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A review by amycoles
Quests for Glory by Soman Chainani
Before I get into my feelings about the content of this book, I'd like to address where it is situated within The School for Good and Evil series. I found it very strange that this book is technically classified as the first book in the The School for Good and Evil: The Camelot Years, because it's not something you can just pick up if you haven't read the first three books. In fact, it pretty much continues not too long after the third book leaves off and makes references to the past books. I get that this is the first book that is largely situated outside of the school, but it should still be considered the fourth book in The School for Good and Evil series so as not to confuse others who aren't familiar with the series.
NOW. I ended up loving this book, which was really surprising because after a few chapters, I was convinced this was just going to be a three star read. To be honest, this book started out fine, but it didn't completely grip me right from the beginning. The prelude to the main quest seemed to drag on for too long, with an extensive pity party for Agatha and Tedros for the first several chapters of the book.
BUT, once the main quest plot began to unravel, I got completely sucked in. There was a great balance of plot action and character/relationship development. I especially loved watching Hort and Dot in this book and actually found it great that they got so much 'screen' time! I was really afraid I would get bored of Sophie, Agatha, and Tedros because, let's be honest, they have pretty strong personalities. But lots of side characters were really featured here and it worked out really well to balance out Sophie's... Sophieness! A new character, was also introduced to this book, and while I loved her, she was said to be really important to the quest, but I feel like she should have been featured more!!!
Another thing I loved was how much more of this fantasy world we got to see! Agatha and the crew end up travelling to lots of the regions within Camelot's rule as we get to see the different landscapes, rulers, and citizens - including Dot's dad and Robin Hood! It also really helped that (at least in my hardcover edition) this book had a map at the beginning with all the kingdoms under Camelot's rule.
One of my favourite things about all of The School for Good and Evil books are the strong fairy-tale/fantasy elements that add a special pop of whimsy to the stories. In this one, especially, there are so many whimsical elements that just warmed my heart: from a beaver tour guide, to Robin Hood's enchanted forest, to Jaunt Jolie's pastel castle. The main antagonist of this story was also really imaginative and pretty cool (I'll give no spoilers though).
As far as the plot goes, I was afraid that I had everything figured out really early on because of the obvious ( - obvious to me who's quite a bit older than the ideal middlegrade audience) hints dropped at a potential plot twist. But when it came to that plot twist I was actually caught off guard and i began to enjoy the book so much more knowing that even though I'm an adult, the story can still surprise me. I have to admit that there was ONE thing that I anticipated. I just wish the story ended with more answers, but instead it left off with QUITE the cliff hanger.
Just be prepared for all of the feels...
I can't wait for the next book that's anticipated to come out in the Fall of 2018!
NOW. I ended up loving this book, which was really surprising because after a few chapters, I was convinced this was just going to be a three star read. To be honest, this book started out fine, but it didn't completely grip me right from the beginning. The prelude to the main quest seemed to drag on for too long, with an extensive pity party for Agatha and Tedros for the first several chapters of the book.
BUT, once the main quest plot began to unravel, I got completely sucked in. There was a great balance of plot action and character/relationship development. I especially loved watching Hort and Dot in this book and actually found it great that they got so much 'screen' time! I was really afraid I would get bored of Sophie, Agatha, and Tedros because, let's be honest, they have pretty strong personalities. But lots of side characters were really featured here and it worked out really well to balance out Sophie's... Sophieness! A new character, was also introduced to this book, and while I loved her, she was said to be really important to the quest, but I feel like she should have been featured more!!!
Another thing I loved was how much more of this fantasy world we got to see! Agatha and the crew end up travelling to lots of the regions within Camelot's rule as we get to see the different landscapes, rulers, and citizens - including Dot's dad and Robin Hood! It also really helped that (at least in my hardcover edition) this book had a map at the beginning with all the kingdoms under Camelot's rule.
One of my favourite things about all of The School for Good and Evil books are the strong fairy-tale/fantasy elements that add a special pop of whimsy to the stories. In this one, especially, there are so many whimsical elements that just warmed my heart: from a beaver tour guide, to Robin Hood's enchanted forest, to Jaunt Jolie's pastel castle. The main antagonist of this story was also really imaginative and pretty cool (I'll give no spoilers though).
As far as the plot goes, I was afraid that I had everything figured out really early on because of the obvious ( - obvious to me who's quite a bit older than the ideal middlegrade audience) hints dropped at a potential plot twist. But when it came to that plot twist I was actually caught off guard and i began to enjoy the book so much more knowing that even though I'm an adult, the story can still surprise me. I have to admit that there was ONE thing that I anticipated. I just wish the story ended with more answers, but instead it left off with QUITE the cliff hanger.
Just be prepared for all of the feels...
I can't wait for the next book that's anticipated to come out in the Fall of 2018!