Simon Snow

Simon Snow is the protagonist of Rainbow Rowell's fantasy trilogy, a young magician at Watford School of Magicks who must face the Insidious Humdrum while sorting out his complicated relationship with his roommate Baz.

Simon Snow is the Mage’s Heir, the most powerful magician of his generation, and he has no idea what he is doing. Raised in care homes with no knowledge of the magical world until he was eleven, Simon arrived at Watford School of Magicks as an outsider and never quite stopped feeling like one. His magic comes in overwhelming surges he cannot always control, and the one person who seems to understand him best is also the person he is supposed to hate: his aristocratic vampire roommate, Baz.

Over the course of three books, Simon goes from a student fighting the Insidious Humdrum (a magical dead zone that may be connected to Simon himself) to a young man trying to figure out who he is when the fight is over. The trilogy is as much a love story as it is a fantasy adventure, and Rowell writes Simon as someone whose greatest strength is his stubbornness and his willingness to care deeply, even when it costs him.

Reading Order

See the complete Simon Snow reading order for all books in the series.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Simon Snow?

Simon Snow is a young magician chosen by the Mage as the greatest power the World of Mages has ever known. He attends Watford School of Magicks, where he struggles with controlling his volatile magic and shares a room with his supposed enemy, Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch.

What order should I read the Simon Snow books?

Start with Carry On (2015), then read Wayward Son (2019), and finish with Any Way the Wind Blows (2021). The trilogy follows Simon from his final year at Watford through his life after magic school.

Is Simon Snow related to Harry Potter?

Simon Snow started as a fictional character within Rainbow Rowell’s novel Fangirl (2013), where he appeared in fan fiction written by the protagonist. Rowell then gave Simon his own standalone trilogy beginning with Carry On. While Simon Snow shares the chosen-one-at-magic-school premise with Harry Potter, the series takes the concept in a very different direction.

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