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The School for Good and Evil
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The School for Good and Evil
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The School for Good and Evil
Audiobook13 hours

The School for Good and Evil

Written by Soman Chainani

Narrated by Polly Lee

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL is now a major motion picture from Netflix, starring Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blanchett, and many more! 

A dark and enchanting fantasy adventure perfect for girls who prefer their fairytales with a twist.

Every four years, two girls are kidnapped from the village of Gavaldon. Legend has it these lost children are sent to the School for Good and Evil, the fabled institution where they become fairytale heroes or villains.

With her glass slippers and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she'll join the ranks of past students like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White at the School for Good. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black dresses and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil.

But the two girls soon 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 among 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?

Editor's Note

On screen…

The premise of this middle grade series is immediately compelling: Two children are taken to the titular school each year, and are taught to be either good or evil. But when Sophie and Agatha attend, they’re not assigned the expected classes, which calls into question who they really are and the true nature of good and evil. The adaptation is available to stream on Netflix.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateMay 8, 2014
ISBN9780007593095
Unavailable
The School for Good and Evil
Author

Soman Chainani

Soman Chainani studied at Harvard, practically creating his own fairytale major. He is also an acclaimed screenwriter, whose films have played at more than 150 film festivals, winning more than 30 jury and audience prizes. When he’s not telling stories or teaching, Soman is a die-hard tennis player. You can visit Soman online at www.somanchainani.net.

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Rating: 3.9558823529411766 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Synopsis:Sophie and Agatha are taken to a fairy tale school where children learn to be Princesses or Villains. However, it seems there is a mix-up. Agatha clearly is meant for villain school with her dour demeanor and poor manners while Sophie has been training to be a princess all her life. As the girls are both put into schools they don't feel they belong in and fight to be switched, they prove that maybe there is more to each of them than they realized. Agatha might just have the heart of a princess and there might be something villainess inside of Sophie.My rating:3/5I loved the idea of this book and I loved the characters. I absolutely adored Agatha and found her relatable. Agatha doesn't want to be in this strange world and just wants to go home. At the same time, she is absolutely devoted to Sophie who is one of the only friends she had back in their world. I was so touched by her loyalty and the depths of her friendship even when Sophie is selfish and bratty. On the other hand I loved how princess like Sophie was. She is beautiful, mannered, romantic, etc. She doesn't just want to be a princess, she has many of the qualities associated with fairy tale princesses. I loved the contrast between these two characters but how deep, on Agatha's end anyways, their friendship flowed despite those differences. Sophie is a very selfish character which I felt was what made her suited for villain school while Agatha is loyal and loving which I felt made her an appropriate princess. I could see why they were in the right schools even if they couldn't. My first issue was that at the school Sophie is no different than the other princesses. All of them act entitled, bratty, and selfish. I really hated the school for villains. I thought it was poorly done and I didn't like it at all. The other students at the school weren't kidnapped like Sophie and Agatha but rather are descendants of other fairy tale heroes and villains which made their individual personalities have little to do with their sorting into good or evil school. Instead, if your parent was a hero then so are you. If your parent was a villain then you are too. It isn't a very fair sorting process and many of the villains are actually less "evil" than the heroes. The problem is that, while this is shown, it isn't explored in the depth I would have liked. I found many aspects of the world building and setting in this story to be confusing including what was going on and why. There were explanations given for some of it but overall I just didn't really "get it". There are other books in the series and it is possible some of these issues and elements are further explored in later books but I don't plan to move forward with the series. I hated the set up of the school for villains. It has classes such as making yourself ugly where the characters are taught to give themselves warts. I think what I disliked so much about that is that ugliness doesn't make a villain, even in fairy tales. Similarly, there is a point where we are led to believe Agatha should be a villain because she farts. I hated the good versus evil in this story because the evils presented were things like ugliness and poor manners. Sophie is really the only villain who is a villain because in her heart she is selfish and an ugly person inside (but no more so than ALL the princesses except for Agatha). I also found some of the plot elements confusing. The explanations given didn't make much sense to me. I am not sure if this book wasn't fleshed out enough or if I just missed something but either way this book wasn't a good match for me and I was super disappointed because I loved the premise of this book as well as the characters. There were some amazing moments in this story and I absolutely loved the dynamics between Sophie and the villains at her school as well as her interactions with Agatha. There were so many fun or cool things that happened in this book. I just felt like it missed the mark in many areas and I can't really recommend it though it seems like mine is a minority opinion and many other readers enjoyed this much more than I did.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I enjoyed premise, and the plot was okay (until the end, when there was every kind of battle you could possibly imagine, plus all the plot twists- did the editor stop reading it?), but the writing is terrible. There are no rules to the magic here. Ultimately, there are just a lot of stereotypes and nothing really holds it all together.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is so awesome! It had me hooked from the very first sentence: "Sophie had waited all her life to be kidnapped." Absolutely amazing story. Couldn't get enough of it.

    A beautiful girl and an ugly goth type girl are somehow best friends. They are whisked away to a fairy tale land, The School for Good and Evil. In a strange twist of fate, the pretty one lands in the evil school and the ugly girl finds herself in the pretty school for good. Hilarity ensues.

    From the very beginning, I thought, these girls are totally going to end up in bed together. I won't tell you if they do in fact end up banging, because that would probably spoil the fun. But I can tell you one thing: goth girls are almost always lesbians. There, I said it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    3.75

    It got a little convoluted towards the end, and in parts the book dragged. However I love the overall theme of this book and highly recommend it to parents with middle schoolers. It is a good book to even read along side them and open up a discussion about the balance of good and evil that exists in all of humanity.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found this a well-written example of its type. The magical school and the good/evil thing aren't particularly novel - and the big twist, and its resolution, are obvious from the beginning if you've read this sort of thing before. However, execution is crucial. It was an enjoyable, fast-paced and lively read with some fun characters and many nice creative touches of the kind children's books can somehow get away with when adult literature hesitates.Following review includes spoilers.For example, Chainani can get away with playing heavily into the Good Beautiful, Evil Pantomime Ugly thing because her setting is explicitly built on fairy-tale reality, where those tropes hold true (as does their subversion). Similarly, I thought the portrayal of the characters struck a nice balance between plausible, entertaining and caught up in the force of the in-story Story. The descriptions of the school rang convincingly in the broad strokes as well as in little details, and the awkward tension of Sophie and Agatha's friendship felt true to life.Oddly enough, though the build-up was strong, the part I struggled with most was the end. Not the ending itself, but the last stage of the book. It felt to me as though there were simply too many layers of revelation, twist and counter-revelation going on, with the result that none of them really had enough breathing space to make a proper impact. There were multiple stages that felt like a climax about to break, and then something else happened instead.Also, to be honest, despite having just finished it, I couldn't tell you exactly what the plot was because it flips so many times. There are certain points where it started to feel as though whatever was happening wasn't actually down to anyone's machinations at all, but simply random events that the author tried to attribute to one character or another. For example, I've no idea what Sophie's actual plan was at the end, and which events were part of it. The ball, yes. I assume the plot to make the schools switch alignments? But was that transformation the sum of her plot, or was it towards some end which I never worked out? Was it a massive diversion for some reason? Did she intend to go to the tower after it all, in which case, why, and why did she need the big scene? If not, why did she go? What was her actual plan for the tower and how did she arrive at it? If the big scene was an opportunity for her to do something big and evil, how does that work when she was apparently metaphysically Good? And why didn't it manifest on the various occasions where individuals behaved in Good and Evil ways during the story? What did she need Agatha for anyway, since the whole thing works without her interfering?Similarly, the relationship between Agatha, Sophie, Teldros and some minor characters shifted so quickly in the last few chapters that it was a big hard to keep straight, especially since there was clearly metaphysical significance to all of it. Even by the lake they rearranged their relationship about three times in as many pages, and this was particularly odd because they all knew they were affecting the fate of the school.Basically it felt like the end was not only convoluted, but also a series of things happening because they were necessary to the story, even though the story didn't quite give them the buildup they needed. This was a bit of a shame.The actual finale was okay (and was, pleasingly, what I'd predicted from the beginning) so it did have a good finish, and I'll be getting the next one.BIG SPOILERS NEXTThe other slight quibble I had was that the story seems oddly inconsistent about what it means to be Good or Evil, and their degree (although this is a universal problem of such books). For example, right at the beginning, the moment where Sophie is accepted by her roommates as evil-worthy is where she points out that she's beautiful and they're ugly - which is actually her argument that she's in the wrong school because she must be good. Similarly, she achieves a top-ranked Evil score when she absently hopes that Agatha hasn't told Teldros they're friends. The story consistently treats these moments of shallowness and passing selfishness as appallingly evil, even though they're surrounded by actual torture, constant cruelty and attempted murder. Sophie abusively manipulating Hort, however, or even the *actual murder* she commits, just seem to be treated as moments of drama. The big transformation scene is similarly handwavy. Yet Agatha seems to get a pass on *her* constant low-level prejudice and temper, including her sporadic bad feelings towards Sophie, because she's the Actually Good one. It's just... odd.Also, a note: some reviewers have commented on a possible LGBT relationship. To me it was not remotely that clear cut; I think there's a faint possibility that may be explored in future, but it seemed far more likely in context that this was a platonic expression of love, of the kind so common in books with a deep theme of friendship. I also don't think the LGBT interpretation would be a *particularly* dramatic twist given the intense relationship between these characters throughout the book. Far less dramatic, frankly, than most of what's happened elsewhere. In fact, you could make an argument that the struggle to understand and express their feelings, and a possible changing relationship - especially in a setting where gender roles are incredibly explicit - would make a lot of sense of their tensions throughout the book, and be a good complement to the main thread.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An interesting take on fairy tales, good and evil, friendship, and love. It's a fun story, but also raises deeper issues for the reader about how someone looks and what kind of a person they are. Beautiful Sophie is friends with not so beautiful Agatha who lives in a graveyard and is "different" which usually means evil in Sophie's book. Every year two children are stolen away from their little village - one good child and one who is not very good and taken to the School of Good and Evil where each learns the ropes of becoming a princess or villian, and eventually graduates into their own fairytale. Sophie is sure its her year to become the princess she's always wanted to be and she can't wait, and tells Sophie she's sure to be chosen to the School of Evil. But when Sophie's wish comes true and they are stolen by the mysterious Story Master, Sophie finds herself in the wrong school. She is placed among the children who learn about Uglification and Evil Henchmen, while Agatha ends up in the pretty pink and blue Good School learning how to act like a princess and how to attract her prince. Obviously Sophie feels she's in the wrong place and is desperate to try to find a way to show them she's Good while Aggie just wants to find a way to get them both back home, especially after discovering some disturbing things about what happened to some of the kids from their village who had been stolen in the years before.Lots of cool ideas and imagery - for example, the Blue Forest behind the school where the students learn about how to protect themselves when they enter the real woods. The Blue Forest is a forest made up of all different shades of blues from navy to aqua to pale sky blue. And I liked how the Good School had candy classrooms (made of candy) and glass staircases of pink and blue; a Grooming room where they can go for manicures and makeup lessons while the Evil School has a moat of sludge, staircases of snakes and they are constantly being whipped and tormented. While maintaining a fun story to read, the author does a good job of delvling into deeper issues that raise questions about someone's character versus what they look like, and that how you treat people is what really matters. Is Good really all that good? Agatha learns that in spite of the School's belief that they have pure hearts of Good, they've done some things that don't seem very nice at all and in fact, might be considered pretty horrific. And why does Evil have to be ugly? Is there no goodness in them at all?Lots of food for thought for young readers coming of age who are likely finding themselves worrying if they are pretty enough or smart enough and what can happen to friendships when love enters the picture. The author does a great job of emphasizing that things are not always black or white but likely somewhere in between.I am looking forward to reading the sequel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Go ahead -- judge The School for Good and Evil by its cover, because this is a book that really wanted to be a manga series. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to be a manga series -- but I'll get into the issues I had with this book after a quick summary:Every four years, two children are stolen from the isolated little town of Gavaldon by a mysterious Schoolmaster. One is taken to the School for Good, the other to the School for Evil . . . and there they become the stuff that fairy tales are made of. Parents lock their children away -- the unusually bad children do surprising, uncharacteristic good works, the preternaturally good ones go around making messes and pinching their siblings. None of them want to be taken away . . . except for Sophie. Sophie can hardly wait. She's always known that, deep inside, she was a princess. Surely the Schoolmaster will see that as well, and take Sophie to the School for Good where she can meet her perfect Prince Charming. But has she been good enough? In an attempt to up her standing on the Nice List, Sophie befriends outsider Agatha, who wears a lot of black and lives next to a graveyard. Agatha doesn't necessarily believe in the schools, and she certainly doesn't want to go there -- but even her mother believes that Agatha, if she were chosen, would land squarely in the School for Evil. So, imagine the two girls' surprise when Agatha finds herself chosen for the School for Good, and Sophie ends up in the School for Evil. Agatha's main goal is to get herself and Sophie out of their schools and back to Gavaldon before something dreadful befalls them -- you see, she quickly learns what happens to students who are not successful. Sophie, on the other hand, is determined to make her way to the School for Good (she even has her Prince Charming picked out) and nothing, not friendship or magic or a host of fakey-nice Mean Girls at the School for Good, will stand in her way. To top it off, what Sophie and Agatha don't know is that there are forces at work at the Schools that neither of them understand . . . and they are about to get swept into something much larger than just two girls spirited off to school. . . .So, that sounds promising, right? Well, the first bit of the book is good enough . . . but once the girls get to the school, it goes downhill. One of the main problems is the length, or to be precise, the amount of wasted space in the main portion of the book, where Agatha tries to convince Sophie to go home, and Sophie hatches another scheme to get into the School for Good. Over and over again. There's an entire school year to fill, and while some of the girls' adventures are exciting, they also felt repetitive to me. To top it off, the ending of the book is massively confusing. Then, the writing is not as great as one might expect from the impressive author bio and the number of big-name book blurbers this title attracted. The story has definite visual/cinematic elements, but there were times when I could almost feel the author's frustration at not being able to just express visually what was going through his mind. And this led to action sequences (particularly at the end of the book) that were extremely jumpy and confusing. As manga, it would almost definitely have been more successful; as a film (I hear it has already been optioned) I think it will be spectacular. As a book, it just didn't do it for me. Much as it pains me to say such a thing, my recommendation on this one is to skip the book and just wait for the movie.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The School for Good and Evil: Soman Chainani.This book is about two friends, Sophie (a beautiful, kind, sweet and shallow girl) and Agatha (an ugly , cruel, bitter and practical girl) who live in a village called Galvadon which is surrounded by forest. These girls are kidnapped by the School Master, a mysterious person who every four years takes two children, one that is Good and the other Evil. They arrive at the School for Good and Evil where fairytalke heroes and villans are taught. Sophie is mistakenly put in the School for Evil and learns how to be a witch while Agatha is taken to School for Good to earn how to be a princess. Sophie is an outcast from her fellow classmates and wants nothing more then to go to a ball with her crush, Tedros the father of King Arthur. Agatha is also an outcast and wants nothing more then to go home. They both eventually find out that they are meant to be in the schools they are in and Sophie almost destroys the school because of it. The friendship of these two girls overcome the hate between them and they get transported into their fairy-tale as friends. I loved this book because it shows how labels do not define who you are. Both Sophie and Agatha were not just good or evil, they were both.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    WOW! I started reading this b/c I have a 10 year old who I thought may like it. I really am enjoying it. I think it's a good read.
    It really takes the whole inner beauty to a new level.
    Sophie is beautiful and only thinks about herself using everyone to get what she wants.
    Agatha truly good but listens to everyone who says b/c she's ugly she's evil...
    I really dig Agatha and how she scoffs at the whole waiting for a prince to rescue you.

    I'm so not down with them training princesses to talk to animals and be losers while Princes get all the defensive skills and the evil's get to use magic... lame.

    In the end I'm glad it ended the way it did.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A really good bewitching tale about two girls that go to different schools, but everything is not what it seems as they apparently switch places.This is a must read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There is a lot to like about this book. The characters and situations are interesting and the narrative moves along at a good pace, which kept me engaged through all of its 480+ pages, even though the middle of the book felt like it was going around and around on the same merry-go-round of plot. But the writing was not fabulous (a girl who "heaved with relief"?) and at the end I was still left wondering exactly what the author was trying to say about good and evil, and whether we should all be dying to be asked to a ball, or not. And PS -- budding middle-grade feminists are not going to appreciate the role stereotypes.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Diese und weitere Rezensionen findet ihr auf meinem Blog Anima Libri - Buchseele

    Märchen! Oh, wie ich Märchen liebe :D Einer Gründe für die Existenz meines anderen Blogprojekts "Bee Fairytale". Und weil ich Märchen so toll finde, bin ich immer wieder total begeistert, wenn ich Bücher entdecke, die die alten, klassischen Märchen auf neue Art verarbeiten, so wie Soman Chainanis Trilogie "The School for Good and Evil", deren erster Teil "Es kann nur eine geben" heute erscheint.

    Alle vier Jahre werden zwei Kinder - ein gutes und ein böses - aus dem Dorf Gavaldon entführt, nur um dann kurz drauf in einem Märchen wieder aufzutauchen. In diesem Jahr möchte die hübsche Sophie mit ihrem blonden Haar, dem wunderschönen Lächeln und der Vorliebe für hübsche Kleider unbedingt vom Schulmeister entführt werden, damit sie auf der Schule für Gut und Böse zu einer echten Prinzessin ausgebildet werden kann. Und ihre Freundin Agatha ist für sie der perfekte Kandidat für die böse Seite, immerhin lebt sie auf dem Friedhof und sieht bereits aus wie eine Hexe. Doch es kommt anders als gedacht und plötzlich müssen sich die Mädchen auf anderen Seiten als erwartet herumschlagen.

    Soman Chainani erzählt in diesem Kinder-/Jugendbuch eine ganz wundervolle Geschichte, in der er mit den verschiedensten Märchenstereotypen spielt und dabei relativ schonungslos auch immer mal den düsteren Unterton der Originalmärchen anklingen lässt, wenn den Schülern z.B. offenbart wird, dass ein Teil von ihnen als Tiere oder Gegenstände enden wird. Überhaupt fand ich die Art des Autors sehr erfrischend, sowohl sein Schreibstil als auch die gesamte Geschichte, die er erzählt, sind so herrlich anders, dass die Geschichte einfach Spaß macht.

    "The School for Good and Evil: Es kann nur eine geben" ist eine Geschichte nicht nur über Freundschaft, sondern viel mehr darüber, dass vieles oft nicht so ist, wie es scheint, dass innere Werte zählen und der äußere Anschein manchmal ausgesprochen trügerisch sein kann - immerhin ist es nicht die "hässliche" Agatha, die auf der Schule für Böse landet, sondern ihre dem Anschein nach durch und durch prinzessinnenhafte Freundin Sophie. Auch über den Sinn und Unsinn starrer Rollenverteilungen und Schwarz-Weiß-Denkens muss man sich beim Lesen gemeinsam mit den beiden Protagonistinnen Gedanken machen, denn nicht zu Unrecht fragt sich gerade Agatha immer wieder, warum sie als Prinzessin nicht lernt, sich selbst zu verteidigen sondern nur sich zu schminken und ähnlichen Unsinn.

    Alles in allem hat mir Soman Chainanis Serienauftakt "The School for Good and Evil: Es kann nur eine geben" ausgesprochen gut gefallen, die Idee ist klasse und auch die Umsetzung sehr gelungen, nur an einigen wenigen Stellen, waren mir einzelne Situationen dann doch zu überzeichnet oder zu sehr in die Länge gezogen. Trotzdem gibt es eine dicke Empfehlung für diesen humorvollen und intelligenten Kinder-/Jugendroman mit seinen großartigen Charakteren!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5


    What a great read. A really different take on the theme of fairy tales and two 'heroines' who are so differnt from what they think they are. The first in a series, and I will definitely be following the adventures of the main characters. Great story for pre-teens.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    children's middlegrade fiction (magic/fairytale fantasy, with lots of adventure, Good/Evil fighting, and a couple of brief kisses). Very action packed and full of plot twists. Would recommend to kids who like their fairytales with more action and danger.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I really want to like this book. It certainly has creative vision and holds promise, but I have growing suspicions that the promise is all surface beauty with little story depth underneath.

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This hurts me so much to say. Like really. I wanted to enjoy this one so much because the cover is gorgeous and the trailer was good too, but I just didn't. Maybe it would be better in Hardcover, or even a physical copy of the ARC, but most of the problem I had dealt with this book being confusing. At first I really was liking it. But then it got a little boring. Then when the POVs started changing without warning I got confused. I had to keep going back and realizing that they did switch names. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more had it been a real ARC. One thing I did like was the illustrations. As they came up on my Nook, I really thought they looked cool as digital drawings. I would love to see the finished copies. But over time, I kept reading and it got a little boring. It wasn't that there wasn't anything happening, it just felt like the SAME THING kept happening. It felt a little redundant Agatha wanted to get Sophie out of there but Sophie wanted to stay. Every time they went somewhere it happened over and over. So I thought I just wasn't in the mood for that type of story, so I put it down for a little and started on something else. And then I ended up finishing two books before picking this up again. So I just said forget it. I ended up skimming the rest of it and looking to see the big plot twist. All in all, maybe this version just wasn't for me. I'll give it another try when the final version comes out
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I really want to like this book. It certainly has creative vision and holds promise, but I have growing suspicions that the promise is all surface beauty with little story depth underneath.

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Due to my love of fairy tales and fairy tale revisions, I was drawn to this young adult novel about a school for heroes and villains of fairy tales. The novel ended up being quite different from what I expected, but I still enjoyed it as much as I hoped I would. The story begins in the small village of Gavaldon, where every four years a mysterious shadow kidnaps two children. The villagers eventually discovered that the creature was a school master for some place called The School for Good and Evil. They began to call him the School Master, and tried to guard their families against him. They knew he always took one exceptionally good and one exceptionally bad child. Every four years, they tried to make their good children act awful and their bad children to clean up, in the hopes of escaping the School Master's Curse. The novel begins in the final days leading up to the chosen time, and introduces readers to two girls, Sophie and Agatha. Sophie is the first child who wants to be kidnapped. She is a lovely girl - physically - and spends an immense amount of time keeping herself princess pretty. She is tired of drab village life, and wants her own fairy tale and dashing prince. Although she considers herself a good girl, the best girl, the reader soon sees that she is shallow, vain, and insensitive to the feelings of others. Agatha, on the other hand, is withdrawn and unlovely. She wears shapeless black dresses and clumpy shoes, and doesn't bother with cleaning or her hair. Yet, Agatha and Sophie are best friends. It began with Sophie befriending Agatha because she wanted to chalk up another good deed to guarantee her entry into the Good School, but soon Sophie genuinely began to care for Agatha. Agatha saw her true personality, and still liked her. While Sophie deludes herself with dreams and fantasies (including wishful thinking about herself), Agatha is grounded in common sense. She hopes the School Master will leave them both alone. Not so. After a harrowing night, both girls are spirited away to The School for Good and Evil. One problem: Sophie is sent plummeting into the School of Evil, while Agatha is deposited in the School of Good. The next several chapters describe the schools, which are polar opposites in everything from decorations to food, and narrate Sophie's frantic attempts to prove to anyone that she was placed in the wrong school. Both girls struggle in their classes, subjects that are so contrary to their normal habits. Their friendship is also strained, with Sophie frequently blaming Agatha for stealing her place, and Agatha insisting that they need to focus on escaping the school. Sophie is infatuated with Prince Tedros, the king of the boys on the Ever side, and just wants to grab her prince and move to her rightful place in the Good side. When Agatha and Sophie get a clue from the School Master that they only way to go home is to help Sophie get what villains can never have - true love's kiss - they both work together to convince Tedros he loves Sophie. Agatha believes Sophie will leave with her when that happens, but Sophie's intentions are far from clear.A fascinating aspect of this novel is the way characters constantly switch sides. The School for Good and Evil is built on the premise that some people are good, some are evil, and there is no in between. If someone feels something of the opposite nature, they have to grind it out of their system. Then Agatha and Sophie arrive. Agatha dresses like a witch, and doesn't like people, but is very moral and kind inside. Sophie is as beautiful as a princess, and thinks she is therefore good, but is consumed with herself and capable of great acts of cruelty. Yet she can be truly good, and Agatha can be bad, too. Tedros plays into this idea, as well. He falls for Sophie, not realizing that Agatha is who he really was choosing, and then spurns Sophie when he learns that she tricked him. However, he is still attracted to Sophie when she embraces her evil side. Then he starts to fall for Agatha. The reactions of the other students also constantly change. At first, the Nevers hate Sophie and admire Agatha. Then they embrace Sophie as their hero. Then they fear she will unleash war and try to stop her. During the climax of the book, allegiances switch so rapidly that eventually the children are trapped in outright chaos. Is it true that people are only one thing, or do they have both good and evil inside them? This theme is developed through the very conclusion of the story. One reason the book surprised me was it was much darker than I expected. The School for Evil is truly evil, not cartoon evil where the grimmer elements are absent, but actually bad. Villains relish the thought of murder and carnage. The decor is scary. When Sophie is taken to the Doom Room for torture, and kills the beast, I was shaken. Not that I mark this trait as bad; it actually enhances the story, because it embraces the very dark flip side of original fairy tales. Still, consider it reading for older children, maybe even teenagers.Another surprise was the romance angle. Are Agatha and Sophie in love? What about Tedros? He is the third most developed character, and clearly not just a foil for the girls. His cry at the end of the book is haunting. Also, both girls seemed to have real feelings for him. Yet it was very satisfying when Sophie asked who needs princes in a fairy tale, and that idea linked to another strong motif in the book. Girls don't always need to be saved, they can save themselves. Stories don't have to follow preestablished rules, characters can make their own destinies. Actually, a lot of clever themes and reinterpretations play out in the novel. My synopsis above only covers the first half of the book, with many more twists and turns, not to mention plenty of action, to follow. In addition, the world is original and well developed. The school is a fascinating place. The abrupt ending suggests at least one more book in the series (actually, I check online, and the second one is already out) and I certainly plan on reading it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is so good that, half-way through it, I am hoping this is the beginning of a trilogy or set of books. This is a very unusual viewpoint for me, as I've grown weary of authors taking three or more books to tell a story they could have told in one. The School for Good and Evil, however, is so delightfully fun to read that I really hope there will be more. I will update this review when I've finished the book (on page 193 of 488 now and it's a very quick read) with my thoughts on how it ends. First, I'm going to go see if there is indeed a sequel waiting for me. :) I certainly hope someone makes this into a movie. I, the lover of the Dollar Theater that I am, would actually pay full price and go right away to see it.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I had been looking forward to reading this book since it came out. And unfortunately, my wait wasn't worth it.I'm just going to get down to it since you can read the synopsis at the top of the page.We have princes and princesses, witches and all sorts of other disturbing creatures. That's my kind of book. But as I started really getting into it, I was appalled at what I was seeing.I thought I was going to get either a redemption book or a book that teaches real beauty lies within, and physical beauty is only skin deep. What I got was - ugly is evil, beauty is good. That was really the theme except for one really throw away line where Aggie smiles a real smile and people see her differently because she is happy. But, later on, that is even taken away because she grew more beautiful as the story goes on. She changes and looks more like the princess she was supposed to be.Princesses in the story are all awful, shallow, mean twits. There is really only one or two redeeming people in the entire castle. They totally ignore Aggie because she isn't pretty, and they are terribly mean to her when they are confronted with the fact they have to talk to her. THIS NEVER CHANGES UNTIL SHE BECOMES PRETTY. I'm just in awe. Let's teach that beauty is everything. Because the little throwaway scenes where they tried to show "beauty doesn't matter" is eaten up by the scenes where the princesses love Sophie (the actual evil witch) when Sophie shows them how to be PRETTIER.This isn't a book about good and evil, it's a book about a freaking beauty pageant. Aggie was the only character you can give a crap about. No kind, empathetic teachers, no real evil to contend with - unless you count Hester's neck demon. It's like they were afraid to deal with real issues and instead used killing off people and animals in order to create the vile feel. Newsflash - death and destruction aren't the only source of evil. The characters are all so flat and shallow that I could slip the entire bunch of them under my door.We have a PRINCE - yes, seriously - A PRINCE who KICKS A BUNNY! And he's supposed to be swoon-worthy for these princesses? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. He has all this fake internal monologue "when will someone see past my looks and see the real me?" Never, because you're a jerk who gets mad and kicks bunnies and could never believe that someone who doesn't look the way you want her to could be worth your time. BUT - after she starts shining herself up a bit... that's when you make your move. You are starting to feel like there could be more, but you are too ashamed of yourself to admit it. Only when the outside is a nicer package will you do anything about it.Sophie, we had your number from the first page. You never once fooled anyone with your "goodness." I thought maybe a real redemption would happen for her - but nope. And I love at the end of the story, you only want your friend, yet again, because you have nothing else. That's not friendship. That's using whatever "tools" you have at your disposal.And the part at the end that got me?? When the "Nevers" - the evil ones - and the "Evers" - the good ones - get in a fight, their looks changed. The Evers had done something against their rules and imagine this in this story THEY TURNED UGLY. The Nevers followed the Evers rules (defending themselves) and turned beautiful. I have such a major issue with this book. Let's forget the shallow characters, let's forget that friendships in this book (except for Aggie's love of Sophie) are all based on what you can get from the people around you, let's forget that relationships in this book can make or break a princess because a prince can live fine on his own, but the princess HAS TO HAVE a prince - because without one, she is WORTHLESS...Let's forget that beauty is apparently all that matters in life. If we forget about all of that, we have nothing left to the story. At all.Even the way the book ended - total cliffhanger. Way to really kill it. You don't wrap up a darn thing AT ALL. You drag us through a book by the beauty pageant sash through every shallow comment and character only to realize there is NO ENDING. NO ENDING AT ALL. I'm tired of the authors who feel like they don't have to give the readers what they came for. A COMPLETE STORY. You gave us a beginning and a really long middle. No ending, no wrapping anything up. We wanted to finish the book so we can at least say we did, but you never delivered. We held up our part of the bargain. We read it cover to cover, but you decided that you wanted to take us all on a ride and then trick us. Don't give us an ending so we "have" to buy the next book. Well, it's not happening. You tricked me once. It's not going to happen again.and PS... the em dash is a tool. Not the only punctuation available. If I never see another em dash again it will be too soon. Don't overuse punctuation to a point it becomes a distraction. Just sayin'.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Soman Chainani's The School for Good and Evil is a YA fantasy novel for fans of twisted fairy tales. Based on the anime style of the cover, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out darker, with more twists and turns than your typical fairy tale adventure. Chainani creates an imaginative story of good vs. evil, and explores what it means to be defined as a villain or a hero.The novel is written for readers ages 8-12, but I think it might appeal better to readers ages 10-14. Coming in at a whopping 496 pages, what this book needed most was a editor with a stronger hand. I work exclusively in the YA book market and I'm a HUGE fan of fractured fairy tales and shows like Once Upon a Time, but I struggled with this book. It's obvious early on where the story is going, but the road to get there is exhausting. There are many scenes peppered throughout of the characters musing on their situation, deciding on their feelings, and wishing for things to be different. Considering how soon the author drops obvious hints about who is good and who is evil, it took far too long (and too much whining and reluctance from the characters!) to get there.Parents/educators should know that there is some content to be wary of, including violence, potentially frightening scenes, objectionable language, and mature themes like love, child abduction, and death.Sadly, this book was a disappointment for me. It lost a lot of its merit with its pace and wealth of unnecessary scenes. However, it does have quite a few positive critical reviews! I can attest to the fact that the book is well-written and the concept is a really good one, but it was a frustrating and exhausting read at times. Sadly, this fairy tale story did not enchant me.2 Stars
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Still suffering Harry Potter withdrawal? Reading lots of books that are good and entertaining, etc., but not quite fulfilling that Harry Potter-sized hole? Me too! Enter "The School for Good and Evil." A true heir to the world of fantasy and humor created by masters like Dianna Wynne Jones and J.K, Rowling, this book was fantastic! Funny and scary and interesting and unputdownable. Read it! Share with your family ! Prepare yourself for the inevitable movie!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    You rarely can read a book by it's cover no matter how beautiful, and some of the most beautiful stories in the world are fairy tales. This book brings forth the question of what makes a real good princess or an evil villain? Who is really beautiful or really ugly?

    I reached half of the book and the one consistent thought in my mind is that I don't believe a person is all evil or all good, and I feel sorry for Sophie and happy for Agatha. Let's see how it all ends.

    In my head Sophie was played by Sasha Pieterse and Agatha was played by Sarah Hyland; great book and amazing character and story development, I can't say more without revealing too much. But this story has some of Hogwarts spirit in it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Enjoyed the book. However parts were very confusing. Not sure if it was poor writing or a head cold. However, I enjoyed my time at the School for Good and Evil.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is one of those times where I am super glad that I went for the audiobook rather than the print, because, though I bet this is fun in print too, I don't think I could have loved it quite so much. Just saying.Why Did I Read This Book?First off, there are those two magic words: fairy tale. Put that on a book, and I will probably try to read it at some point. On top of that, the book trailer is astounding, and I don't say that lightly, because most of them make me much less interested in the books.What's the Story Here?Sophie and Agatha live in a town beyond the woods. Every four years, two children are taken, one good and one evil. Sophie believes in the rumors and wants desperately to go off and be a princess at the School for Good and Evil, where it is rumored that the two kids go. To prove her goodness, she has befriended Agatha, the witchiest, most evil-looking girl in town. Agatha, however, does not want to go. Of course, you can't stop a fairy tale, and both girls are swept off to the school, as Sophie predicted. What Sophie did NOT predict was that Agatha would be put with the princesses, and that she would go to the school for evil. How are the Characters?OMG, Sophie is the worst. Seriously, I wanted to punch her in the face. She's such a snob, and so convinced that prettiness is what makes someone a good person. Chainani has created one of the most selfish characters in fiction. The voice Lee uses for Sophie even sounds exactly like the blonde girl in Stardust, all snooty and self-involved and perfect for the character. For reasons I'll explain later, I do think Sophie was probably the best-drawn character, though, because she has the most realistic character ARC.Agatha I loved from the beginning, with her cynicism and snark and hatred of cocky princes. She's my kind of heroine. Plus, she's not gorgeous, and that was super satisfying, because heroines don't need to be gorgeous all the time.The rest of the cast is well-suited to the tale too, falling into their stereotypes of good and evil initially, but most developing depth as the tale continues. Actually, in the end, evil comes off much better in terms of personality, where the princesses remain pretty shallow and appearance-focused.And the Romance? So, the romance is pretty much all centered around this guy, Tedros, son of King Arthur. If that's not how you spell his name, don't criticize me, because it was an audiobook and it's not written out ANYWHERE. Anyway, Tedros is a snobby princeling to start, but I was actually shipping him with Agatha pretty hard, though mostly just because I wanted Sophie's nose rubbed in it because she's the worst. Plus, you know my feelings for hate turning to love romance arcs. However, once that ship started coming about, I was less of a fan.Throughout, I was also nurturing a hope this might go LGBT, with Sophie and Agatha being like "forget Tedros" and falling in love with each other. Alas and alack, there was one moment where I thought that was happening, but no.What Are My Reservations with this Book?Much as I loved listening to The School for Good and Evil, and thought much of it was hilarious and clever, I have some serious concerns. No, they're not the similarities to Harry Potter, which do exist but that I didn't find to be overpowering. What upsets me is the overall commentary on beauty and princesses. Agatha starts out as this incredibly talented, intelligent girl, where Sophie simpers and doesn't study. The moment Agatha discovers that she is pretty if she's confident and smiles, she becomes weak, blushing over Tedros constantly and suddenly unable to fight battles, fainting left and right. NO NO NO. Love should make you stronger, not weaker. Meanwhile, Sophie goes from an airhead to monstrously powerful villain in no time. I expected the final message to be more clearly that beauty does not equal good, but by the end apparently Agatha is gorgeous and princess-like, which also means she has to be less of a badass, I guess.Am I Going to Continue with the Series?Most definitely, and I will be sticking with the audiobooks. Though I'm not entirely comfortable with all of the moral messages, I really did love this. The fairy tale references, the humor, the action and the awesome narration made this a must listen for me, despite those issues.How was the Narration?Freaking AMAZING. Polly Lee is one of my favorite narrators hands down, and I will now make it my mission to listen to anything she's narrated, even the romance novels, because her voice is so pretty. She's British, and her accent is awesome. Plus, she does a ton of great voices, and handled the whole cast incredibly deftly. *bows to Polly Lee's awesomeness*
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Every four years, two village children are kidnapped by a strange force and sent to The School for Good and Evil to learn how to be princes/princesses and villains, respectively. Stereotypical princess-type Sophie and stereotypical witch-type Agatha get whisked away but put in opposite houses: Sophie in Evil, and Agatha in Good. Retold fairy tales are far from new, and there are quite a few unsurprising bits, but overall it was a lot of fun. Fun enough for me to look up the next book in the series, if only to find out what happened to Sophie and Agatha.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Hmmmm, I'm kind of torn about this one. Some people really love it, but I had kind of a love/hate relationship with it - with the hate part winning out. If I had liked the characters more it would have made a huge difference. It's hard to care about what happens to people when you don't like them anyway. I couldn't stand Sophie from page 1, and I had a hard time with Agatha because for a smart girl she acted very stupidly. The book was all about their amazing "friendship", but there really was no friendship. There was a mean girl and a groupie. The mean girl did all sorts of horrible things to the groupie, and yet the groupie still stayed loyal to the mean girl. I didn't buy it. And the concept of the book tried to say that what is on the outside doesn't matter, and yet several instances in the book proved that beauty made you "good", and ugly made you "bad". How wrong is it for me to say you could tell it was a story about girls that was written by a man? It is also way too long and took a long time to get going. However, the actual story was original and fun (with many shades of Harry Potter noticeable). There was a lot of action, it was very humorous at times, and it eventually got very exciting. I think it will make a pretty great movie, and thought of it as a movie in my head while I was reading it. I have many middle schoolers who love it. Areas of concern:A lot of violence. Children are kidnapped, tortured, turned into animals.... The list goes on and on. However, it is all presented in such a fairy tale fashion, that it doesn't seem very real.Several reviewers have mentioned that the book ends with a LGBT relationship, but I didn't pick up on that at all. I'm not sure what will happen in subsequent books.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This was a great premise but the execution is all over the place. I liked how it ended but the narrative is hard to follow, like the author never really decided how the story would get to that conclusion.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5

    This and other reviews can be found on Reading Between Classes

    Cover Impressions: Very nice, if a little cutesy. I understand that it is middle grade, but I usually prefer for these books to have an appeal to older students as well. The background images are beautiful and the crest and banner title are very well done.

    The Gist: For hundreds of years, the children of Gavaldon have been going missing. Every four years, two at a time, one beautiful and one ugly. After a time, the children of the town realized that these former playmates were appear within the pages of their favorite fairy tales. Sophie has spent her entire life preparing for this day, maintaining a beauty routine, sewing dresses and doing good deeds. Agatha, on the other hand, would do anything to remain at home with her gravestones and evil pet cat. When the two are swept away, they find that a serious mistake has been made and their fortunes have been reversed. Beautiful Sophie to the School for Evil and ghastly Agatha to the School for Good. As they try to fight for their hearts' desire, the girls learn about themselves and the barrier between Good and Evil.

    Review:
    The School for Good and Evil opens on the eve of the night when children regularly disappear from their homes. Most children are trying to make themselves as undesirable as possible, while Sophie attempts to flaunt her assets as a princess. She is determined to be spirited away from her home to the School for Good where she will meet her prince charming. Along side her, will certainly be her friend Agatha, the child for whom the term "witchy" was coined. As her counterpart, Agatha will enter the School for Evil and the two will find a way to maintain their frienship despite the rivalry of their schools. The premise for this book is very unique and charming. The thought of children being stolen from their homes only to show up in the pages of storybooks is both wonderful and terrifying. I do wish that we were able to spend a little more time with Agatha and Sophie within their village and to learn more about the mysterious town from which no one can choose to leave.

    This novel features some fantastic characters. Sophie was difficult to like, but that was kind of the point, while Agatha did lose a little of herself by the end of the novel. Sophie's roommates where a fantastic addition. They had the best lines and often left me laughing out loud. These characters could easily hold a story or series of their own (hint hint!).

    The School for Good and Evil was a beautiful mix of Wicked, Harry Potter and the humor of Roald Dahl. It was really fun to see the juxtuposition between Good and Evil. The schools were truly equal but opposite, down to the smallest detail. I must admit, I had more love for the School of Evil as they had more interesting characters and it was enjoyable to watch them revel in the dank, dire and disgusting. The world building is truly fantastic and well fleshed out, though it is a little difficult to keep track of all the rules and the names of the students. This was aided by the alternating point of view which worked well to show the thoughts and feelings of both girls as well as to give a glimpse into the inner workings of both schools.

    The plot was a little predictable, but enjoyable nonetheless. The ending was a little strange, and I can't wait to see how this plays out in future books. I am very excited to see this on film. I think that it will translate really well and that the setting will play out beautifully on the big screen. Overall, an excellent addition to the Middle-Grade section of my classroom library. I cannot wait to jump back into this world in 2014.

    Teaching/Parental Notes:

    Age: 10 and up
    Gender: Both
    Sex: Kissing
    Violence: Magical Violence
    Inappropriate Language: None
    Substance Use/Abuse: None
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It is the common belief that all little girls want to be a princess when they are under the age of 5. Most parents read at least one fairy tale to their daughters at night and with the dominant presence of Disney, it is hard not to get away from this concept. It has always been played that good overcomes evil and the prince saves the princess. The princess has been taught to be a docile lady that cannot defend for herself or nearly think for herself. In the last decade or so the country has made progress in burying this misconception. More and more movies are being created to show both princesses and princes to be independent characters that work together as teams rather than for selfish gain. Often the villains are not always evil, but misunderstood souls that have not had an opportunity to show their true colors. This story is about two such girls named Sophie and Agatha. Sophie has grown up to believe that she is the embodiment of good, while poor Agatha has been told that she is pure evil. Neither girl wants to conform to societies rules nor beliefs and only Sophie truly wishes to believe in fairytales. The book has the characters live in a town that has its children occasionally disappear to reappear in a fairytale the following year. It is Sophie's greatest desire to be the next to vanish and Agatha's greatest annoyance at having to protect her friend. As fate might have it the girls do vanish only to reemerge at a school for villains and heroes. It is a place where only the most evil go and the princes' go to find their princesses. Much to Sophie's horror she finds herself in the school of evil and Agatha in the school for good. How did these girls wind up in the wrong houses? How can they escape and go back home? Is Sophie truly evil and will she perish trying to prove she is not? Is Agatha really an ugly duckling or is she a black hearted villain?I had a lot of fun with this book and truly enjoyed the author's take on good and evil. I don't think I have ever seen a book quite like this before. The author played very well against the common prejudices that most people have built into them from childhood. One phrase that comes to mind easily is the old saying that you, "can never judge a book by its cover". This saying is very true and often people make fools of themselves by unfairly judging others. Time and time again the author demonstrated that this saying was accurate. I have to recommend this book hands down and honestly believe that it would be a great read for any age group. Great job author!