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elfeeza 's review for:
The School for Good and Evil
by Soman Chainani
We follow 2 best friends, Sophie, the most beautiful girl in the village of Gavaldon who, her whole life, dreams to be kidnapped into an enchanted world and Agatha, who just wants to be left alone in her gloomy house in the company of her wicked pet cat. Every 4 years for the last 200 years, 2 children will be kidnapped and whisked away to the fabled School for Good and Evil, where boys and girls are trained to be fairy-tale heroes and villains. Sophie has prepared her whole life for the School for Good where she pictured herself to be a top of the class princess and marries her prince and lives happily ever after while gloomy Agatha dresses herself in shapeless black frocks and avoided everyone seems a good candidate of the School for Evil. But they found themselves in an unexpected situation and unwillingly trapped in a fairy tale where the only way out is to see it through to the end.
I really enjoyed the premise of this book. The cover art and synopsis caught my attention and piqued my interest the moment I saw the book and read the back of the book. I felt that the first few chapters were a little slow and boring but once the characters start to accept show some kind acknowledgement of their predicament the whole book was like a rollercoaster ride for me where I felt like I couldn’t read it fast enough and couldn’t wait to know what happens next. I desperately wanted to know how the book ended and whether any of my predictions are true. The plot surprised me a few times and the ending I liked and disliked. I liked what happened but I didn’t like the way it was written. If I say anymore than that, I would spoil it for you.
The characters are human. I would say that they are true depictions of children’s (and in some cases even adults’) confused hearts and minds as they try to fit into the mould they are expected to fill by society and by the school and yet they cannot help but have a mixture of both positive and negative feelings that human beings have like vanity, envy, wickedness. I love how Soman Chainani explores the nuances of personalities and traits of the children from the two schools and how reality is very often disappointing and how people hardly bother to see beyond what in on the outside.
I enjoyed Soman Chainani’s writing style. It felt like reading one of the Disney Channel series. I enjoyed the banter he created among the characters and how every character mentioned had a role to play in carrying out the plot and had their own endings. I enjoyed the way he was able to grip my attention and played with my emotions throughout the story.
So, I gave this book 4.5 stars and I would recommend this book to older children because of the content. Adults can benefit from the messages and themes of this book, too.
I really enjoyed the premise of this book. The cover art and synopsis caught my attention and piqued my interest the moment I saw the book and read the back of the book. I felt that the first few chapters were a little slow and boring but once the characters start to accept show some kind acknowledgement of their predicament the whole book was like a rollercoaster ride for me where I felt like I couldn’t read it fast enough and couldn’t wait to know what happens next. I desperately wanted to know how the book ended and whether any of my predictions are true. The plot surprised me a few times and the ending I liked and disliked. I liked what happened but I didn’t like the way it was written. If I say anymore than that, I would spoil it for you.
The characters are human. I would say that they are true depictions of children’s (and in some cases even adults’) confused hearts and minds as they try to fit into the mould they are expected to fill by society and by the school and yet they cannot help but have a mixture of both positive and negative feelings that human beings have like vanity, envy, wickedness. I love how Soman Chainani explores the nuances of personalities and traits of the children from the two schools and how reality is very often disappointing and how people hardly bother to see beyond what in on the outside.
I enjoyed Soman Chainani’s writing style. It felt like reading one of the Disney Channel series. I enjoyed the banter he created among the characters and how every character mentioned had a role to play in carrying out the plot and had their own endings. I enjoyed the way he was able to grip my attention and played with my emotions throughout the story.
So, I gave this book 4.5 stars and I would recommend this book to older children because of the content. Adults can benefit from the messages and themes of this book, too.