Book Review: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

12/30/2015 Ezza TheBookDragon 0 Comments

Title: The School for Good and Evil
Author: Soman Chainani
Amazon Link: Buy now
Book Depository Link: Buy now
Genre: Children fiction/ Fantasy
Buy: Yes

Synopsis

The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…?

The School for Good & Evil is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.

Review

This book is unique, one of a kind and very suitable for everyone (not just children). First you need to know that this book is a middle grade fiction and the recommendation ages for this book is 8-12 years old. However, I disagree with the recommendation age because I strongly believe that this book can be enjoyed by everyone. Anyway move on with the review, the most unique thing about this book is the school itself. The school is divided into two major/school which are Good and Evil. You either got into Good School or Evil School. You can’t be both.

Above is the layout of the school that I got from google. On the left is the Evil School that is connected with the Good School on the right side by a bridge and a School’s Master Tower.When I see this layout, my mind was thinking about Hogwarts all the time. I mean it’s so beautiful just like Hogwarts.The school is actually train their student to be either Princess, Heroes (Good School) or a Villains and Witches (Evil School). While studying here, you will be learning so many things about being good or evil. So that when you graduated, you can be the main character for your own story. It’s like a fairy tale come to live. If you graduated as a top student in either school you’ll be the main character or else you will be just a supporting characters. And it’s real. What I mean by real is it is not an act. You’ll be facing all this challenges just like a fairy tale but in real life.I love the subjects they learn at school. It is so interesting. It makes me wonder if I got chosen to go to that school which one I’ll be in. Wonder no more because you can take an admission test here.

Now it is time to discuss and review the main character of this book which are Sophie and Agatha.I’m going to start with Sophie.From the beginning Sophie really wanted to be admit to The School for Good. She wants to be a Princess. She done a good deed (with a hidden intention) and also dressed pretty like a princess so that the School Master will notice her and accept her to the Good School.Next we have Agatha. She got a dark appearance and really gloomy personality. Other than her dark appearance, she’s got a very good heart. She’s truly amazing I think because she’s one of a kind. She looks like loner girl but actually her personality is amazing. And she truly believe in their friendship.

This story is about how Sophie that supposed to be in a Good School got switched with Agatha and got admit to the Evil School. As for Sophie, she’s trying to change the fact that she’s in Evil School by doing all sort of thing to change places with Agatha. While Agatha did not trust the school at all, so she’s trying to go back home and trying her best to convince her best friend, Sophie to leave the school with her. But no one actually leave the school before so it's like mission impossible for her.I love Agatha so much that I think that she’s really a true friend and she’s doing everything for Sophie.

There is one more character that stirred up their friendship which is Prince Tedros. He’s in a Good School. At first he attracted to Sophie because he thinks that Sophie is the one that supposed go the Good School and not Agatha. So both Tedros and Sophie are teaming to prove the School Master that he made a mistake by putting Agatha in the Good School.There is some conflict between Sophie and Agatha. Mostly because Sophie has her own intention (she's kinda selfish sometimes) while Agatha struggling and planning to leave the school with her. So Agatha trusted her so much that sometimes I feel so annoyed by Sophie’s character because she’s only thinking about herself, about her fairy tale endings and love life without thinking about Agatha’s feeling. All I can say about this book is it’s very interesting story if you enjoy something different and you want to try reading something similar to Harry Potter or boarding school kinda book, why not try to read this book. Don’t worry about how the content will be so Middle Grade because it is not.

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