Now, based on the title of Rainbow Rowell’s latest book, Any Way the Wind Blows, one would think this is a song about Queen. Well, just like her prior two novels in this trilogy weren’t about Kansas, then this one is certainly not about that great rock band either. In fact, this book is about magic, and young adults dealing with all sorts of crap, so that’s almost an equally as fun time for me. To read, of course.
In this third, and I believe final, novel in the Simon Snow trilogy, the gang is dealing almost in real time with the aftermath of the last novel. That means Simon’s got no magic, he killed the Mage, and he’s left with dragon wings and a tale. Penelope has brought home a normal they all met in America, Sheperd, who she’s decided to help try and break the curse he’s under. Agatha wants to forget everything dreadful that happened with that cult she joined, so instead of dreading using her magic, she’s decided to work for her dad. Finally, Baz made some startling discoveries about vampires in America, and is now somewhat conflicted about where he stands.
That’s quite a lot of baggage to be carrying back! For the most part, a lot of these characters pair off and spend a lot of time away from each other in the novel. I think that was a pretty good move if I’m being honest, but before there is growth, there is always setback. Simon’s decided to be done with the World of Mages altogether by essentially dumping both Baz and Penelope, and attempts to get his dragon extremities removed. Well, the removal never ends up happening and then he really decides to try with Baz. He never felt he had to try before, because he never thought he’d live long enough for them to last in any meaningful way. As they grow closer together, they become aware of new “Chosen Ones” popping up, but pay particular interest to a man by the ridiculous name of Smith Smith-Richards. I mean…he’s practically running another cult, so I just assumed he was bad from the get-go. Still didn’t stop me from having hope that Simon could get his magic back.
Penelope has decided to honor Simon’s request for space and instead dumps all of her attention on helping Sheperd. It’s kind of hard though when Sheperd has omitted quite a bit of truths. As frustrated as Penelope is though, she can’t help but crush on him. That feeling is mutual as it turns out. As it also turns out, Penelope is quite a badass. Almost as reckless as Simon, but still a badass. Meanwhile, Agatha seems to just sort of be rolling through the motions at first, but then starts helping out a soon-to-be Mage veterinarian. Together they also head back to Watford pretty regularly to corral the goats that have started to roam since Ebb died. Agatha’s storyline in Rowell’s previous novels have never really interested me, and that still basically remains the case here.
Overall, I thought this was a nice wrap-up to this fantastical trilogy. Enough time has been spent with these characters that it was easier to really focus in on the important relationships. There was still plenty of action, and a good handful of unexpected surprises, but the drama laden throughout was really top-notch. If you’ve spent any amount of time with this series, or really any other Rowell fiction, then you should definitely finish out this trilogy!