Series: The School for Good and Evil, Book 1
The cover art for this book is stunning, I was immediately drawn to the book and wanted to know more. Next up, the opening line:
Sophie had waited all her life to be kidnapped.
What, who waits all their life to be kidnapped? Sophie lives in Gavaldon, a town that is plagued with two children being abducted every four years by the School Master. Sophie does not see these recurring abductions as a bad thing, she is dreaming that this year will be her time, she falls in the right age group, over twelve. Those abducted are always opposites, one good and one bad child for each side of the school, only problem, they never return.
Sophie is determined to the be the good child, the pink loving princess type has even gone so far as to befriend Agatha, the girl everyone views as being a witch. Agatha lives next to the graveyard and despises all the primping and pinkness that is Sophie's very essence. Neither girl really wants to admit that they need each others friendship.
The fateful night arrives, when all the adults in the town are locking their children in and trying valiantly to protect their children. Sophie on the other hand is happy to undo the locks that her father has set and hopes she will be whisked away to her fairy tale land to find her prince charming at the School for Good. In the dark shadows of the night the School Master slithers into town, in the chaos of the night, Agatha and Sophie are stolen and carried away. Naturally, Sophie knows she will be plopped in the beautiful good castle while Agatha, who is busy telling the School Master there has been a mistake she is not bad and should not have been taken, will certainly end up on the dreary, evil side of the moat for villain training. Or will they?
Has the School Master made a mistake as Agatha is dropped into princess fairy land and Sophie is plunged into villain school? Follow the girls along as they discover things about themselves and each other as they work to fix this dreaded mistake, Agatha just wants to go back to Gavaldon and Sophie to live happily ever after with Prince Charming.
I enjoyed this first year at The School for Good and Evil for Agatha and Sophie. The cast of supporting characters adds an interesting twist. The story wraps-up the first year nicely, but also leaves you with enough of a cliffhanger to ponder what comes next. This vivid, descriptive story has some intensity to it and will surely be a joy to read for the target market of middle-school aged kids (and those of us that still are kids at heart). While the two main characters are girls, there are still plenty of characters for boys to relate with as well, knights in shining armor or a henchman perhaps. This is a lengthy book at almost 500 pages, so by no means should one look the other way thinking it is a short kid's book. Oh, and I just was over on the School for Good and Evil website, and the rights to make this a movie have already been snapped up by Universal Studios. Which surely will send kids into delight as they await announcement on which of their favorite actors will be cast.
Previous Post: Opening Line
Title: The School for Good and Evil
Series: The School for Good and Evil (Book 1)
Author: Soman Chainani
Publisher: HarperCollins; (2013)
Source: Personal Library
Format Read: Kindle: ASIN B009NF6FYI
Genres/Subjects: Fiction, Juvenile, Fantasy, Fairy Tale
[Notice: Original posting 2014-04-04 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]
Tags: 2014, Fantasy, Juvenile