The School of Good and Evil

Author: Soman Chainani
Series: The School for Good and Evil, #1
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: May 14, 2013

The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.

This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.

But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…? The School for Good & Evil is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.

The School of Good and Evil was a rollercoaster, and it has been one helluva ride. One moment, I was hating the characters for their actions and in the next, loving every moment of it. And in some, I was just going, "Whaaaa..."

It had taken her whole life to make a single friend. And here these girls had become best friends in minutes as if making friends was the simplest thing in the world.

Agatha is your average heroine—the practical, kind of dark, just-jeans-for-me kind of gal. You've heard it before: All the girl wants is the ordinary, and she recoils at the thought of being special instead of reveling it. I could relate so strongly to her self-deprecation and loneliness, her struggle to "get with" other people, but I feel the author could have done a better job of bringing me closer to her. I know she's supposed to be the opposite of her best friend Sophie, but I'm at that point where I'm just tired of reading about these characters.

It’s this place, she thought. In Gavaldon, Sophie would forget about classes and castles and boys. In Gavaldon, they could find a happy ending together. Not here. I just need to get us home.

Agatha and Sophie are, as stated by the synopsis, kidnapped and placed in the twisted School of Good and Evil, where all manner of heroes are trained to be good and all manner of villains, evil. Except when it turns out they're... not?

“Sophie, we have the chance to save our village from a two-hundred-year-old curse, to rescue children from beatings and failings, to escape wolves, waves, gargoyles, and everything else in this awful school, and to end a story that will kill you. And you’re thinking about a boy?”

“I wanted my happy ending, Aggie,” Sophie said, tears sparkling.

Sophie is the perfect picture of a princess, with her perfect skin, perfect hair, and perfect manners, but behind lurks the face of a true villain. She has been delusioned by fairy tales, into believing a handsome prince on a white horse will make everything better. For her, the School for Good and Evil is a dream come true. Surprisingly, she ended up being my favorite character, although she did take dives into being the worst. While reading, I always looked forward to her appearances.

"Oh, Agatha, I’m a terrible friend. But I’ll have my whole life to make it up to you."

Tedros is the son of King Arthur. A bland little jock boy, who flaunts his privilege and family power. As you can see, I didn't care for the mysognistic, one track-minded brat. With him, I experienced the first time I ever hated a love-hate relationship, which is normally my favorite kind. Every time he came up, I wanted to skip on to the next scene.

The problem smashed Agatha in the face. The one that had plagued them all along. For as the two girls were pulled to their opposing towers, their opposing desires couldn’t have been clearer. Agatha wanted her only friend back. But a friend wasn’t enough for Sophie. Sophie had always wanted more.

Sophie wanted a prince.

The author seems to have a problem with building up to relationships and keeping them from becoming static, but Agatha and Sophie grew on me. I hated Tedros for being the character between the girls. I wanted them to just forget about princes and ride into the sunset.

Imagine my wonderful surprise when that's what the story ended with after all, with Agatha and Sophie exchanging "I love yous" and a kiss. Okay, so it might have just been a gesture of pure friendship, but that's still leagues further than Tedros has ever gone.

No wonder princesses were so impotent in fairy tales, she thought. If all they could do was smile, stand straight, and speak to squirrels, then what choice did they have but to wait for a boy to rescue them?

I actually finished this months ago, but pure laziness kept me from finishing my review or posting my status updates. I'm probably not going to read the next book, because I thought the ending was perfect. I wouldn't want to ruin the experience.

Some closing points, dipping in social justice area: Simpering, dependent misses are mocked, but not exactly. You can be a girly-girl yet still rock it out. Frowning at the word choice of "Arabian skin" and "exotic", but at least the character is still thought of as beautiful.

And which is it: the School for Good and Evil or the School of Good and Evil?