Wednesday, 14 October 2020

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL by Soman Chainani

“‘Sophie had waited all her life to be kidnapped.’ Every four years two children are stolen away from Gavaldon, never to return. Most children fear being taken to the School for Good and Evil. But not Sophie… She has dreamt all her life of being a princess and believes the school could be her chance. Her best friend Agatha has other ideas. When the two girls are taken, things don’t quite go to Sophie’s plan. Because sometimes, the princess and the witch don’t look like they do in fairy tales.”

What is the book about?

Two girls, Sophie and Agatha, live in a small village surrounded by nothing but a never-ending dark forest. Every four years two children are taken into the dark woods by the mysterious School Master to the School for Good and Evil. Sophie has been waiting all her life to be taken to become a princess but Agatha just wishes that Sophie would be happy in Gavaldon, with her. One night the two girls are taken and things don’t quite go the way Sophie had expected. The girls try and try to find a way back home but they find themselves trapped in the School for Good and Evil. When they realise that they have been in the right schools all along, they finally begin to understand just how difficult getting back home really is and that their friendship will never be the same again.

What were your initial thoughts on the book?

As one of my friends absolutely loved the books, she kept going on and on about them telling me I should read them. After a while the books started to look interesting and exciting, so as we both like similar books I thought that I would give the first book try. Now this happened a few years ago and I found them a bit confusing but, a few weeks ago, the books started to sound amazing again when my friend constantly spoke about the new book and how excited she was, so I decided to purchase the books so that I would have something new to read. When I first started reading it, again, I found it very surprising because it got into interesting right away unlike quite a lot of the books I have read. I began to really enjoy the book and now I realise that I only found it confusing because I had wanted to know what came next so badly that I skimmed over a lot of important parts.

Who was your favourite character and why?

My favourite character was Agatha because of how kind she was and how much she cared about Sophie. I saw kindness in her because whenever she spoke about getting back home to Gavaldon she always said “we” and never forgot about Sophie, the first person to ever show her any kindness. I really liked Agatha because even though Sophie was the one to start their friendship she was the one who cared about it the most and she was a great example that it is what is inside of you that matters not what you look like. I also, at some parts of the book, really liked Sophie, for example, when she was taken to the Doom Room she finally thought about someone other than herself and willed herself to “Stay alive for Agatha”, but at some parts Sophie seemed to have no kindness inside her and if she could have gone into the School for Good she would have given up Agatha at the drop of a hat, and that is why I didn’t always like Sophie.

What was your favourite part of the book and why?

My favourite part in the book was when Agatha and Sophie finally realised that they had been in the correct schools the whole time and they decided to embrace the true person that they are inside. I really liked this part because the book was getting extremely interesting and most of my questions started to get answers. I also have another favourite part which is the ending as it tells everyone that the love of friendship is just as strong as the love between a prince and his princess. I also liked it because it shows that although everyone thought that it wasn’t true a princess and a witch can certainly be friends, this ending told me that Agatha and Sophie’s friendship was stronger that the urge Sophie had to kill her and that there Happily Never After was with each other. 

What was your overall impression of the book?

Overall I think that the book was perfect and that there is nothing in the School for Good and Evil that I would change. I found that this book had a bit of everything and that every chapter was filled with mystery and that, unlike some books, every chapter was important. I loved that everything that happened had some kind of meaning and that the mystery and adventure started from the very beginning when Sophie dreamt of her prince. I also think that the ending was perfect too, it had just enough suspense to keep me wanting more but it didn’t have too much keeping me from being frustrated and with questions to answer, I think that this is now my new favourite book.

Would you recommend this book?  

I would 100% recommend this book for absolutely anyone, but specifically for children from 12-15 and if you like fantasy then this is definitely the next book you should read.

Summarise the book in one sentence. (Verdict) 

An amazing, fantasy adventure into the most magical school in the world.

 Reviewed by Jimena Gutierrez Reviriego

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