“In the forest primeval, a school for good and evil, two towers like twin heads, one for the pure and one for the wicked, try to escape, you’ll always fail, the only way out is through a fairytale”-The School for Good and Evil 

The School for Good and Evil is a fantasy book series created by Soman Chainani. I loved this book because it mixes fairy tales with reality. 

What It’s About

Living in an incredibly ordinary village called Gavaldon, a beautiful girl named Sophie dreams of attending the school for “good,” while her grumpy best friend, who everyone thinks will go to the school for “evil” named Agatha, is content to stay in the village with her. But when the girls are taken to the School for Good and Evil, it’s Agatha who gets placed in Good and Sophie in Evil. Desperate to leave, they ask the School Master, who gives them a riddle they must solve to return home. But finding the answer to the riddle isn’t as simple as they expected, and maybe the girls weren’t placed in the wrong schools after all. 

The characters in this book are often not what you see in any other fairy tale. Sophie, who looks like a princess, is vain and only cares about herself during most of the book. Agatha, on the other hand, may not look like a traditional princess, but she cares deeply for her friends like Sophie. The use of magic by glowing fingers that react to strong emotions is a unique concept that differs from the common way most fairy tales describe magic, which uses wands. The world of the School of Good and Evil is very descriptive, as Chainani paints the differences between the two schools. The book’s plot is paced evenly, as if we are walking alongside the characters at school rather than just reading about what happens to them. The writing both flows nicely and is humorous at times. 

Why You Should Read It

Reading this book, I couldn’t stop smiling. There were also moments of fear, sadness, and anger for me, but that’s what makes it such a good book: the emotional connection that is created with every page turned.

I recommend this book to anyone, from middle school students to adults. If you enjoy retellings of classic fairy tales with humor and a bit of horror, The School for Good and Evil is the perfect choice.  It is the first book in a series of nine books that tell the story.

A film version of the first book was released by Netflix in 2022, starring Sophia Anne Caruso as Sophie and Sophia Wylie as Agatha.  While it was a good movie adaptation, it doesn’t fully capture the magic of the book.

My final rating for the book is 5 stars as it’s a very fun read that I couldn’t put down from start to finish.