Magic in Great Britain is pretty much destroyed, for lots and lots of people.

The first book is pretty standard fanfic - Big Bads are fought, feelings are felt. But Baz is pretty stoked, as it turns out he’s had a thing for Simon for years and was using the old “beat them up and tell them they’re awful until they fall in love with you” strategy. He eventually returns from being captured by evil monsters, just in time for Simon to profess his love for him and spurn his beloved Agatha. His roommate/nemesis, noted rich kid/vampire Basilton “Baz” Pitch has gone missing and thrown a monkey wrench into their last year at Watford Magickal Academy. He’s been doing it for years, but now something seems. An orphan, a troublemaker, and, of course, The Greatest Mage, whose coming was foretold in an ancient prophecy, and who’s supposed to save the World of Mages (ie Great Britain) from its greatest threat. I’m referring, of course, to Rainbow Rowell’s The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow, which is comprised of three books (in order, Carry on, Wayward Son, and Anyway the Wind Blows), which answers the eternal question, What if Harry Potter told Ginny and Hermione and Cho Chang to sod off, and got together with Draco Malfoy? We’ve all thought it, and Rowell gives it to us, with many grisly, makeout-y details, complete with angst, trips abroad, walks in the woods, and merwolves.

Would you expect anything else from something that’s meant to be a corrective/homage to Harry Potter specifically, and slash/fanfic in general? Of course not! With vampires and dragons, and were-skunks, sure, but romance nonetheless. Greetings, bi-bliophiles! Once again, Spring has sprung, and a young man’s fancy turns to romance.

Carry on simon and baz