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Our thoughts on The School for Good and Evil, is it worth the read?
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we will earn a small commission from your purchase using this link. Help support us with your purchase!On May 28, 2020, Soman Chainani announced that his book series, The School for Good and Evil is going to be a movie! It will be done through Netflix and directed by Paul Fieg. Then, on June 2, the sixth and final installment was released. After six books in seven years, we have established a relationship with both the characters and their world and are anxiously waiting for this movie!
Summary
Every four years, two children are taken from the small town of Gavalon. No one knows where they go and why they never come back. The town held search parties and a nightly watch but never found any trace of the missing children, at least until the books arrived.
Every once in a while, a new supply of books would appear at the steps of the bookstore. They appeared with no apparent schedule, and no explanation. However, the children began to recognize the characters that were among the pages; it was the missing children. They had become the very characters that the young children were reading about their entire lives. Upon discovering a pattern, the town’s people realize that every four years both a seemingly good and a seemingly evil child are taken. The people assume that they become either the hero of the villain of a fairy tale.
When the time comes for the next two children to be taken, Sophie is over the moon. She has spent her entire life preparing to leave Gavalon in the hopes of having her own fairy tale. In the selfish attempt to solidify her good behavior, Sophie befriends the dark and sour Agatha. Agatha lives with her mother in the cemetery (which is kinda creepy) and has knowingly allowed herself to become Sophie's good deed in order to have a friend. When the two girls are kidnapped, they are brought to The School for Good and Evil and each assigned to a school where they will learn how to live their fairy tale. The only problem, they are in the wrong schools.
***SPOILER ALERT!!! Read at your own risk.***
Our thoughts on Agatha and Sophie’s Relationship
From the very beginning of the series, Agatha and Sophie’s relationship seemed extremely toxic. Sophie was using Agatha to do her bidding throughout the entire series and constantly betraying her and her friends. Sophie would flock to the side which she believed was going to be victorious all in the vain, selfish attempt to find love.
This attribute made it very hard to trust her at any point in the books, and all the more frustrating when Agatha did. Come on, Agatha! She tried to kill you! That being said, Agatha, more than likely, was still friends with Sophie because she is a “good” person, but that doesn't change the fact that Sophie was bad for her.
Same Plot in FOUR Books
One of the few cons to this series is that in books 3, 4, 5, and part of 6, Sophie does the SAME THING! Sophie falls for the deceivingly handsome and obviously evil guy. Whether it was the School Master or the Lion, Sophie was tricked by the same charade every single time. It was just slightly overdone.
The first time it happened it was incredible, Sophie fell for the evil guy and then betrayed her friends for her “prince” only to betray him to help save Agatha, great plot. Then book four rolls around and we see Sophie begin to throw herself at another seemingly perfect prince only to discover in book five that he is also evil, and once again we see Sophie betray her friends for a boy only to turn on him to what? Save Agatha.
Agatha and Tedros
Agatha and Tedros are the perfect fairy tale couple. A young, handsome prince and a shy, brave princess is the most iconic pair for an epic adventure. In the first book, when the students are all participating in challenges, Tedros unknowingly chooses Agatha every time. It is upsetting that Agatha refuses to believe that Tedros is her prince, but eventually she comes around and a beautiful fairy tale romance begins.
In the second book, it is hard to watch Tedros’s inner battle as he tries to decide to believe his princess or not, which makes it even better when Agatha finally accepts that she is ready to be queen in the third book. But in book four, the couple once again faces a challenge as Agatha begins to feel unloved because of how much time Tedros was investing into drawing Excalibur from the stone. When the two make up and then are thrown into a wild goose chase, they begin to forget a time when they were safe and happy. It is heartbreaking to watch Tedros go to the ends of the earth to protect Agatha, even when he is told to kill her in the sixth book in order to defeat the Lion, and feel as though he is constantly failing. Although their relationship is rocky throughout the books, it is clear as day that these two characters care for each other and want to live happily ever after, and we are certainly happy that they did!
THE ENDING!
Okay, the ending of this series was PERFECT! After following the same story line for three books, we finally had a satisfying victory that made the waiting all the more worth it. When it seemed as though the characters were destined to lose book after book, it was so exciting to see them ultimately come out victorious. When Tedros seems to have died and Agatha is left thinking that he is gone and that they had lost, we were right there with her. Although Tedros coming back from the dead was unexpected, the most beautiful and deserved moment was when we find out that Hort is alive! We’ve loved Hort for the entire series and to see him end up with Sophie and to have her finally accept him for who he truly is was amazing.
Our Opinion on the Series as a Whole
We thought that overall, these books were great! They had amazing, relatable characters and extraordinary world building, what more could you want? The characters were beautifully flawed and allowed for a more realistic fantasy world. The books are a fun and easy read and we would highly recommend them.
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