Book Review: The School for Good and Evil

 Hi everyone and today I shall be reviewing the first in an esteemed book series: The School for Good and Evil. 

I know there are many of you who are huge fans of this franchise and now here I am to give my two cents about it. The Categories assessed shall be Pacing, Language, Characters and Plot. Each category will have 10 points and I will be ranking the book over 40 points. I will be giving my own opinion on each of the categories. 

DISCLAIMER: SPOILERS ALERT IN THE REVIEW! DON'T READ UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK

Okay, so a bit of information on the book. It was first published in 2013 (in fact I have the 2013 paperback version), it was written by American author Soman Chainani and it was recently picked up for a Netflix adaptation. In my personal opinion, having read 2 of the books so far (will be reviewing all of the books in the series as time goes along, at intervals), I think it would work better as an animated series, preferably animated in the storybook style to match the feel of the books, however it is just my personal dream. Hopefully it may come true someday. Who knows?

Now, let's get started!

PLOT: 

Two girls. One different, one ambitious. Every four years in Gavaldon two children (one for good, one for evil) get kidnapped to go to the School for Good and Evil. But what happens when this time the beauty is put in the evil school and the different girl gets put in the good one? This is the story of the first book of this series. I love the originality in this idea. The story is divided into about four acts (each with its own complexity): The Introduction to the School for Good and Evil, The Trial by Tale, The Circus of Talents and The Climax. The first act gives us an introduction to the world that Chainani has created and why the main characters think they should switch schools. The second act involves a challenge where the Evil and Good students have to take on each other and this gives us a reason why Good and Evil cannot be friends, let alone a couple. The third act gives us an insight to Sophie's growing evil and gives us a development in her character with her realisation that she was evil all along. The final act compasses that stereotypes would not always be followed and why the main characters' friendship is strong enough to overrule the stereotypical world. I'll give my honest opinion about this: I will be comparing this to the franchise Ever After High a lot. It just gives me those vibes, because they are both schools that (in Agatha's words) "graduate in fairytales". But other than that there is not many similarities between the two. Therefore it is not a flat on copy which makes it an enjoyable read. It does have that touch of originality which means that the hint of another franchise just adds more to the enjoyment of the story.

Overall I would rate the plot 8/10.

CHARACTERS: 

SOPHIE: 

Of course I had to start with the first character introduced to us. The one and only Sophie. I will give my frank opinion on her in the first book, then I will explain. There's only a few words to describe her. She's a word that rhymes with witch (as well as actually being a witch). I did not say the actual word because I want to remain family friendly. Now why is she so awful, you might ask? Take a road down memory lane and think back on your years at school. Was there a particular person at school who was popular, was very vain, feigned being nice for most of the students and when someone was brave enough to stand up to her, they revealed their poisonous fangs? That's Sophie in a nutshell. Her entire arc revolves around her wanting to be a princess. And why shouldn't she be? She does good deeds left, right and centre (and makes a list to do each day), she's a stereotypical beauty and she made friends with the "witch". From this sentence you can already tell that she is putting on a front because if you really want to do good deeds, you do not count them on a list of things to do, you just help voluntarily, and she constantly judges good and evil to be beautiful and ugly, respectively, which is not the case at all. So unlike for her, it is not a surprise when she gets placed in the School for Evil, instead of  Good. Also, for calling Agatha her friend, she really does not treat her right, always seeing her as an obstacle instead of a person. Later on she proves to be as evil as can be, because there is nothing more evil than disguising to be good. She does have a wishy washy attitude, forcing her to sometimes heed Agatha's advice and sometimes not. For example when they get the punishment for the first lesson in Surviving Fairy Tales, she seemingly has a change of heart and wants to go back to Gavaldon. However as soon as she gets a little scrap of attention from Tedros, she recoils and wants to stay. Throughout the entire book there are examples of this. She also gives me major "Apple White" vibes (from Ever After High). In that franchise, one of the main characters Apple White is destined to be the next Snow White. But much like Sophie, she steps on everyone's toes to get to her destiny. What is different about Sophie, however, is that as soon as she realises that she is in fact evil, she embraces it unlike Apple who tries to fight it. One thing I do have to hand it to Sophie for is her ambition, which is admirable. Pity she had to stomp on everyone's shoes to get to where she wanted to be, which is why she is in Evil, not in Good.

AGATHA: 

Have you ever felt like you see someone so adorable that you want to give them a hug? That's Agatha, surprisingly enough. Why surprising? Because she is different of course. I love how they avoid the cliche of just because you are different does not mean you are evil. What Agatha doesn't realise at the start (and some of the middle) part of the book is that she has different interests but very good intentions. Honestly I feel that every girl (or boy) who has struggled to fit in relates to Agatha, myself included. I know what it feels like to have no self esteem at all and it is not pretty. That is why I just love her journey to accepting herself as she is, dark hair and all because once upon a time (no pun intended) I had the same quirks and insecurities as her. I felt so sorry for her when Sophie played with her like a toy, sometimes ignoring her and then when she felt like it, she would consider her existence. In fact, in life you are either an Agatha or a Sophie. Agatha gives me "Raven Queen" (also from Ever After High) vibes because of them both being considered evil when in reality they both do not want to be, albeit for different reasons. What is different about Agatha, however, is that she does not want to be evil when Sophie was good, because she cares so much for Sophie. Pity it blows up in her face nearing the end of the book.

TEDROS:

Oh boy, this dude. Honestly, I was not exactly wowed by this character. He's the typical jock type of character who just wants to be known for something other than his looks. He also has pretty toxic ideas on what masculinity should be, as shown at the near ending of the book. However, I will say this. Even though he is a cliche character, he is executed well. Why? For one, his desire for someone to love him for something other than his physical appearance is endearing, especially when you consider that his father was King Arthur who was cheated on by Guinevere. Another interesting point about him is the fact that he has the ideas of toxic masculinity because he was brought up that way, in the stereotypes that a prince has to save a princess and not the other way around. Okay, I'll admit this: I'm a sucker for haters to lovers type of relationships, which is why I was a Tedros x Agatha shipper, not a Tedros x Sophie (although the latter had me nearly convinced when they were together, but at the back of my mind I knew it would not last).

THE SCHOOL MASTER:

So this character is the last one to be introduced in the book, however, we still get to know him through snippets and whispers of his reputation with the villager's accounts of him. He is seen as ruthless and is feared by many. As we go in deeper into the story we learn about the history of the two brothers controlling the Storian. We at first think that he is the Good brother due to Good winning every fairy tale in the last 200 years. However we later discover that he is in fact the Evil brother, and that the solution for evil to win (according to him) is Evil Love. In fact he requests Sophie to complete this mission with him and in her moment of weakness, she obliges. Luckily for the universe, he falls to his death, and there is nothing more to say about this character. 

PROFESSOR SADER:

By far the most mysterious character in the book, he seems to believe in Agatha when no one else does. Later we learn that in his world he is known as a Seer, which is someone that can see into the future. It is more his history book rather than him that aids our main characters to continue on their quest, and therefore there is not much to say about him. The only notable thing is the sacrifice that he makes by allowing the ghost of the Good brother to enter him so the truth would be revealed that the School Master was the Evil brother all along.

Overall I would rate the characters a 9/10.

PACING:

This story's pacing is rather particular. It is mostly fast in the beginning, slow in the middle parts and fast again at the end. What I mean about this is that, in reality, you can fit most of the middle part of the book into two other books. This isn't necessarily a bad thing however, as it gives you a variety of events. Another thing to keep in mind about the pacing is that each chapter alternates between Sophie and Agatha's perspective making the pacing seem a little slower than it actually is.

Overall I will rate the pacing 6/10

LANGUAGE: 

I am surprised that this is a book for children and not considered YA because it uses a lot of dark imagery. I mean, Sophie traps Agatha in a huge vat of ice at one point on her witch rampage! Plus when you think about a tradition of kidnapping innocent children, it is kind of creepy. There is also a level of difficulty in the vocabulary used, for example more complex verbs. Other than that, the language is flowy and easy to understand most of the time.

Overall I would rate the language 8/10

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The premise of this book is intriguing and buckle your seatbelt because it gets more interesting as you read along. Believe me when I say that the book makes you think that it is going to end one way but then ends the complete opposite! It was an easy and fun read and I recommend it to anyone who loves fairy tales with a twist and fans of the fantasy genre. 

Overall I rate the book  31/40

What are your thoughts on the book? Tune in in the comments! Thanks for reading my review on this book, and don't worry, more are to come soon! Happy writing, everyone!