Wayward Son

Wayward Son is a novel for young readers by the American writer Rainbow Rowell, the second book in her Simon Snow trilogy.

Simon Snow spent his whole childhood being told that he was the chosen one, and the book opens a year and a half after he stopped being any use to anybody. He has no magic left, he will not leave the flat, and the one thing he was built for is over. Penelope decides that what he needs is a change of scene and a visit to Agatha in California, and the three of them set off across the United States in a convertible, with Baz along because Simon will not go without him. Rowell tells the story from several points of view in turn, so the reader learns what each of them is hiding while the others do not, and the trip turns into a run through the American supernatural world: vampires, a dragon, a cult and a great deal of desert. The novel is about what happens after the ending, and it takes its hero's depression seriously.

It follows Carry On and continues a series that began as a story within another of the author's novels.