Forever Obsession: Review: The School for Good and Evil

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

ISBN: 0062104896
Pages: 488

Source: Library

Publication Date: May 14, 2013
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy

Initial Reaction:

The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some yars 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.

Hello everyone! This review is a bit late since my video review for this went up last week, but I finally got around to typing it up!

I've been wanting to get my hands on this book for so long and I finally got a notification from my library saying that it was finally available. This book was everything that I've been wanting and the plot line is just so much fun to experience. The world in this book was absolutely fascinating and intricate. I loved how Soman Chainani took some classic fairytales and put his own twist on them through the Schools. However, you have to admit that it's a bit unfair for Readers who haven't prepared for the competitive lifestyle that the School Ranking puts in place.

Personally, I loved Agatha so much. You can evidently tell who is in which school because she constantly tries to help Sophie figure out her life out and sometimes it is at the expense of herself while Sophie just constantly whines about how Agatha is stealing her "happily ever after" and how Agatha screwed everything up. Well princess, if you took the time to notice how hard she's trying to fix everything maybe you'll stop complaining. I didn't hate Sophia by any means but she drove me insane throughout the book and while I definitely side with the Nevers over the Evers I choose Agatha over her any day.

One character that constantly drove me up the wall and that is Tedros. I love the Arthurian legends and anyone has to just softly mention "Merlin" and I'll start freaking out. I wanted so much to love the son of Prince Arthur but he was such an arrogant jerk that it was virtually impossible to do so. He judges solely on appearances and it was hilarious seeing him confused over his decisions because he clearly cannot judge between what is good and what is evil. In short, I would be perfectly content if he got lost in the forest or something because I just can't stand him.

I really liked how the author had these clear contrasts between the Nevers and the Evers. The Evers were (sorry) just a bunch of airheads who cared about scoring top of their class because they wanted to treat themselves at the spa. However, it was refreshing to see the different sides to them towards the end and see how they're not all like Tedros...sorry I'm really annoyed with him. The Nevers on the other hand have so much more depth and dimension to them and I just loved them all. Every single creepy, slimy, sadistic, demonic one. They are just so much more entertaining to read about than the Evers.

The ending honestly left me so confused but I'm attributing it to the fact that I was so emotionally unstable I was just rapidly flipping pages. I kind of want to go back and reread the last 50 pages or so but I have my hands on the second book and I just want to continue...struggles...