History Literature / CarryOn

* MultiethnicName: {{Discussed}} with Penelope Bunce — Simon was surprised that she had a traditionally English name when he first met her due to her ethnicity (she explains that she's the daughter of an Anglo-Indian mother and a white British father). PlayedStraight with two of her siblings, Premal and Priya; while Pip and Pacey (and Penny herself) [[{{Averted}} Avert]] the trope. Presumably, Martin and Mitali took turns picking names for their kids.

* ALizardNamedLiz: Penny's roommate Trixie is a pixie. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Baz:
-->'''Baz''': Imagine you're a pixie. I know it's distasteful, but imagine--you're a pixie, and you have a daughter, and you name her Trixie. Trixie the pixie. […] It's like being a fairy named Mary.\\
'''Simon''': Or a vampire named Gampire.\\
'''Baz''': Gampire isn't even a proper name, Snow. You're terrible at this game.\\
'''Penelope''': In Trixie's defence, the pixies probably don't go around calling themselves "pixies." I mean, you could be a human named Newman or a boy named Roy, and no one would think twice.

* RhymingNames: Discussed when Baz lampshades the silliness of having a pixie named Trixie, and the guys come up with various other rhyming names for other creatures, such as Mary the fairy and Gampire the vampire.

The ''Simon Snow'' series is an {{expy}} of the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, with a [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan parentless]] ChosenOne wizard who attends a British WizardingSchool. But while in framework they parallel, that breaks down the further you go. While the characters might fit their expy counterparts in their initial roles--Simon is Harry, Baz is Draco, Penny is both Ron and Hermione, the Mage is Dumbledore--their personalities are rather different, and by the end their roles have changed substantially.

* TheirFirstTime: The fact that Simon and Baz haven't had sex yet in over a year of dating gets mentioned a few times in ''Wayward Son'', but ''Any Way the Wind Blows'' digs into Simon's trauma-induced intimacy issues in more detail. [[spoiler:Their relationship gradually improves over the course of the book as they make more of an effort at communicating with each other, leading to a long-delayed TheyDo moment during the final chapters.]]

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* AdultFear: As we find out in this book Lady Ruth Salisbury had to live through a lot of them in her life.
** Her daughter Lucy starts to date a notorious troublemaker while at school and eventually runs off with him after graduating. She goes mostly no contact with only the occasional letters letting her mother know she's even alive until even those stop after a few years. Her only hope is that she ran away to America which for most mage families would be a disgrace because the alternatives are that much worse.
** Her son is born with a speech impediment which disqualifies him from going to school with his sister and despite her best efforts loses his confidence to the point that he eventually stops using magic altogether. Years later he gets into conspiracy theories and eventually disappears just like Lucy did with Lady Ruth being at her wits end on how to find him, only holding on hope that he is alive because of a spell she cast.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: [[spoiler:The dragon that captures the trio]]. She is mad at them for trespassing, but listens to Shephard when he vouches for them, mistaking Simon for being a fledgling. [[spoiler:The dragon warns Shepard to not be naive, and returns Penelope's stone if not her entire ring. She also offers to let Simon stay with her to master his flying]].

* SuccessThroughInsanity: Shephard counts as this. He's an EmpoweredBadassNormal that has befriended nearly every magical creature in the United States, including a freaking ''dragon'' and can NoSell any magic that the mages toss at him. What's more, he insists on helping them with the only benefit of getting more information for his blog. Heck, in the climax [[spoiler:he stands up to a vampire and reveals they get poisoned when biting him because he was cursed by a demon]].

* BetaCouple: Both [[spoiler:Penelope and Shephard]] and [[spoiler:Agatha and Niamh]] for Simon and Baz.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:More sweet than bitter this time, thankfully. Simon is unable to regain his magic and might yet decide to undergo surgery to remove his wings and tail, ''and'' is re-traumatised by the realisation that he killed his own father; but he's found his birth family at last, and he and Baz are finally able to commit to each other fully. Penelope and Shephard are forced to separate for a while, but in the knowledge that they have a solid plan to reunite and that Penny's family has started to accept their relationship. Agatha remains somewhat estranged from her friends, family, and magical life; but has found her own shot at happiness taking over Ebb's place as Watford's goatherd and begins a romance with Niamh, who despite their surface-level differences shares many of her values.]]

* ExactWords: [[spoiler:How Penny finally frees Shephard from his magical curse/engagement to a demon. The contract stipulates that ''Shephard Love'' will marry the demon upon his death... but since he lost his spiritual connection to his surname (also through a magical deal gone wrong) she successfully argues that he technically ''isn't'' Shephard Love any more, so the deal is null and void.]]

* TheReveal: We find out exactly what Shephard's curse is: [[spoiler:during an attempt to talk to a demon and talk with her, he entered a marriage contract with her instead, enforceable upon his death. That's why he's immune to magic or attempts to Turn him into an immortal; his soul belongs to the demon. Penelope is displeased when his contract is translated because she wanted him to be honest with her]].

** This is why [[spoiler:Penelope cuts some corners to help Shephard travel to the U.K. with them. Shephard doesn't have a valid passport, let alone the means to procure a visa. It would take weeks to go through legitimate channels, and Penelope doesn't want to wait that long to help him when they had vampires on their tail]].

* ThirdLineSomeWaiting: After the initial set-up the characters split into three groups of two and stay that way for most of the book, with the A plot following Simon and Baz, the B plot following Penelope and Shephard, and the C plot following Agatha and Niamh. Simon and Baz occasionally overlap with the other two duos individually, but Penelope and Agatha never directly interact again after the opening, and Niamh and Shephard never even meet.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Fiona and Baz argue about if they should find out what Baz's stepmother is doing. Baz says that if Daphne and his father are having a fight, maybe it's best to talk to Daphne and find out what's going on, which is more than fair for him to do as her stepson. Fiona says that Daphne is an adult and free to make her own decisions.

** Her daughter Lucy then starts to date a notorious troublemaker and eventually runs off with him with only the occasional letters letting her know she's even alive until even those stop after a few years. Her only hope is that she ran away to America which for most mage families would be a disgrace because the alternatives are that much worse.

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: {{Zigzagged}} with Penny and Agatha. Under ordinary circumstances they admit they aren't that close now that they've left school and [[TheFriendsWhoNeverHang probably wouldn't still be friends if it weren't for Simon]], but they do have a tendency to cling to one another (physically and emotionally) when in peril. Which happens a lot...

It later spralled into a series: