Tuesday 6 August 2013

The School for Good and Evil (Soman Chainani) Review



Well well, where on earth should I begin with this one?

This book is about Agatha and Sophie, two girls from Gavaldon who are kidnapped and taken to The School for Good and Evil. Sophie is ecstatic about this certain she is destined to become a Fairytale Princess and Agatha gets dragged along out of loyalty to her friend. However, Sophie is placed in the school for evil where she must practice uglification and wear disgusting clothes, because apparently being less than attractive automatically means you're evil ... nice message for the kids reading the book! Agatha is then subsequently placed in the school for good where she is ridiculed for her looks (shouldn't the kids in the school for good actually be good and not judgemental little brats?!).

Anyway the writer then spends a good chunk of the book going over and over the same 'problem' that the girls have been placed in the wrong schools. Around 300 pages in I felt really bored by this and wished the girls would just accept the schools they were in. This chunk of the book could've been written better, I would've liked to have focused on perhaps another storyline. I felt as though it was dragged out beyond belief.

The characters are a huge let down in this book too, I have never read such stereotypical characters in my life. It was actually cringeworthy, apparently having warts makes you evil and being blonde makes you good. This book is supposedly middle grade and this is not the kind of message to give to kids. It annoyed me throughout the book.

After I forced myself to push through the final chapters I almost laughed at the end of this book, I was in disbelief. I had gone through 500 pages on torture only to reach an ending that felt like a slap in the face, it was pathetic and a cop out.

I have heard there will be a sequel and I will NOT be picking it up. This book was awful and to be honest I am surprised it is middle grade it would be better suited to YA in my opinion. If I had not been reading this as part of a Buddy Read I would never have finished it.

On the plus side the cover is really gorgeous.

I gave this book a VERY generous 2 stars!



1 comment:

  1. oooh, the guardian just gave this the most fabulous review. hmm must read it now to see

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