The therapist said I needed to work through the past to keep it from undermining the present. And I said— Well, I didn’t say anything. I skipped my next appointment and didn’t make any more. [loc. 442]
I very much enjoyed Carry On, and was looking forward to this sequel (which turns out to be the middle volume of a trilogy): I was disappointed, though, because all the characters seem to have been hit by a stupidity spell which prevents them from communicating with one another, planning ahead or having a clue about the world outside Watford School of Magicks.
The Insidious Humdrum is gone, as is the Mage: Simon Snow, still bewinged and betailed, is sharing a flat with his best friend Penelope Bunce, and Baz is a frequent visitor. But all is not well: Simon is, quite reasonably, in the throes of PTSD, and his magic is gone. He's in therapy, but his budding relationship with Baz has failed to blossom, and he's more or less dropped out of his university course (whatever it is: I'm not sure that any of the trio's degree choices are mentioned).
So naturally Penny suggests that the three of them go on a road trip across America.
It'll be fun! They can visit her American boyfriend Micah in Chicago! And drop in on Agatha, who isn't answering Penny's texts! (Agatha has moved to California without her wand, discovered that she doesn't know how to tie shoelaces, and fallen in with a group called the NowNext who want to change the world.) And Penny already has the tickets!
It is, obviously, not that simple. Penny would be disowned if her mother knew what she was doing; Baz's favourite spells are all British idiom, which won't work in the USA, and also he is a vampire; Simon is ... well, Simon is not doing so well. And none of them has looked at a map, or read up on American magick. Their failure to communicate or plan, individually and collectively, lands them in all kinds of trouble. Even Baz's new-found hyperviolence can't solve everything. (I found this development deeply unpleasant, as well as out of character. Vampires are people too.)
And the book ends, not with any sort of closure or character progression, but on a massive cliffhanger.
The high point of this novel, for me, was discovering that Beatrix Potter single-handedly wiped out all the vampires in Lancashire. There are other positives: some excellent new characters; insights into how the magickal and non-magickal worlds intersect in America (the Renaissance Faire incident is especially amusing); and a number of laugh-out-loud one-liners. And yes, I will almost certainly read the trilogy's conclusion. But non-communication as a plot driver is one of my least favourite tropes.
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