Sunday, May 11, 2014

Review: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

It's been a year since I got this book. I have wanted to read it ever since. But I never got myself to start it. I'm not sure why. As I adore this kind of book. And that cover! Swoons. It is simply gorgeous. I love it. But anyway. I finally decided to read this book. And I'm so glad I did. Because I loved it. So much. But it also made me so sad. Sniffs. It made me feel everything.

I'm just so glad I decided to read it. There were a few things that bothered me. Mostly things that made me unhappy. Sigh. But I also loved everything at the same time. So I'm going to give this book a five star. Because it was simply amazing and I couldn't help but love it. And so glad that I did. The School for Good and Evil was just beautiful. And also so heartbreaking.

This book is mostly told from the point of views of Sophie and Agatha. And I loved reading from them both. Though I loved Agatha the most, as a character. She is just so alone. And hurt. And I connected a lot to her. She has no friends. She is ugly. And it is heartbreaking. And so lovely at the same time. In the beginning of the book, we see her and Sophie becoming friends. Though I can't help but feel that their friendship wasn't all that real. Hmph. But I also loved their friendship at times. But then other times I hated it. Because it felt like Sophie was just using Agatha. And that broke my heart so much. Sigh.

I won't talk about the plot. About how everything happens. You can read that in the summary. Anyway. It is about fairy tales. About this fairy tale land. Well, school. The School for Good and Evil. Where boys and girls get kidnapped to. And Sophie has wanted to get kidnapped for the school for years. Which I still don't really understand. But I also get that she didn't have such a great life in her village. But still. I sort of liked Sophie. She was cute. But also so shallow. And mean. And evil. I didn't love her; I'm sorry.

There is so much happening in this book. So much to love. Reading about some spells. Reading about the different creatures. Reading about the kind of horror about the school. What happens to those that don't graduate and become a fairy tale. It was just so honest. And awful. I loved it. I loved reading about the Evil side. Such horrors there. It was awesome. And the Good side. Such awful people there, lol. I did adore a few of them. Like the prince, Tedros. I adored him. I disliked him. Mostly I loved him.

There are so many characters in this book. I loved so many of them. Though they did confuse me some times. I adored Dot. And Hester grew on me. Even the mean girl in the Good school. Sigh. There was just so many well-done characters in this book. I loved that. I just loved everything about this book. Despite it making me so sad. There are many heartbreaking scenes. Just so sad. And amazing. Not going to say much more about this book. Just that it was awesome. And the ending was cruel, lol.

I suggest that you all read this book right away if you haven't yet. Because it is perfect. It is beautiful. And I just loved it so much. The feelings that Agatha has.. heartbreak. I loved it. So real. So honest. And so like me, in a way. I loved her to pieces. I even loved Tedros, despite his sort of betraying ways. Not that I could fully blame him for it; as that whole Good vs Evil thing seems so confusing. Yet awesome. Anyway. There were so many amazing things in this book. Writing. Characters. Everything.

Huge thank you to HarperCollins International for sending me a finished copy of this book a little over a year ago. <3 I'm so sorry it took me forever to read it. But I loved it. And I'm so glad I read it. Cannot wait to start book two. I'm so excited :D But also beyond worried. As, you know, I always peek at the endings, lol. And I'm so confused by what I want to happen. I love Agatha so much. And I still dislike Sophie a little. And I want Agatha and Tedros together. Sigh. This book made me feel so much. <3

Goodreads - Buy it

Update: Newer and better review of the book can be found here.

11 comments:

  1. Great review! I'm glad to hear that you loved the book because it sounds so good. I love fairytales. And now it's another book I have to read soon. Thanks for sharing :)

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  2. I'm really glad that you finally read this one and loved it!
    Thank you for the great review sweetie!

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  3. Ooh, I'm glad to see you loved this one! I've had a copy for ages and actually picked it up and read a chunk but got diverted for some reason. It really does seem really good, though, so I should pick it up again! Great review Carina! :D

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    1. Ack! You must pick it up again :D The books are AMAZING. Sigh. So good. <3

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  4. I'm so happy you ended up loving this book! When I read it I thought it would be something you'd enjoy. I thought it was very well done. I'm slowly reading A World Without Princes now (along with 4 other books).

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  5. WOW. I need to get my hands on this series. I've heard a lot of buzz about it these days. I don't invest in a lot of Middle Grade, but this one sounds like it's one I need to check out. I'm all about stories based on fairytales and I think I need to check this one out. Plus I like the idea of reading this and the sequel back to back. YAY for a delicious weekend read.

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    1. Oh, you must you must you must. It is an AMAZING series. Sigh. I love it so much, hih. <3

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  6. The cover is seriously amazing and one of the main reasons I wanted to read this book, the other being everyones rave reviews. I just bought it a few weeks ago and sadly couldn't get past the first 50 pages =( I just didn't like anything about it. I'm glad you enjoyed it though!! I know so many other's who did as well. Guess I'm the odd duck out with this one.

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  7. This sounds like it was such a great, interesting read, Carina! I have it on my shelf currently, bought from last year, and I am so excited to read it but just keep not getting around to, which is really frustrating! until I saw your review, I had half forgotten I even had a copy! I'll have to make more of an effort to read it in these following months.

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  8. I have both of these books now, so I really need to find the time to read them! I'm so glad they both got such high ratings from you, I can't wait to dive in. :)

    Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

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