Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

3 reviews

ashleylowry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Bullying

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Fatphobia

chrisljm's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I know a lot of the stereotypes presented in the book are based on tropes often seen in fairytales, but when you spend all 500 pages reenforcing them instead of showing how good and bad people can’t just be categorized into archetypes, it just becomes sexist, fatphobic, and a bunch of other problematic shit. I just don’t understand what exactly was the author’s goal – whether to dismantle or reaffirm fairytale tropes, because it comes off as reaffirming them.

The romance also doesn’t make sense. I know romances between princes and princesses are also part of fairytale tropes, but they were definitely trying to force something real between Agatha and Tedros, and there was just no chemistry at all. Like the only thing that drew him to Agatha during the tests was a “feeling”, and after realizing that she’s good and not a liar, he’s in love with her all of a sudden? Ok. The characters, as well as the story, were very two-dimensional and had no growth, and the ending felt rushed.

I also want to add on that Sophie and Agatha are supposed to be best friends but not only was Sophie a shit person, but she was also a shit friend. Readers are provided plenty of context on why Sophie is perfect for the School of Evil, but we don’t see any good memories between Sophie and Agatha that show why they’re friends with each other. Instead, you see Sophie barge her way to Agatha’s house regularly to build good credit, give her nasty cookies, and call her ugly.

The book felt long and tedious to get through because 1. we saw way too much of Sophie’s POV, especially for how insufferable and unselfaware she is. 2. Agatha just gets manipulated over and over and over again. ENOUGH.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexism, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Confinement, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Child death, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Violence, Murder, Slavery, War, and Torture

Minor: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Racial slurs, and Stalking

_ren's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Reads like fanfiction to me. An amazing, great world, but with obnoxious tropes and characters. This was definitely written by a beginner writer.

APPARENTLY, THE AUTHOR COMPLETELY RUINS IT IN THE 2ND BOOK, SO I WILL NOT BE READING THE REST OF THE SERIES.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Torture, Sexism, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Gore, Grief, Body shaming, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Classism, War, Vomit, and Violence

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Cursing, and Kidnapping

Minor: Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia