Book review : The school for good and evil by Soman Chainani

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. 

*****

"Who needs a prince in fairy tales?"

First of all I want to emphasized that this book is a middle grade book (for 8 to 12 years old readers), but after reading chapters by chapters I just wonder if is it really suitable for younger kids? This book was dark but in a fun way. The story was very unique and new. It was like a combination of fairy tales and Harry Potter series. This book was about two best friends; a beautiful girl named Sophie and a gloomy and dark girl named Agatha sorted into two magical schools, one for good and one for evil. Sophie always believed that she will get into the good school, becoming a princess and found happily ever after with a prince while Agatha will enter the Evil school and becoming a witch or villain. However, their fate reversed and Sophie got into the school for evil while Agatha got into the school for good.

This book was written from the POV of both of the main characters and it was kinda confusing when the author keeps switching the narration POV. This book was quite thick almost 500 pages. It was a fun roller coaster read and it almost feels like I was reading Harry Potter again. The world in the book was plainly divided by good and evil and the stereotype perceptions that the good has to be charming and good looking while the evil has to be dark, ugly and a witch. But Agatha and Sophie changed the perceptions that everything may not be as clear as black and white and may come in between.

Anyways, I like this book and will read the sequel. I give this book 4.5 stars.