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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
dnf because actually I kinda think the movie is better and the book isn't as good as I remember
this book is literally one of my favourite with the whole "fairytale adaption" kind of theme and it balances character conflict so well I LOVE IT!
very interesting concept!
but there were many times i was lost and couldn't really follow what was going on. but generally pretty interesting.
the ending is frustrating because i couldn't figure out what happened without the second book telling me so. but luckily i already have the second book so i dont have to fuss about it too long.
some things that bothered me:
i have no idea who the teachers are, what their names are, what school they belong to, or what they look like. theres a whole faculty that i dont know. every time one was brought up id have to look them up because they arent introduced very well.
i also have no idea why agatha and sophie are friends. which is like the main point of the book- that their friendship overrides the crazy rules of the school. because they dont have a good friendship ever. not even in the beginning. sophie only thinks about herself and admits to it, even betraying her several times in the book. agatha, shes a toxic friend-- drop her!!
i dont understand tedros? he doesnt seem very great. he seems wishy washy and he badmouths both of them. you dont love either of them just...go away. i mean, i liked hort better?
i didnt like how good was portrayed. it was so shallow. everyone in good was just like sophie, so the whole "shes actually evil for real" thing didnt hold up very well because beatrix was her soul sister.
i liked the ending with the good and evil students being swapped back and forth, but then there was no conclusion. the book just ended and i was left sitting there like ???
but i didnt know what was going on while it was going on. the teachers are petrified? who did that? how was it fixed? the school is crumbling? why?
also the deceit was so deep in this like too many illusions. it was like whiplash reading it. "thats not true! now THATS not true! now THATS not even true! back the beginning again thats true again. not anymore! fooled you!" i just felt like i couldnt follow who was actually what, morally.
the school master + sophie thing was confusing too because here i am thinking sophie is like 12-14 and the school master is old as dirt like... what?
anyway, i did like the ideas and culture of the book, i was just confused a lot the closer it got to the end.
but there were many times i was lost and couldn't really follow what was going on. but generally pretty interesting.
the ending is frustrating because i couldn't figure out what happened without the second book telling me so. but luckily i already have the second book so i dont have to fuss about it too long.
some things that bothered me:
i have no idea who the teachers are, what their names are, what school they belong to, or what they look like. theres a whole faculty that i dont know. every time one was brought up id have to look them up because they arent introduced very well.
i also have no idea why agatha and sophie are friends. which is like the main point of the book- that their friendship overrides the crazy rules of the school. because they dont have a good friendship ever. not even in the beginning. sophie only thinks about herself and admits to it, even betraying her several times in the book. agatha, shes a toxic friend-- drop her!!
i dont understand tedros? he doesnt seem very great. he seems wishy washy and he badmouths both of them. you dont love either of them just...go away. i mean, i liked hort better?
i didnt like how good was portrayed. it was so shallow. everyone in good was just like sophie, so the whole "shes actually evil for real" thing didnt hold up very well because beatrix was her soul sister.
i liked the ending with the good and evil students being swapped back and forth, but then there was no conclusion. the book just ended and i was left sitting there like ???
but i didnt know what was going on while it was going on. the teachers are petrified? who did that? how was it fixed? the school is crumbling? why?
also the deceit was so deep in this like too many illusions. it was like whiplash reading it. "thats not true! now THATS not true! now THATS not even true! back the beginning again thats true again. not anymore! fooled you!" i just felt like i couldnt follow who was actually what, morally.
the school master + sophie thing was confusing too because here i am thinking sophie is like 12-14 and the school master is old as dirt like... what?
anyway, i did like the ideas and culture of the book, i was just confused a lot the closer it got to the end.
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Someone made a great villain. And yes who needs princes when you can save yourself?
Realistically, I'd give this book 3.5 stars.
The School for Good and Evil is a somewhat fantasy novel, that centers on two girls: Sophie and Agatha. Every year, two children are chosen to attend the schools. One goes to the evil school to learn how to become a villain, and another goes to the good school to learn how to act like 'royalty' or a hero. When you graduate, you become your own fairy tale, and you literally go down in history.
I thought that it was a really original idea, and I think that's the strength of this book. The ideas are so original and new and clever. For example, one of the teachers is blind, and he writes text books for his class. All of the text books that he writes are written in braille, so how do the non-braille reading students read the text books? They just slide their hand across the dots, and the book reads out loud to them, with images popping up as the person reads. How cool is that? Or another is how each school has its own guards. The guards for the School for Good are fairies, and the guards for the School for Evil are wolves. But get this: all of the guards are previous students who have failed the school. Again, so many original ideas, that should have had more exploration.
Sadly, the strongest aspect of this book is the idea and premise. The characters aren't particularly strong, nor are they very consistent. I had trouble keeping track of what certain characters thought of each other, because opinions seemed to change ALL THE TIME. There were also a lot of interesting characters, that I wished would have had more focus. In addition, the fairy tale aspect wasn't really played with as much as I thought that it would be. There were only a couple of mentions of Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, etc. I guess that I just expected the teachers to talk about their previous (successful) students more, but that's just me.
The plot as well, isn't as original as I was hoping. At first I was hoping that they would put a twist on common fairy tale tropes, such as True Loves kiss, etc, but we didn't get any of that. I was more interested in simply reading about the day-to-day life of the students. The main plot didn't concern me at all. The book also really outdid itself with the climax. I was expecting something huge and epic, but in the end, it felt extremely rushed and forced. For example, some of the teachers have been involved in previous fairy tales. One of the teachers was Cinderella's fairy godmother. Another was a princess of her own story. So how on earth is it even possible for a FIRST YEAR STUDENT TO FREEZE ALL OF THE TEACHERS!? It was such a lazy way to make sure that none of the teachers could interfere in the climax, which would have been over in five pages if they did.
Overall, this book was still pretty enjoyable. If you like magical boarding schools, and original ideas, then you'll definitely love this book. Or at least the first three quarters. :)
The School for Good and Evil is a somewhat fantasy novel, that centers on two girls: Sophie and Agatha. Every year, two children are chosen to attend the schools. One goes to the evil school to learn how to become a villain, and another goes to the good school to learn how to act like 'royalty' or a hero. When you graduate, you become your own fairy tale, and you literally go down in history.
I thought that it was a really original idea, and I think that's the strength of this book. The ideas are so original and new and clever. For example, one of the teachers is blind, and he writes text books for his class. All of the text books that he writes are written in braille, so how do the non-braille reading students read the text books? They just slide their hand across the dots, and the book reads out loud to them, with images popping up as the person reads. How cool is that? Or another is how each school has its own guards. The guards for the School for Good are fairies, and the guards for the School for Evil are wolves. But get this: all of the guards are previous students who have failed the school. Again, so many original ideas, that should have had more exploration.
Sadly, the strongest aspect of this book is the idea and premise. The characters aren't particularly strong, nor are they very consistent. I had trouble keeping track of what certain characters thought of each other, because opinions seemed to change ALL THE TIME. There were also a lot of interesting characters, that I wished would have had more focus. In addition, the fairy tale aspect wasn't really played with as much as I thought that it would be. There were only a couple of mentions of Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, etc. I guess that I just expected the teachers to talk about their previous (successful) students more, but that's just me.
The plot as well, isn't as original as I was hoping. At first I was hoping that they would put a twist on common fairy tale tropes, such as True Loves kiss, etc, but we didn't get any of that. I was more interested in simply reading about the day-to-day life of the students. The main plot didn't concern me at all. The book also really outdid itself with the climax. I was expecting something huge and epic, but in the end, it felt extremely rushed and forced. For example, some of the teachers have been involved in previous fairy tales. One of the teachers was Cinderella's fairy godmother. Another was a princess of her own story. So how on earth is it even possible for a FIRST YEAR STUDENT TO FREEZE ALL OF THE TEACHERS!? It was such a lazy way to make sure that none of the teachers could interfere in the climax, which would have been over in five pages if they did.
Overall, this book was still pretty enjoyable. If you like magical boarding schools, and original ideas, then you'll definitely love this book. Or at least the first three quarters. :)
Prickly loner Agatha and ambitious,t beautiful Sophie's unconventional friendship is put to the test when the pair get kidnapped for enrollment in the Schools for Good and Evil. The school's unconventional recruitment methods are legendary in the girls' village , securing the victims' starring roles in fairy tales. Nothing about this attempt goes as planned however and their friendship won't be the only casualty: a fairy tale war is brewing.
Though I can't shake the Wicked parallels' (at least the Broadway take on it if not Maguire's somewhat darker original) I unabashedly love this series from the go. Sure, there are some expected themes (are villains born or made?) but I especially liked how, even with a multitude of Princes to be had (even *the* Prince) there is really never any doubt that the heart of the story is with the two girls. Though they might seem polar opposites they do have one thing in common: neither is content to be a passive damsel in distress waiting for destiny to figure itself out.
Though I can't shake the Wicked parallels' (at least the Broadway take on it if not Maguire's somewhat darker original) I unabashedly love this series from the go. Sure, there are some expected themes (are villains born or made?) but I especially liked how, even with a multitude of Princes to be had (even *the* Prince) there is really never any doubt that the heart of the story is with the two girls. Though they might seem polar opposites they do have one thing in common: neither is content to be a passive damsel in distress waiting for destiny to figure itself out.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolutely hilarious! Im so sad middle school Zoë will never get the chance to read this, she would’ve been obsessed 🤭