“‘Past is Present and Present is
Past… The story repeats until you change it.’ A false kind has seized Camelot’s
throne, sentencing the true king, Tedros, to death. While Tedros’s queen,
Agatha, narrowly escapes, her best friend, Sophie, is caught in King Rhian’s trap.
In the heart-pounding fifth adventure of the series, Agatha and the students of
the School for Good and Evil must battle against time, and find a way to
restore Tedros to the throne before all their fairy tales come to a lethal end…”
What is the book about?
Tedros and all of
their friends, including Dean Dovey, are imprisoned in Camelot’s dungeon and while
they are locked up down below, Sophie is living in the castle as Rhian’s future
queen. Although Sophie is roaming free she is constantly watched by one of the
Snakes scims or a Camelot guard, feeling just as trapped as Tedros. Meanwhile
Agatha is wanted in every kingdom in the Woods, has no plan and the only army
she has is a school full of young, inexperienced first years and a few teachers
with very little faith in her. They must find out what has happened in the past
to solve the problems in the present, travelling to a mysterious new world to
find the answers they need. Tedros, Sophie and Agatha must find a way to
restore Tedros to his throne, but every time they think they are getting
closer, their story takes another path, leading them closer to a deadly ending.
What were your initial thoughts on the book?
I was desperate to
start this book, I didn’t hesitate to grab it and begin reading, the forth
book, Quests for Glory, left me on a cliff hanger so it was crucial that I
found out what happened next. Before starting, I had a quick glance at the back
of the book and felt that it didn’t really make you want to read the book or
encourage you to try it, I found that it was a bit of a let-down and that if
that had been the blurb for the first book I would have never read it. However,
I was pulled into the book as soon as I began reading it and found the first
few chapters very engaging and a bit unusual; it was weird to have all 3 main
characters in different dangerous situations. It was new to me to have Tedros,
Agatha and Sophie separate and leading their own sections of the story because
they are usually part of the same plan but also very refreshing as something
unfamiliar was brought to the table.
Who was your favourite character and why?
During Quests for
Glory we were given the perspective of many different characters so I found it
impossible to pick a favourite one but in A Crystal of Time, although we were
also given the point of view of more characters and it was a really difficult
decision, I really liked Sophie and I think that she was my favourite
character. In the opening chapters Sophie was like she always was, trying to
get herself in a better situation, but she did give the others a few thoughts.
However later on she proves how much she truly cares about all her friends and
does something good which is very rare. Sophie puts herself before all of her
friends always thinking that she is the most important person, but when she
finds out that she is her friends’ last hope, she chooses to lose her chance to
escape Rhian and get out of danger. She proves to herself, and everyone who
ever doubted her, that she can do good, I think that this made her make a
slightly crazy choice later on the book where she puts herself in jeopardy so
that she can save the whole Woods and prove to them, Tedros especially, that
she is more than just an Evil witch and that they were wrong about her.
What was your favourite part of the book and
why?
My favourite part is
when Agatha, Tedros and Sophie go into the world inside Dean Dovey’s crystal
ball, like the ball was broken they were able to go inside and see some old
memories and a few future ones. I think the best part of the crystal ball was
when Sophie and Agatha go into the Blood Crystal, learning about how Rhian and
Japeth came to be was a key part in the story and without it the book would
have been much less enjoyable. I really liked learning about the Crystal World
and I love the idea of being able to relive your memories see the ones you care
about even when they are gone. Another thing I liked about this is being able
to see the future and get some kind of warning, although all the crystal balls
predictions seemed so bizarre that Agatha, Sophie and Tedros didn’t believe
them. However, being able to see the future also caused some trouble as some of
the predictions made Tedros believe that Sophie was disloyal so I think that
the future is best left alone.
What was your overall impression of the book?
As a whole the book
was unbelievable, there was nothing in the book that made it seem the less
amazing. The ending was, once more, a cliff hanger however; this didn’t ruin
the book or make it worse as it didn’t really have much suspense because I
didn’t really have many unanswered questions. I really liked having Tedros,
Agatha and Sophie separate in some of the chapters because when something
strange happened it then moved on to someone else, so I was always on the edge
of my seat wanting to read more. I loved meeting new characters, like the new
first year students of the School for Good and Evil because there aren’t many
new characters introduced in the previous books. I also found that the teachers
were more important in this book than in the others and that they were really
important this time. Although there were some sad parts in A Crystal of Time, I
really loved the book and found that there were also a lot of happy moments
that made the story much better.
Which book did you like better: 1, 2, 3, 4 or
5?
I think that my
favourite book in the School for Good and Evil series is now the fifth book, A
Crystal of Time. I liked this book best because all the characters had their
own mission in the story and they all had a reason to why they were there,
however in all the other books I felt that some of the characters didn’t really
do much, they contributed to the story but they could have easily been replaced.
In the previous book, Quests for Glory, the question that had been on my mind
throughout the whole book was “Who is the Snake?”, so when this question was
finally answered it was really helpful and very important for me. Another great
part of the book was when we saw the future in Dean Dovey’s crystal ball. I
really liked it because as they were really weird predictions and none of the
characters believed them, I felt that they weren’t relevant so I also
overlooked them, later on, when they came true, it was really effective, and I know now that
nothing in the School for Good and Evil books is insignificant.
Would you recommend this book?
I really loved the
book and think that this can be an amazing book for other people as well. If
you have read any other School for Good and Evil books, which you really
should, then there is no doubt that you will enjoy the book. I think it would
be best for someone around the age of 13 but I’m sure that others will love it
too.
Summarise the book in one sentence. (Verdict)
An extraordinary, new
experience with Agatha, Sophie, Tedros and all of their friends.
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