The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Item: The School for Good and Evil
Rating: 5
Author: karenbaron

Posted January 31, 2025 by karenbaron in Children's, Fantasy, Review, Series / 0 Comments

The School for Good and Evil

by Soman Chainani

Series: School for Good and Evil #1
Series Rating:

Published by HarperCollins on September 4, 2018
Genres: Middle Grade Fantasy
Pages: 488
Format: Audible Audiobook, Hardcover, Kindle, Paperback
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon

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 and Evil by Soman Chainani pits friends Agatha and Sophie against each other as they are forced into a fairytale.

Will Sophie and Agatha make it out of their fairytale alive?

In the town of Gavaldon, two unlikely best friends are taken like so many other children every four years. They are taken into the forest, never to be seen again. The problem is that one has always wanted to be taken, and the other wants to be with her friend. What will happen to these two?

Sophie

Sophie only became Agatha’s friend to make Agatha her Good Deed to get into the School for Good and not The School for Evil. The problem is that Sophie doesn’t see that she is selfish and has always been that way. Sophie is also vain and has always wanted the perfect life because hers isn’t perfect. Or at least she never saw it as perfect since she wouldn’t get her prince in Gavaldon. Sophie will go to any lengths to get to her Happily Ever After.

I didn’t care for Sophie all that much.

Agatha

Agatha had no friends and was the one everyone bullied in Gavaldon until Sophie changed that by being her friend. She knew deep down that Sophie was only using her, but she let it happen. Well, until they both get taken to the School for Good and Evil and are placed in schools opposite to what they thought they should be placed in. Everyone tells Agatha that she is evil and a witch, even in her new school, but she doesn’t allow people to see that she is good. Agatha has a kind soul that she finally embraces in this new school and learns that she is beautiful in her own way.

I liked Agatha and thought she had the most growth between the two.

Five Stars

My rating for The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani is five stars. I also recommend it, as it is a great read that captivated me to the end. Mr. Chainani did a fantastic job of telling this story while making me feel like I was there in both schools, witnessing how both sides influenced the girls’ change.

School for Good and Evil Series

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

About Soman Chainani

Soman Chainani’s debut series, THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD & EVIL, has sold more than 3.5 million copies, been translated into 32 languages across six continents, and has been adapted into a major motion picture from Netflix that debuted at #1 in over 80 countries at release.

His book of retold fairytales, BEASTS & BEAUTY, also debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List, his seventh book in a row to do so, and is slated to be a limited television series from Sony 3000, with Soman writing and executive producing. Together, his books have been on the New York Times Bestseller List for 44 weeks.

A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University’s MFA Film Program, Soman has been nominated for the Waterstone Prize for Children’s Literature, been named to the Out100, and also received the Sun Valley Writer’s Fellowship.

His latest novel, RISE OF THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD & EVIL, kickstarts a new series under his EverNever World brand, to be continued in its sequel, FALL OF The SCHOOL FOR GOOD & EVIL, coming May 2023.

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