book review for the school for good and evil

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The school for good and evil, book 1, common sense media reviewers.

Fractured fairy tale has plenty of twists for fantasy fans.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Explicitly plays with conventions of familiar fair

People are not simply good or evil, but are human

At the start, Sophie and Agatha seem destined for

As with traditional folktales and fairy tales, it

Some flirting and kissing. Sophie is sure that she

Parents need to know that The School for Good and Evil is a fresh take on fairy tale devices and clichés, upending the expectations most readers have about princesses and villains. The language is very mild (nothing worse than "ass"). Would-be princesses and princes flirt with each other, and there's one…

Educational Value

Explicitly plays with conventions of familiar fairy tales and urges readers to challenge assumptions they bring to the material. Readers will recognize versions of favorite characters from folklore, but with a fresh twist.

Positive Messages

People are not simply good or evil, but are human and contain a little of each. Strike a balance and be true to yourself and the ones you love, without obsessing about how your behavior might be rewarded. Love yourself for who you are. While the author's message may be it's what's inside that counts, readers encounter some problematic messages coming from characters overly concerned with their appearance, implying that girls must be thin to be valued, suggesting you should skip breakfast to stay thin.

Positive Role Models

At the start, Sophie and Agatha seem destined for particular stations in life. But after receiving seemingly mixed-up assignments at school, they begin to change their attitudes about heroism, villainy. They bounce back and forth in their understanding of what it means to be good or evil, and their actions sometimes have disastrous consequences. Both girls eventually move beyond being stereotypes and learn the meaning of true love.

Violence & Scariness

As with traditional folktales and fairy tales, it has its fair share of violence. For much of the book, mayhem is implied rather than shown. Any violent encounters tend be be cartoonish rather than realistic. But climactic chapters involve an all-out war between Evers (good students) and Nevers (bad students), and the body count is high. One key character is killed, although there's hope of resurrection in the cliffhanger ending.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Some flirting and kissing. Sophie is sure that she's meant for the local Prince Charming, but "true love" does not run smoothy in The School for Good and Evil . A couple of jokes about swords being awkwardly unsheathed.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The School for Good and Evil is a fresh take on fairy tale devices and clichés, upending the expectations most readers have about princesses and villains. The language is very mild (nothing worse than "ass"). Would-be princesses and princes flirt with each other, and there's one kissing scene and a couple of mildly bawdy sword jokes. As in most fairy tales, violence and the threat of it are fairly constant, but most characters escape actual harm, at least until the climactic battle sequence. The body count there is rather high, and one of the main characters is killed (though seemingly revived later on).

Where to Read

Community reviews.

• Parents say (14)
• Kids say (94)

Based on 14 parent reviews

Dangerously BAD messages for girls

Parents - please reconsider the age limits - not appropriate for under 12, in my opinion, what's the story.

When best friends Sophie and Agatha are stolen away from their village and end up at the THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL, the girls assume that their roles in life will remain as they always have predicted. With her blond hair, pink dresses, and penchant for doing good deeds, Sophie will be trained to be a storybook princess. Black-clad and antisocial Agatha has all the makings of a first-class villainess. At the school, however, the girls find themselves exactly where they don't want to be. Sophie is the one to take Uglification lessons and consort with future witches and their nefarious assistants, while Agatha must learn about makeup and the proper etiquette for attracting a Prince Charming. To get back home, Agatha and Sophie must solve a riddle that seems to threaten the very existence of the school.

Is It Any Good?

The School for Good and Evil is no run-of-the-mill fairy tale spin-off. Author Soman Chainani has clearly done his homework in folklore and mass media, and he manipulates the clichés of fantasy and folklore with a great deal of wit and insight. This opening volume to the series feels a little long, however. Agatha and Sophie attempt new trials, pass or fail in unexpected ways, and then move on to the next contest. The repetition of this pattern grows burdensome across nearly 500 pages. Still, there's a lot of narrative meat here, served up with flair by Chainani and complemented by Iacopo Bruno's black-and-white illustrations.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about portrayals of fairy tale characters in The School for Good and Evil . How do fairy tale characters in modern media differ from their original, folkloric versions? Why do you think these stories remain so powerful and compelling?

Do you ever make judgments about people based on how they look or dress? Can you tell if someone is "good" or "bad" just by looking at them?

Do you ever feel as if other people -- family, friends or teachers -- have expectations of you that you can't possibly meet? How do you handle those expectations?

Book Details

• Author : Soman Chainani
• Illustrator : Iacopo Bruno
• Genre : Fairy Tale
• Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More , Adventures , Fairy Tales
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : HarperCollins Children's Books
• Publication date : May 14, 2013
• Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 17
• Number of pages : 496
• Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
• Last updated : June 29, 2022

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The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani || Book Review

When I started my Goodreads account years back, The School for Good and Evil was the first book that I added to my TBR. I was actually in 9th grade then so I was very close to the target audience.

It’s a shame that it took me this long to actually read this book. If I had read it back then, I would have loved it so much more.

This review was initially posted on my old blog and I'm reposting it because the series is being adapted by Netflix and I'm very excited!

the concept

The characters, friendship > love, good vs evil.

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…?

Trigger warnings: fatphobia, parental issues, bullying.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK.

It’s a shame that I didn’t get my hands on a copy of this back in school! I got the chance to finally read this book as an audiobook and I’m so glad. The audiobook was really fun to listen to.

So let’s get to why exactly I liked this book.

In the book, there are two schools—one for Good and one for Evil. Students who graduate from these schools become heroes and villains in their own stories respectively.

The author brought in students who are children of well-known heroes and villains from fairytales as well as other acquaintances. The students have to do well in their classes in order to get high marks and get their own stories.

The book was super fun to read because of the concept. I imagined it all while listening to the narration and it was great.

Until Sophie and Agatha, all the characters were easily split into Good and Evil. There are easily distinguishable traits in students so there was never an issue.

It should have been the same for Sophie and Agatha but they’re put into the wrong schools which set the book’s main plot.

Sophie and Agatha showed how Good and Evil are not so clearly distinguished. A person can be both and just because you like pink, you’re not Good. You are divided based on morals and thoughts, not what you  think  you are.

This moral was subtly shown throughout the book. It definitely has something to teach to younger readers.

Sophie and Agatha were so fun to follow! We read from both of their points of view so we have a complete view of their adventures.

They are also complex characters without a straight moral compass. This clear but also subtle way of showing what truly matters as a person was brilliant.

The other characters in the book were interesting enough but they were not as interesting as our main characters.

This book is more focused on friendship than love. The friendship in limelight is Sophia and Agatha’s but we also see other friendships in the book.

I loved the friendship focus. Sophia and Agatha have a complicated friendship which is tested during this book. It was interesting to see how they manage it all.

There is some focus on the love aspect but it’s mainly only to show how love is expected for Good students while Evil students are always alone as villains. And some questions are raised about love as well.

Through this book, the author questions some fundamental things about Good and Evil. Why does Good always win? Why does Good get love while Evil doesn’t? Why does Evil have to be ugly in appearance? Why can’t heroes be ugly and villains be beautiful?

The questions I really loved were: why do villains have all the character while heroes are bland with some morals? Why does Good have no sass and cleverness? Why do they depend on love and companionship while Evil can do everything alone?

These are all questions that kids usually think about and question as they read fairytales. I questioned these things myself.

It was wonderful to see how  the author takes these questions and spins a whole storyline around it . Some things are questioned and taken apart while others are answered through the story.

If this book was a fairytale like the others that we know, it would end with the Good student finding love and winning over Evil. But this book turns things around.

I really like how the ending was different and showed the true meaning of a happy ending. It was such a twist and wholly unexpected but was the BEST. I won’t say anymore because of spoilers.

Also, while it has a good enough ending, the series continues after this. It doesn't fully end. But I didn't find much suspense and didn't continue the series.

If you are looking for a middle-grade book to read or recommend, pick this! Especially if you’re recommending to middle grade or younger students.

P. S. I haven't read the second book so I'm not sure about this but I've heard that book 2 has a transphobic element. Please pick it up with caution.

let's chat!

Have you read The School for Good and Evil ? What are your thoughts on it, especially the themes that it portrays?

If you haven't read it, are you planning to? Did you hear that Kit Young (Jesper from Shadow & Bone adaptation) is playing one of the key characters in the Netflix adaptation?! I'm very excited to see him on screen in this story.

Sumedha spends her days reading books, bingeing Kdramas, drawing illustrations, and blogging while listening to Lo-Fi music. Read more ➔

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31 comments

I have this on my TBR too ?? but it's quite a looooong book so I'm putting this off .. I loved your pointers on this book

Haha yes it is long. But its worth it!

I'll keep it handy then ?

awesome, thanks for sharing x

No problem!

I used to LOOVE this book growing up and am so excited that they’re turning it into a show!

Same! Can't wait to see the characters on screen!

With all the books being adapted to screens. I really feel like reading them all and then watching the adaptations. But then where do I have the time. ???

Also, I realised that I lose my patience with screen adaptations because I already know how things are going to turn out. And at times when they do not show your favourite parts. It is such a downer.

I get that! Also, sometimes it's alright to just watch the adaptations. I watched S&B without reading the books and it's alright. As a book community we always feel like we should read first and need to unlearn that ?

This sounds like an awesome book, Sumedha! I'm so glad that you loved and enjoyed it so much! I've never heard of this but the cover looks great! xx

lynn | https://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com

It is! Thanks for your comment ?

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THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

From the school for good and evil series , vol. 1.

by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013

Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.

Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.

Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and  her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).

Pub Date: May 14, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2

Page Count: 496

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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BOOK TO SCREEN

THE LAST EVER AFTER

From the school for good and evil series , vol. 3.

by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2015

Ultimately more than a little full of itself, but well-stocked with big themes, inventively spun fairy-tale tropes, and...

Good has won every fairy-tale contest with Evil for centuries, but a dark sorcerer’s scheme to turn the tables comes to fruition in this ponderous closer.

Broadening conflict swirls around frenemies Agatha and Sophie as the latter joins rejuvenated School Master Rafal, who has dispatched an army of villains from Capt. Hook to various evil stepmothers to take stabs (literally) at changing the ends of their stories. Meanwhile, amid a general slaughter of dwarves and billy goats, Agatha and her rigid but educable true love, Tedros, flee for protection to the League of Thirteen. This turns out to be a company of geriatric versions of characters, from Hansel and Gretel (in wheelchairs) to fat and shrewish Cinderella, led by an enigmatic Merlin. As the tale moves slowly toward climactic battles and choices, Chainani further lightens the load by stuffing it with memes ranging from a magic ring that must be destroyed and a “maleficent” gown for Sophie to this oddly familiar line: “Of all the tales in all the kingdoms in all the Woods, you had to walk into mine.” Rafal’s plan turns out to be an attempt to prove that love can be twisted into an instrument of Evil. Though the proposition eventually founders on the twin rocks of true friendship and family ties, talk of “balance” in the aftermath at least promises to give Evil a fighting chance in future fairy tales. Bruno’s polished vignettes at each chapter’s head and elsewhere add sophisticated visual notes.

Pub Date: July 21, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-06-210495-3

Page Count: 672

Review Posted Online: June 25, 2015

THE GOOD THIEVES

by Katherine Rundell ; illustrated by Charles Santoso ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 27, 2019

Narrow squeaks aplenty combine with bursts of lyrical prose for a satisfying adventure

A Prohibition-era child enlists a gifted pickpocket and a pair of budding circus performers in a clever ruse to save her ancestral home from being stolen by developers.

Rundell sets her iron-jawed protagonist on a seemingly impossible quest: to break into the ramshackle Hudson River castle from which her grieving grandfather has been abruptly evicted by unscrupulous con man Victor Sorrotore and recover a fabulously valuable hidden emerald. Laying out an elaborate scheme in a notebook that itself turns out to be an integral part of the ensuing caper, Vita, only slowed by a bout with polio years before, enlists a team of helpers. Silk, a light-fingered orphan, aspiring aerialist Samuel Kawadza, and Arkady, a Russian lad with a remarkable affinity for and with animals, all join her in a series of expeditions, mostly nocturnal, through and under Manhattan. The city never comes to life the way the human characters do (Vita, for instance, “had six kinds of smile, and five of them were real”) but often does have a tangible presence, and notwithstanding Vita’s encounter with a (rather anachronistically styled) “Latina” librarian, period attitudes toward race and class are convincingly drawn. Vita, Silk, and Arkady all present white; Samuel, a Shona immigrant from Southern Rhodesia, is the only primary character of color. Santoso’s vignettes of, mostly, animals and small items add occasional visual grace notes.

Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4814-1948-2

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

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Book Review

The school for good and evil — “the school for good and evil” series.

• Soman Chainani
• Adventure , Fairy Tale , Fantasy

Readability Age Range

• Harper and HarperCollins Children’s Books, imprints of HarperCollins Publishers
• New York Times Bestseller list, 2013

Year Published

This book has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine . It is the first book in “The School for Good and Evil” series.

Plot Summary

Every four years, two children from the village of Gavaldon are kidnapped. They’re taken to the famed School for Good and Evil, where they are trained to be either storybook heroes or villains. The lovely but arrogant Sophie can’t wait to be kidnapped. She knows she’s princess material and has proved it through her recent string of good deeds in her village. She even stooped to befriend Agatha, the creepy girl who lives in the cemetery.

Agatha will be the perfect evil child, so Sophie does her part to see they are kidnapped together. But when Sophie’s plan succeeds and the girls are spirited away to the two-schools-in-one, they’re certain there’s been a mistake. Agatha is deposited at the School for Good, while Sophie is sent to the School for Evil. Sophie will have to learn ways to kill, uglify herself, curse others and the like. She begins a campaign to convince everyone she’s been miscategorized, but she only succeeds in annoying her three evil roommates.

Agatha, feeling out of place at the School for Good, only wants to get Sophie and break out so they can go home. But Sophie has no desire to leave. She is still convinced she can right this terrible wrong and get transferred to the School for Good. She also falls for a prince named Tedros and can think of nothing but winning him for herself. She repeatedly thwarts Agatha’s efforts to rescue her and takes Agatha’s loyalty for granted.

Although upset, Agatha continues with her studies in hopes that Sophie will change her mind. Agatha discovers she has the power to release enchanted humans from spells that have held them captive as animals or objects. Then Sophie’s flirting with Tedros begins to convince him she may be good after all, and he vows to help her prove her goodness.

The girls are brought before the School Master. He shows them that the Storian, a glowing pen that writes by itself, is creating their fairly tale at that moment. He tells them the only way they can prove who they really are is to solve a riddle. They must determine the one thing Evil can never have and Good can never do without.

Sophie’s roommates tell her the history of the school. There were once two School Masters who were twin brothers. One was good; the other was evil. The brothers ran the school and protected the Storian, ensuring the balance of good and evil. The evil brother tried to seize the Storian so he could be in control. A great war began, and one brother was killed. No one knows which brother won, but everyone suspects it was the Good brother since Evil hasn’t won a battle in years.

The girls determine that the answer to their riddle is Love. Agatha is convinced that if Sophie’s true love, Tedros, kisses Sophie, it will prove she isn’t a villain. Then they can go home. Only Sophie learns that the students at the School for Good (who are called Evers) are having a ball. She’s determined not to miss it, even if it means keeping Tedros from bestowing True Love’s Kiss upon her.

Sophie’s grades are horrible, so Agatha helps her cheat so as not to be kicked out. Agatha frequently puts a spell on herself to become a cockroach. She sneaks in to the Evil school (whose students are called Nevers) to help Sophie study. Sometimes she hides in Sophie’s hair to whisper answers to her and help her pass difficult challenges in the classroom.

Meanwhile, Sophie starts to dress in heavy makeup and short, tight dresses to get the attention of other males. She begins teaching lunchtime lectures to the girls at her school so they can grow in popularity with the Evers.

Tedros finally agrees to take Sophie to the ball, even though it goes against all the rules about Evers and Nevers remaining with their own kind. Several of the Nevers, who are convinced Sophie has been cheating on her exams and homework, plan to kill her in an upcoming challenge. A disguised Agatha saves Sophie from certain death, but Sophie’s behavior afterward puts her at odds with both Agatha and Tedros. Agatha wishes to be beautiful, and her wish comes true. Soon, she and Tedros plan to attend the ball together. Sophie then shows the extent of her evil nature by waging war against the Evers and trying to destoy Agatha, whom she now realizes is her Nemesis.

In a competition the night of the ball, students are required to demonstrate a talent. Sophie has been locked out of the room, so the students hope there won’t be trouble. Agatha can’t think of a talent. When her turn comes, she realizes that the fairy and wolf guards are actually former students who were given these bodies and guard jobs for failing their classes. She doesn’t have enough power to free their spirits, but her ability to show the other students the truth makes the current students more compassionate toward the guards.

Sophie breaks in, and using her evil magic, sends ravens to brutally destroy the wolves and fairies. She tries unsuccessfully to destroy the student body as well. Sophie soon leads the conflicted Nevers in waging a final battle against the Evers. Agatha visits the School for Evil in an effort to stop the war. When the Evers arrive to attack, Sophie tries to discredit Agatha and convince the Evers that Agatha is on Evil’s side. Evers magically become ugly, and Nevers become attractive, until no one knows who is on whose side. Sophie realizes the only way she will ever get the ending she wants is to destroy the School Master and the Storian.

The School Master, who appears as a handsome prince, tells Sophie they belong together. He reveals that he is Evil, but Good has continued to triumph all these years because Love is the most powerful force there is. He believes that with Sophie, he can find something even more powerful: Evil love. He kisses her and turns into a rotting, maggot-filled corpse.

Sophie is in despair, finally believing she can never be Good. Just then, Agatha rescues her. As the other students look on, the spirit of the School Master’s brother takes on the body of a willing teacher and destroys the Evil brother before vanishing. Agatha holds Sophie’s dying body as Sophie pants that she doesn’t want to be evil. When Agatha thinks Sophie is dead, she kisses her friend on the lips. The kiss revives Sophie, and the two friends happily vanish.

Christian Beliefs

Other belief systems.

Agatha prays a number of times to no one in particular, just as though she is making a wish.

Students at the school are responsible for protecting the balance between good and evil in the world. One leader tells the incoming students all children are born with souls that are either good or evil, and they cannot change their natures. He admits that some may feel the stirrings of both good and evil if they come from families where both existed, but it is the school’s job to rid any child of those stirrings.

Students at the School for Evil are made to uglify themselves. According to a teacher, only once they’ve destroyed who they think they are can they embrace who they truly are. When a Never discovers his or her Nemesis, the Never cannot be happy until that person is dead.

Authority Roles

Sophie’s mother is dead. Her father, for whom she has little love or respect, is interested in another woman in town. Agatha lives with her mother in the cemetery. The girl speculates that her father pretended she (Agatha) never happened and went back to his wife before dying in a mill accident. Tedros’s mother, Guinevere, ran off with Lancelot when her son was 9, saying she had found love. The School Master kidnaps children. He tries to make Sophie love him and become his evil princess.

Profanity & Violence

The Lord’s name is used in vain several times. The words crap and a– also appear. A number of bloody battles take place between the Evers and Nevers. Children fall from cliffs and are swept up in floodwaters. The School Master’s body becomes a rotting corpse with maggots and charred flesh, and he nearly consumes Sophie in the same gory death.

A sign at the School for Evil says the school exists to propagate sin. Some courses of study include casting spells, murdering, kidnapping and causing suffering. One of Sophie’s roommates has a demon tattoo that comes to life. On one occasion, the demon splits into pieces and wields knives to destroy another student.

The story contains a lot of discussions about killing. Nevers are told they will feel free only when they have killed their Nemesis. One class involves murder practice, where the person who kills in the cruelest way wins. Nevers strive to enter into the eternal glory of a land called Nevermore.

The School for Evil’s buildings are decorated with symbols of murder and torture. One of Sophie’s roommates calls her Beelzebub. Skeletal creatures lounge by the bloody carcass of a half-eaten goat. A crypt keeper with a backlog of bodies is seen burying some with coffins and some without while vultures circle overhead.

Students plot to kill Sophie during one of the competitions. The School Master wants Sophie to be his princess because she can give him something more powerful than the kind of love heroes experience. She can love him with Evil love. He suggests they marry so they can hurt, destroy, punish and have something worth fighting for. The School Master and Sophie turn into rotting corpses after their kiss.

Sexual Content

Kissing is discussed frequently. The School Master kisses Sophie, then begins to rot and deteriorate. Agatha kisses Sophie on the lips and tells her she loves her to seal their friendship and give their fairy tale a happy ending.

The girls flock to watch shirtless princes practicing swordplay. Sophie takes to wearing heavy makeup and short, tight, strapless dresses to impress Tedros. One of her seductive outfits even includes a matching nun’s wimple. All the boys, and even some of the guards, give her their attention. Sophie teaches lunchtime classes, including one called Building your Body for Sin.

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

Bathroom humor – Characters frequently fart

Gender inequality – Ever girls get failing grades and suffer punishment worse than death if they don’t get a boy to ask them to the ball. Punishments for boys without dates are far milder. Girls who need a ball date try to look timid and helpless so boys will take them under their wings. When Agatha points out the inequity of these rules, a male classmate tells her that boys can choose to be alone if they want, but girls who end up alone might as well be dead.

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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The School of Good and Evil by Soman Chainani - review

Forget everything you know about fairytales. Everything. Because now, you will find out.

Every year, two children are kidnapped to the School of Good and Evil. After a while, people saw them in the fairytales that would arrive mysteriously a little while after the two children had left. One good and one bad. And from this school heroes where born, such as King Arthur, Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood.

Sophie lives in a boring village, and dreams of going to the school of good and evil, as she always reads the tales. She wears pink, has long blonde hair and is always doing good deeds. On the other hand, Agatha, Sophie's friend, wears hideous black dresses, hates company and lives in a grave yard.

When the two girls are taken, Sophie is looking forward to beautiful princes and her storybook ending as a gorgeous princess. However, there is a turn of events and Sophie ends in in Evil and Agatha in Good! How can Sophie survive Uglyification and wicked aspells while Agatha learns beauty and how to get your prince!

Why was there a mistake? Is this their destiny?

I loved this book as it is very controversial and it shows that you can't judge a book by its cover. I was enthralled at every page by how in-depth the story is. I recommend this book for 10+.

Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop

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Review – ‘The School for Good and Evil’ by Soman Chainani

A fairy tale mish mash

Warning – minor spoilers ahead!

Overall – 3 out of 5 rating, enjoyable with some flaws

Just an FYI, this review is only for the first book in the series, and takes it as it’s own story. I haven’t read past the first book, so if things I mention get resolved or explained later in the series, I apologise in advance!

Let’s start with the basic premise. Two girls from the same village have grown up reading fairy tales. One thinks she’s destined to be a princess, the other feels destined to be an outcast – a witch. They are kidnapped and taken to a pair of linked schools. One is for Evil, the other for Good. The only problem? The possible princess is dropped into the School for Evil, and the probable witch is dropped into the School for Good.

Sounds intriguing, right? That’s what I thought. I will admit that I saw the Netflix version first, so already knew the rough plot (though I knew not to expect it to follow the book too closely). The story follows Sophie (the wannabe princess) and Agatha (the prospective witch) as they try to find a way to get back to where they belong. Trouble comes as the characters realise they each want different things. Sophie is determined to get into the School of Good and claim her prince, but Agatha only wants to get them both home and safe. Now I am going to be rather nit-picky about this book. The basic premise is sound, and the plot is fast-paced, and enjoyable. However, I feel like it didn’t deliver on it’s promise and the finale felt flat and undeveloped. But more on that later.

One thing I will say is this is a YA novel that reads more like it was aimed at 9-12 yrs olds. It is obvious from the start that Sophie, though she thinks herself a Good princess, is actually vain, self-centred and an egotist who thinks that looks are the only thing worth having. Agatha, on the other hand, within the first chapter is the obvious candidate for the good school as she actually cares about her friend. There is very little character development except that Sophie gradually becomes more evil, and Agatha becomes more of a princess. And those are tropes, any realism in their characters disappear as the fairy tale takes hold, but isn’t the whole point of these two that they fight against their own place in the fairy tale?

Sophie’s reasons for her actions towards the end become entangled, and rather unclear. It could be because she herself is confused, but that doesn’t come across very well if that was the intention. In general all the characters seem to lack depth. Agatha is another example, as she at the start is feisty, independent, and very clever. All of those tropes either lessen or vanish entirely as she transforms into a fairy tale princess. I won’t go into details, but there is a very obvious ‘thing’ that Agatha could point out that would make the whole climax avoidable, and she doesn’t do it. Admittedly, this could be due to the severe blow to the head she had just suffered making her not think clearly, but as there’s no other reference to any concussion symptoms, that seems a bit too realistic for a novel that otherwise isn’t too focussed on realism. Especially as she then climbs out a window of a very, very tall tower and climbs down the side of it.

So, the main characters are a little 2-dimensional. They are engaging at first as we want to see what happens, but Sophie doesn’t change (except in the last few pages), and Agatha changes but loses the best part of her character, only regaining part of it (again) in the last few pages. I will add that Tedros as a character annoyed me. He is supposed to be the strong hero that both girls fall for (at different points), but though the writer tells us that he wants people to see him as more than a handsome hero, he only acts as a brainless one. Particularly during the climax at the end, when sheer stubborness takes over from any brains that he might have been assumed to have, and nearly ruins the day.

A major gripe with this novel is that things feel undeveloped. The premise is good – it opens the story to challenge what it means to be ‘good’ or ‘evil’, and what happens when human beings can be both. But that is barely explored. The main villain isn’t revealed as the villain until the very end, and that too feels like a missed opportunity. More could have been explored with the girls’ development into a villain/princess, the relationship between Agatha and Tedros and how someone who despised fairy tales of ‘true love’ would react when they find their own true love, and the actual villain’s plot. The whole book revolves around the two girls and their battle with each other and the schools, but then in the final few pages (literally the last 11 pages of the 488 page book), it is revealed that there was a true villain manipulating things all along.

All in all, this book feels like wasted potential. It’s not bad, it’s enjoyable for sure, but it definitely feels like more could have been made of such a promising premise.

Rating – 3 out of 5 stars.

Would I read it again? I’m not sure, but I’m definitely going to read the next book in the series and take it from there.

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Netflix’s whimsical The School for Good and Evil is worth the price of admission

Netflix’s glittering adaptation of soman chainani’s ya deconstruction of fairy tales is yet another reminder that hollywood loves a magical school.

By Charles Pulliam-Moore , a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years.

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So long as there are literate young people trudging their way to school every morning, there’s always going to be an appetite for stories asking “what if the educational system, but magical?” That’s exactly the question author Soman Chainani’s The School for Good and Evil and Netflix’s new adaptation of the novel pose . Like all of the books in Chainani’s fairy tale-inspired YA series, Netflix’s The School for Good and Evil both pulls deep from and pokes fun at the magical storybook canon with a tale about the many different forms love can take.

Netflix’s The School for Good and Evil from director Paul Feig tells the story of Agatha (Sofia Wylie) and Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso), two best friends who, despite being slightly different flavors of misfit, cling to each other fiercely as they live out their days in the small, sleepy town of Gavaldon. Most of Gavaldon’s townsfolk are content to endlessly toil away at their jobs, never thinking too much about how no one ever seems to wander beyond the thick woods surrounding the picturesque village they call home. But for Sophie and Agatha, avid readers who frequent the local book store run by Mrs. Deauville (Patti LuPone), there’s an undeniable appeal to the idea of one day journeying into and beyond the woods if only to see for themselves what’s out there.

Though Agatha and Sophie’s shared love of books is yet another thing that their peers look down on them for, it’s also what puts them on the path toward adventure when one of them makes a heartfelt wish not knowing that the School for Good and Evil is always listening.

Netflix’s The School for Good and Evil doesn’t deviate all that largely from the source material, but co-writers Feig and David Magee’s script does feature a handful updates that make the story pop a little bit differently. Most everyone in the Gavaldon of Chainani’s book is generally aware of the existence of magic and how two children from the town seem to disappear under mysterious circumstances every four years. But Agatha and Sophie have no idea what they’re getting into in Netflix’s film when they end up in the Endless Woods one evening and are accosted by an otherworldly monster that carries them off into the night sky.

Many of The School for Good and Evil ’s core ideas and plot points will ring more than familiar to anyone who’s picked up a novel about kids enrolling in a magic school, which is likely why Netflix’s movie takes care to gloss over a number of the book’s narrative beats that might make it feel too similar to other YA fantasy franchises . Rather than hammering home what all the School for Good and Evil is from the jump, the film instead tries to impress it upon you with one of its many surprisingly majestic, VFX-heavy sequences that gives you a bird’s-eye view of the institution on the first day of student orientation.

It’s as Agatha, Sophie, and all their new classmates are falling out of the sky into either the School for Good or the School for Evil that The School for Good and Evil starts to feel like it’s genuinely having fun before its story takes an inevitable dark turn. But it’s when the film’s curiously stacked cast of pitch hitters all start to show up in a series of resplendent gowns and suits that you can really see how intent Netflix is on The School for Good and Evil appealing to a broad audience.

Wylie and Caruso are both compelling and magnetic presences on screen as they become fast friends (and enemies) with the children of legendary fairytale heroes and villains. But it’s the slightly unhinged camp of Kerry Washington’s Professor Dovey, Charlize Theron’s Lady Lesso, and Michelle Yeoh’s Professor Anemone that end up stealing the show and selling The School for Good and Evil as a kind of meta-fairy tale about how stifling fairytales tend to be.

While the movie does still largely focus on Sophie’s dismay at being assigned to the School for Evil and Agatha’s trouble fitting in with her uber-feminine roommates in the School for Good, it also takes the time to dig into how much of their education’s being influenced by their teachers’ rivalries. Again, the concept of a magical school’s magical teachers having magical beef with one another isn’t exactly new, and the big mystery involving the School for Good and Evil’s headmaster (Laurence Fishburne) is far too easy to piece together. But there is something very special about the way The School for Good and Evil uses Dovey and Agatha — two of its most prominent Black characters — to expand upon some of the more interesting ideas from Chainani’s book about how we define “goodness” and what kind of people we associate it with.

The School for Good and Evil ’s twists probably won’t throw you for all that much of a loop, and its selection of dramatic covers tend to take away more than they add to its legitimately solid action sequences. But even though the movie was clearly made with fans of the books in mind, and it runs just a little too long to be a casual watch, it’s exactly the kind of well-produced, feature-length original project you want to see from Netflix that definitely leaves open the possibility for more installments down the line.

The School for Good and Evil also stars Kit Young, Peter Serafinowicz, Cate Blanchett, Rob Delaney, and Rachel Bloom. The film hits Netflix on October 19th.

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the school for good and evil.

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“Harry Potter” meets “Descendants” with a dash of “Romeo and Juliet” in “The School for Good and Evil.” And yes, it is as overstuffed as that sounds.

This massive, magical adventure is also way too long at 2 ½ hours, but rarely in that running time do we see any glimmers of the kind of singular filmmaking wizardry that usually makes Paul Feig ’s movies so engaging. He’s once again telling a story of female friendship, with all its highs and lows and particular complications, as he has with “ Bridesmaids ,” “ The Heat ,” and “ A Simple Favor .” And, of course, the clothes are dazzling; the famously sartorial director would never skimp in that department.

But all of these potentially effective elements—as well as a stellar cast that includes Charlize Theron , Kerry Washington , and Michelle Yeoh —get swallowed up by the overwhelming reliance on CGI-infused action sequences. They’re both empty and endless, and too often leave you wondering what’s going on and why we should bother.

Based on the best-selling children’s book series by Soman Chainani , “The School for Good and Evil” focuses on two extremely different teenage best friends looking out for each other in a harsh, fairy-tale land. The petite Sophie ( Sophia Anne Caruso ) is a blonde Cinderella figure with dreams of becoming a princess; she escapes the doldrums of daily life with a mean stepmother by talking to woodland creatures and designing flouncy gowns. The much taller, wild-haired Agatha ( Sofia Wylie ) lives with her mom in a cottage in the forest, where they concoct potions together; she has a hairless cat named Reaper and dresses in all black, so she must be a witch. These simple, early moments when the girls enjoy their warm, humorous bond—with the help of richly honeyed narration from Cate Blanchett —are the film’s strongest. The dialogue in the script from co-writers David Magee and Feig is snarky in a way that’s both anachronistic and au courant, but Caruso and Wylie make their friendship feel true.

But one day, a giant bird picks them up and swoops them away to The School for Good and Evil: side-by-side castles connected by a bridge where the next generation of magical young people learns to hone their skills. As we see in the film’s prelude, a pair of brothers established this balance long ago; neither side can win completely, and this enchanted institution ensures that. Naturally, Sophie assumes she’ll end up on the sunny side of the divide, while Agatha will go to the structure shrouded in fog. But when the bird drops Sophie on the evil side and Agatha on the good side, they figure it must have been a mistake and struggle to switch places. In no time, though, their true natures reveal themselves—the ones they’d buried beneath the hair and clothes they’d chosen and the labels society had pinned on them.

This is a potentially interesting idea, and a great opportunity for kids to learn about the insidious power of prejudice. And the production design on both sides is enjoyably over-the-top in its contrasting extremes: the School for Good essentially looks like a wedding cake you could live inside, while the School for Evil is like a goth version of Hogwarts. Costume designer Renee Ehrlich Kalfus —who also designed the clothes in Feig’s sharp and sexy “A Simple Favor”—makes the dresses these young women wear not just distinct in vivid and inspired ways, but they evolve accordingly as Agatha and Sophie tap into their authentic selves.

Again, lots of intriguing pieces here, and we haven’t even mentioned Washington as the perpetually perky head of the good school, with Theron vamping as the evil school’s leader. There’s just so much going on in this movie in terms of plot and visual effects that supporting players like Yeoh and Laurence Fishburne get frustratingly little to do. The film also squanders the talents of Rob Delaney and Patti LuPone early on in blink-and-you’ll-miss-them roles. The script consistently gets bogged down in world-building exposition and flashbacks—the mythology of how this place works is dense and not terribly compelling—and there are so many students on both sides of the bridge that there’s little opportunity for characterization. Chainani wrote a series of these books, where he had much more time and space to expand. Here, fellow students are whittled down to a single trait, and—as in the Disney “Descendants” movies—most are the offspring of famous cultural figures, like Prince Charming, King Arthur, and the Sheriff of Nottingham. A forbidden romance between Sophie and the hunky Tedros ( Jamie Flatters ) is just one more subplot in a film full of them. And a dizzying array of twists awaits as the movie hurtles toward its conclusion.

Somewhere beneath all the noise and mayhem—the hurled fireballs, swirls of blood and duels with glowing swords choreographed to Billie Eilish and Britney Spears tunes—“The School for Good and Evil” aims to upend familiar tropes and unearth some useful truths. The popular clique at the good school is packed with mean girls; the weirdoes and misfits at the bad school are actually loyal and kind. Being ambitious isn’t necessarily a negative thing, while going along to get along might not be the right path, either. But with a series of endings that drags out the film’s already significant length, it takes a while for anyone to achieve any sort of happily ever after.

On Netflix today.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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The School for Good and Evil (2022)

Rated PG-13 for violence and action, and some frightening images.

146 minutes

Sophia Anne Caruso as Sophie

Sofia Wylie as Agatha

Laurence Fishburne as The Schoolmaster

Michelle Yeoh as Professor Anemone

Jamie Flatters as Tedros

Kit Young as Rafal

Rachel Bloom as Honora

Peter Serafinowicz as Yuba

Kerry Washington as Professor Dovey

Charlize Theron as Lady Lesso

Earl Cave as Hort

Patti Lupone as Mrs. Deauville

Cate Blanchett as Narrator (voice)

Ali Khan as Chaddick

Writer (based on the book by)

• Soman Chainani
• David Magee

Cinematographer

• John Schwartzman
• Mischa Chaleyer-Kynaston
• Theodore Shapiro

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‘The School for Good and Evil’ Review: Ever Afters and Never Afters

Two best friends have princess dreams and witchy nightmares in this adaptation of Soman Chainani’s book series.

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By Maya Phillips

Light versus dark. Hero versus villain. Good versus evil. Sound familiar? It should — it’s perhaps the most basic motif, where nearly all stories begin, from religions to myths, fairy tales to blockbusters.

So what Netflix’s “The School for Good and Evil” attempts — to draw from and pervert cookie-cutter hero and villain stories in a novel way — is a task so monumental that it can’t measure up. The film, adapted from the young adult book series by Soman Chainani and directed by Paul Feig, is a mess of contradictions: a muddle of clichés and inconsistencies with just enough charm and cleverness to keep you watching.

Two best friends, Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie), are the adolescent outcasts of a quaint Arthurian-style town named Gavaldon: Sophie dreams of a glamorous life as a princess and Agatha seems to channel Sabrina the teenage witch. When Sophie makes a desperate wish to escape her provincial surroundings, she and Agatha are transported to a school for storybook heroes and villains. The problem is that they’re sorted into opposite houses: Despite her fantasies of ball gowns and princes, Sophie is cast in the gloomy halls of the evildoers, and Agatha, with her witchy name and affinity for black clothes, is stuck in the cotton-candy-pink halls of the princesses.

Sophie aims to prove that she’s really meant to be a princess, but in the process is seduced by a greater evil; and Agatha, seeing the maniacal plots afoot, tries to save Sophie and return them home.

In many ways “The School for Good and Evil” is cringe-worthy: cheesy special effects; blatant telegraphing of plot points; crude world-building and scant character development; cloyingly oversaturated, superficially glossy cinematography and precious direction; ridiculous action (fireballs kicked like soccer balls, weaponized hot chocolate), set to a soundtrack of teenage-girl angst (Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo).

However, Wylie’s performance as Agatha is sharp and modern, and performances by other big names (Charlize Theron, Michelle Yeoh, Laurence Fishburne and a less impressive Kerry Washington) give weight to the flimsier moments in the script. And the film has immaculate style, from its ornate hair and makeup to its elaborate costumes, even its fights: The choreography during a sprawling battle sequence deftly weaves the chaotic hodgepodge of visuals into a technically impressive feat.

There’s the sense that underneath its swordplay the film is reaching toward a deeper exploration of questions like, is there such a thing as fate? Do we each have a fundamentally fixed self? How have our terms of right and wrong, good and bad, changed? To that end the film often gets meta in the cheekiest ways, whether it’s Agatha snapping to the voice-over narration (by Cate Blanchett), “You know we hear you narrating, weirdo,” to Sophie dismissing a character with the quip, “The protagonists are speaking.” But the film doesn’t have the space to expand all of its ideas and gracefully unfold its plot, which is full of so many narrative twists and reversals that “The School for Good and Evil” equates to a whole TV season untidily packed into a feature film.

That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t let this story, as flawed as it is, take me back to this Hogwarts-esque school of powerful sorcery and brave feats; if only the film could fully execute at least half of its ambitions, then that would be a story with impressive power.

The School for Good and Evil Rated PG-13 for mean-girl jeers and chocolate attacks. Running time: 2 hours 27 minutes. Watch on Netflix.

Maya Phillips is a critic at large. She is the author of the poetry collection “Erou” and “NERD: Adventures in Fandom From This Universe to the Multiverse,” forthcoming from Atria Books. More about Maya Phillips

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Middle-grade book review: the school for good and evil #1 the school for good and evil by soman chainani.

Posted November 18, 2022 by jrsbookr in Fantasy , Middle grade / 0 Comments

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL is now a major motion picture from Netflix, starring Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blanchett, and many more! A dark and enchanting fantasy adventure for those who prefer fairytales with a twist. The first in the bestselling series. Every four years, two girls are kidnapped from the village of Gavaldon. Legend has it these lost children are sent to the School for Good and Evil, the fabled institution where they become fairytale heroes or villains. With her glass slippers and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she'll join the ranks of past students like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White at the School for Good. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black dresses and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil. But the two girls soon 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 among 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?

What if the fairytales we’ve grown up on aren’t exactly what they seem? What if Rapunzel went to a school and trained to become a princess, and what if Rumpelstiltskin was trained to be evil? Of the two girls living in the small town of Galveston, one is sure she will be kidnapped to attend school for good and evil. Sophie has befriended a girl named Agatha, who the whole town has deemed a witch. Sophie is kidnapped, and Agatha is along for the ride, but the schoolmaster believes that Agatha is in the school for good and Sophie in the School for Evil. What transpires as you read this story is crafted so beautifully that you will fall in love with the whole series and be ready to check out the movie.

About Soman Chainani

Soman Chainani’s debut series, THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL, has sold more than 2 million copies, been translated into 29 languages across six continents, and will soon be a major motion picture.

Each of the five books in the series — THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL, A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES, THE LAST EVER AFTER, QUESTS FOR GLORY, and A CRYSTAL OF TIME — have debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list. Together the books have been on the print and extended lists for more than 35 weeks.

The sixth and final book in the series will be released in 2020.

A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University’s MFA Film Program, Soman began his career as a screenwriter and director, with his films playing at over 150 film festivals around the world. He has been nominated for the Waterstone Prize for Children’s Literature, been named to the Out100, and also received the $100,000 Shasha Grant and the Sun Valley Writer’s Fellowship, both for debut writers.

Soman lives in New York City.

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The School for Good and Evil

Best friends Sophie and Agatha find themselves on opposing sides of an epic battle when they're swept away into an enchanted school where aspiring heroes and villains are trained to protect ... Read all Best friends Sophie and Agatha find themselves on opposing sides of an epic battle when they're swept away into an enchanted school where aspiring heroes and villains are trained to protect the balance between Good and Evil. Best friends Sophie and Agatha find themselves on opposing sides of an epic battle when they're swept away into an enchanted school where aspiring heroes and villains are trained to protect the balance between Good and Evil.

• David Magee
• Soman Chainani
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• Cate Blanchett
• 368 User reviews
• 73 Critic reviews
• 30 Metascore

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Did you know

• Trivia Soman Chainani, the author of the book series on which the film is based, makes a cameo as one of the teachers from The School for Evil.
• Goofs Yuba, the school woods survival expert, warns his students about "a field of pretty pansies", which besides having dangerous teeth are clearly peonies - that react viciously when the tall gnome inadvertently repeats this insult.
• Soundtracks Prelude No. 1 in C Major, BWV 846: Well-Tempered Klavier Written by Johann Sebastian Bach , Arranged by Joseph Micallef Performed by Erica Goodman Courtesy of Digital Funding LLC

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• Oct 19, 2022
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• October 19, 2022 (United States)
• United States
• Official Netflix
• Soman Chainani's Official Site
• Mount Stewart, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK (on location)
• Feigco Entertainment
• Jane Startz Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 27 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital

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