceived as a book about Chosen One stories; Any Way the Wind Blows 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.
So that I can analyze the text in its entirety, this review contains unmarked spoilers. Please read at your own risk!!
Simon's arc and Simon's perspectives, especially in the first 200 pages, were some of my favorite parts of Any Way the Wind Blows. Rowell started off the book heavy, with deep and emotional moments that were absolutely needed to get readers back into these character's head spaces, and to allow us to understand more of the trauma they are experiencing (especially Simon). Rowell has a skill for putting some of the most complex thoughts and feelings into the least amount of words possible and having thousands of readers see themselves in those words and feelings. I don't know about anyone else, but it was those deeply emotional moments are the beginning where Simon was having trouble articulating exactly what he was feeling that had me on the verge of tears. Not only does Rowell have this skill, but also her dialogue is well written and perfectly balanced with tags, which makes it easy to feel not only inside Simon's head, but also inside specific moments Simon has with other characters. Simon's falling apart at the beginning was some of Rainbow's best writing, even if the whole "we're breaking up and getting back together twenty pages later" is a little shaky. Rowell also take a few pages to go deeper into Simon's sexuality, but only for three or so pages. I've seen this series deeply analyzed by others as one that erases bisexual representation, and I've also seen this book championed for defying labels for people who aren't entirely sure yet of how they want to label themselves. I think both perspectives are entirely entitled to those thoughts and opinions. I wish that Rowell had taken more than three pages out of a 575 page book to explore both sides of the argument, though. And even after 575 pages, I still feel like we leave Simon in a precarious place. I say later on in the review that she could be leaving specific spaces empty so that she can re-enter the story if she so chooses, but after all this emotional turmoil and trauma, it would have been nice to leave it on a decidedly high note for Simon, even if that's not totally Rowell's style.
I read books fast but I deliberately kept my pace slow for Any Way the Wind Blows based on Rainbow's Instagram post about reading quickly. She said "I think if you read Any Way the Wind Blows desperate to find out what happens to Simon and Baz, you will miss what is *actually happening to Simon and Baz* And you'll miss all the jokes and callbacks and good stuff with secondary characters." I was desperate to not read this book wrong, so I took it slow, and think I was able to fully understand what was going on between them. Thanks for the heads up, Rainbow! I was able to see all the callbacks and the inside jokes, and that made reading AWTWB a much more enjoyable experience. That being said, there are parts of their journey that still felt unrealistic or rushed to me. Other reviewers have also noted this, and it feels like there is a disconnect between Simon and Baz's characters from the first two books and the Simon and Baz in this last one. The most notable thing is how much more sexual and intimate Simon and Baz are in such a short period of time with a lack of really deep, personal discussions. I want to be clear that this isn't necessarily a bad thing—Rowell did a lot of exploration on how trauma affects intimacy, so of course there will be intimacy in the novel. However, over the seven-to-eight days the book takes place, there isn't a full-fledged conversation between Simon and Baz that doesn't end in an intimate way, which feels like a jump from the Simon and Baz in Wayward Son, who couldn't even hold hands for longer than five minutes. It made me wonder if Rowell was partly doing this to cater to the audience desire for more SnowBaz moments, or if she genuinely just wanted there to be more SnowBaz moments and less conversation and anxiety about intimacy. Either way, I do think there were some good conversations and explorations on how trauma affected their intimacy and the way they ended up together—those conversations were some of the best parts of the book, in my opinion. It just felt like, over the seven-to-eight days the book takes place, and in the midst of the mysteries they are trying to solve, that all of this could have been rushed or squeezed in to fulfill a desire to please big SnowBaz fans. The book is 575 pages long—I think part of the reason it is is so that we can actually feel like seven days is enough time to turn things around so quickly, yet something about it still feels like a jump to me. The disconnect doesn't sit quite right, and that is the biggest reason as to why this book is a four-star read instead of a five-star.
Simon and Baz's storyline was balanced out rather perfectly with Penelope's. And, not unlike Simon and Baz, she's gone into full chaos crisis mode when she comes face-to-face with Shepard on English soil. Penelope's story, for most of Any Way the Wind Blows, diverges from Simon's and Baz's. In some ways, this feels like heartbreak—Simon's and Penelope's friendship is so honest and true, and one of the strongest relationships (actually, definitely the strongest one) in the series. On the other hand, seeing as how one of Rowell's favorite things to do with this series is to divert from Chosen One story stereotypes, it makes a bit of sense for Penelope to finally break off and find her own story within the novel. I fall into the second camp of thinking, where Penelope's own storyline is overall a positive choice, even though at times it does feel like the perfect way to distract her while Simon and Baz get the time they need to talk (and kiss) everything through. While Penelope is separated from Simon, she finally has the mental space to figure out who she is separate from the ex-Chosen One's smart best friend. She also has a chance to really think through the ways her mother lives by, and to choose (actively) to live in a way that will make herself proud. Looking at Penelope's arc in Any Way the Wind Blows isn't enough to fully understand how far she's come—we have to take into consideration all that's happened to her in Carry On and Wayward Son to understand why her own storyline is a positive thing. Rowell gives Penelope the attention she deserves by keeping Simon separate from her. It also allows Simon's perspective not to be colored by Penelope as much as it sometimes can be. And, in general, it's a good point to show that sometimes friends need breaks from each other to mentally reset and figure their own things out. I'm glad Rainbow left Penelope in a happy space at the end of the novel, and am glad that Shepard, too, got to develop into a larger role with Penelope at his side.
Agatha has always had an interesting position in this series. In Carry On, she didn't want to be the Chosen One's chosen one, but throughout the series, she was never given a chance to develop into something more than just the pretty girl who used to be Simon Snow's girlfriend. She had a dream of being a vet, but she never acted on it actively, and never tried to become her own person. She just ran, and didn't ever find the determination to be her own person. I attribute a lot of this to Rowell's own difficulty in connecting to Agatha's character—she's pretty and skinny and Rowell just had a hard time not writing her off, according to her statements in an interview with Vanity Fair. And, unfortunately for Agatha, her character reads like one that could be written off. As in, you could actually take Agatha's character out of Any Way the Wind Blows and absolutely nothing about the book would change. Which is deeply disappointing, because her story had the potential to be intense and personal and it wasn't. Part of this is the fact that not enough of the story/not enough of the characters care enough about the Watford goats and thus the safety of Watford—most of the energy and fear of the characters are going towards Smith Smith-Richards, which feels quite strange since Baz and Simon and Penelope all have actual personal, deep reasons to care about Watford (more reasons than Agatha, certainly). It would have been better for Agatha's story had the other characters recognized the huge problem Agatha and Niamh were trying to solve, or had the Smith Smith-Richards storyline been connected to the goats. Alas, it wasn't, putting Agatha in an easily written-off part of the story. What's especially infuriating about this is that the last word comes from Agatha herself, one year after the events of the novel end. Rowell has usually always been pretty deliberate and careful about Agatha, so deciding to end on her hopeful, pensive note was not an afterthought. And yet, her entire storyline with the goats feels like an afterthought, so I have a bit of disconnect in understanding about Agatha's function in this story.
I know a bit of the contention surrounding this book is in regards to its plot—or the lack thereof. Fans of this series, the ones who will have read it all the way through, are really here for the characters, in my opinion. At least, everyone I know who loves these books loves them because of the characters and for the thought process surrounding the dissection of a Chosen One story. So the fact that people are feeling a bit iffy about the plot surprises me, especially since—while it isn't the most elaborate, exciting, enthralling fantasy finale plot in the world—it's quite entertaining! The thing is, this book doesn't need a super elaborate plot. Rowell—and fans—were hoping for closure for a bunch of different things: the characters, the loose threads from the first two books, etc. So the tame plot that we get in Any Way the Wind Blows really shouldn't be that much of a priority in our liking of it. The plot does a good job balancing out a lot of the heavier, more emotional moments of the book, and the mysteries are winding enough to get lost in and enjoy. I do believe that the plot was written almost backwards, in a way—Rowell had all of these loose threads she wanted to tie up, and she built the mysteries up from the threads—at least, that's what I'd like to think, since most of the loose threads are tied up. The only point of contention that I would give voice to is those that are surprised that Rowell didn't continue with the NowNext vampires from Wayward Son. A big point of the plot in Wayward Son was to save Agatha, and not actually to bring any vampires to justice, but I can see how the introduction of an antagonist without seeing the destruction of such antagonist (by battle, justice, or both) can make a reader feel unsatisfied. I think also since the big cliffhanger at the end of Wayward Son was the call back to London, it would have felt wrong to stay in the headspace of Las Vegas and their vampires when the World of Mages did have its own problems and the gang was headed away from the source of the vampires since the end of Wayward Son.
The threads that get tied up at the end are as follows: Baz and Simon get and stay together; Smith Smith-Richards is taken in and that Chosen One antagonist storyline is completed; Pippa gets her voice back (although I will say the introduction and closing of this story felt hurriedly added in); Shepard gets un-cursed; Simon finds out who his parents are; Penelope reconciles with her parents and her future; and Agatha finds happiness in a relationship and an occupation for herself. The threads that don't get tied up: Baz's questions about his vampirism (in the blurb, it seems like this is supposed to be weighing on Baz's mind heavily, yet it never is, and even then we still don't know how he's feeling about his new vampire knowledge at the end of the book); and Simon's "designation" (as in, he doesn't know he was an experiment, is he Normal or an ex-mage? why do spells bounce off of him now, etc.). In the end, I feel like that's enough tied up ends to say this novel cleans the series up nicely, with just enough openings that should Rowell decide to write another story in the World of Mages, she has enough entries.
As it says in the blurb, Carry On was a story meant to analyze Chosen One stories, Wayward Son was a story meant to analyze what happens to Chosen Ones once the story is over, and Any Way the Wind Blows is an ending about endings. Yet, the third novel feels disconnected from the first two since it doesn't in any way try to extend on the Chosen One dissection narrative that Rowell was following in the first two. It also feels disconnected because of Simon and Baz's "insta-intimacy" in the eyes of some readers, and can feel disconnected from the plots of the first two novels for others. One of my closest friends made an amazing point about the titles of the novels themselves and how that connects to this idea of disconnect. They said, "Maybe Rainbow Rowell did the Kansas song for the first two books and then Queen for the last one because the last one is somehow fundamentally different in theme or character, or it brings back stuff from the first book which would make it match with the Bohemian Rhapsody." I think my friend is entirely right about this—Any Way the Wind Blows is fundamentally different from the first two novels, and yet wraps up all the loose threads that were left open from the beginning. I think Rowell has opened and closed a remarkable series through which we can continue to analyze Chosen One stories, sexuality, trauma, stereotypes, and so much more, without trying to leave us with actual answers. We only had to take a look at the titles to figure it out.
We're not quite sure what to expect from Rainbow next, yet this might be (for now) the end to Simon's and Baz's and Penelope's and Agatha's and Shepard's stories. Until we hear from Rainbow what her next project might entail, you can find more of my reviews of her works here.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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