The School for Good and Evil audiobook

4.5

”Tonight she would be taken into the woods. Tonight she would begin a new life. Tonight she would live out her fairy tale.”And what a fairy tale it would turn out to be! *lol* I wasn’t all too sure what to expect when I went into this, because all I knew was that one of my favourite bloggers loves this series to bits and pieces and has been raving about it for months. XD I dunno how you usually choose your next book, but for me this was the main reason to finally pick up “The School for Good and Evil”. If one of my fave bloggers loves it, it’s pretty likely I’ll enjoy it too. (Yes, I’m a simple soul when it comes to things like that. ;-P)Turns out my gut feeling was right! *lol* I loved and enjoyed this so freaking much! I mean this is middle grade yet it still had that typical fairy tale vibe going on. Truth be told, Sophie’s and Agatha’s story is actually pretty cruel sometimes and the punishments they get for failing are quite harsh. Just like you’d expect it from a brothers Grimm fairy tale. It will never cease to amaze me how children hear those horrible stories and take everything for granted. I mean as a kid we were all okay with the witch from Hansel and Gretel burning in the stove, right?”No matter how cruel children are to each other, nothing can prepare them for how cruel their stories can be.”Anyway, I probably could write an essay about fairy tales and their meaning for children (actually did that at school *lol*) but I think I’ll leave it at that. ;-) Suffice it to say that the typical stereotypes of fairy tales are more than just strong in here. We have plenty of princesses who act like a damsel in distress, we get to know princes who are born to rule and to save those aforementioned damsels and we have evil witches and their henchmen. So just your ordinary fairy tale, or not? Not really, Agatha and Sophie are doing quite a thorough job at turning their world upside down and I just loved them for it! XD This was such a fun ride and I enjoyed every crazy minute of it. This said, let’s get to my characters section so I can finally get all those thoughts out of my mind! ;-)The characters: As you all know by now this is my spoilery spoiler section so if you don’t want to be spoiled you better return to Gavaldon. If you’re naughty enough to actually want to be spoiled, well, welcome to the School for Evil! I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun! ;-P Sophie:”You’re lucky that someone would come see you when no one else will. You’re lucky that someone like me would be your friend. You’re lucky that someone like me is such a good person.” I think statements like the one above were the reason why Sophie ended up in Evil. I mean if she would have truly been a good soul, she wouldn’t have befriended Agatha as part of her good deeds. It doesn’t matter that they became actual friends in the end, the reason why she started to hang out with her was a selfish one and I knew exactly why Sophie would have never made it into The School for Good. Sophie might have looked as pretty as a princess but her soul? Well, let’s just say it was as dark as the night. *lol* And tell you what?! I loved it! I mean there’s this girl that wants so desperately to be good that she’s actually turning out to be more than just a little evil. All the things she did, all her seemingly good intentions were no good intentions at all. And I’ve to agree with Lady Lesso here: What we do matters! Not what we are! Still, I felt really sorry for Sophie because some of the punishments were pretty harsh and her desperation to get in the right school was so palpable. Also to watch her metamorphosis into a witch was quite something. It started out with little things, like trying to get into the School for Good, talking Tedros into a bargain and trying to seduce him, cheating with Agatha’s help, etc. Well, and then it turned into bigger things, like killing the Beast when it cut her hair in the dungeons and I suppose from that moment on her way to Evil was paved into the ground. In the end Sophie became a witch and boy, she was a sight to behold! I loved her so much!! *LOL* She’s definitely one hell of a character and I can’t wait to read more about her in the next book! =)”Sophie smoothed her hair and walked toward the light, swallowing the sickness in her throat. The good forgive, said the rules.But the rules were wrong. They had to be.Because she hadn’t forgiven.She hadn’t forgiven at all.””You see, it doesn’t matter what we are, Sophie.”Lady Lesso leaned so close she just had to whisper.“It’s what we do.””Sophie threw down the glass, threw back her head, and unleashed a horrible crackle that promised Evil, beautiful Evil too pure to fight.”Agatha:”At first Agatha found it dumb, but now it was scary. This was what Good souls craved? Boys they didn’t even know? Based on what!”Haha! I agreed so much with Agatha’s POV! She was probably the only feminist in the entire School for Good and I could relate to her thoughts so much. I wouldn’t have wanted to go into lessons like that either. Funnily enough, all the “real princesses” that ever made it into storybooks were no damsels in distress at all. I mean just look at Arielle , Belle, Cinderella, Mulan... yes they were all very coy at the beginning of their tales, but in the end they all fought for what they believed in. And they fought for their freedom! So if you think about it like that Agatha was kind of a typical princess! *lol* The real princesses don’t wait for their princes to do something, they take things in their own hands and do it themselves! XD Which Agatha did! I really liked Agatha and I think she was one hell of a friend! I mean she studied both: The Good & the Evil lessons just to help Sophie out and she would have died for Sophie and her friends. Also by the end of the book she began to love Tedros but she still did everything possible to help Sophie to win him over. She put her friend before herself and that’s so altruistic that she could only end up in Good. XD I’m really looking forward to see more of her and how things are going to turn out. Especially after THAT ending!!!”I wish I could help you,” she said. “I wish I could help us all go home.” The gargoyle lay its head in her lap. As the burning menagerie closed in, a monster and a child wept in each other’s arms.”I’d set them all free if I could, but his magic is too strong,” Agatha said, voice cracking. “I just wish my talent had a better ending.”Tedros:”Hair a halo of celestial gold, eyes blue as a cloudless sky, skin the color of hot desert sand, he glistened with a noble sheen, as if his blood ran purer than the rest.” I’ve to admit I wasn’t a huge Tedros fan at the beginning of the book. He kind of gave me “Gaston vibes” and I hated Gaston! *lol* But the more I read about him, the more I could understand why he was that way. Tedros’s character is really complex and there is more to him than meets the eye. It was good to get an occasional glimpse at his thoughts and they were completely different to what he showed on the outside. Well, most of the time. When it came to Agatha and Sophie he disliked them both; at least at the beginning of the book. XD And yes I even felt sorry for him because to be between Agatha and Sophie couldn’t have been easy. Poor guy got really confused by them. >_< I’m sure we’ll get to see more of him in the other books and I’m pretty sure sooner or later he’ll show us his true self instead of what everyone expects him to be. =)”The best villains make you doubt.” ”That’s what makes us Good, Hester. We trust. We protect. We love. What do you have?” Hort:”So I definitely can’t love,” Hort said.“Colder than you thought possible... Then say these words...”“But if I could love, I’d love you.”Okay, Hort might be at the School for Evil, but that boy is so damn precious!! *lol* I mean he’s a side-character but he’s still sweet and amazing! He helped Sophie even though she was really mean to him and his black pajamas with green frogs?! Cute as hell! Haha! Also I think there’s way more to him as well. He’s obviously a very sad soul and I think he deserves someone super nice! He seems to love Sophie but I’m afraid she’ll only use him and won’t reciprocate so I’m kind of worried about him. #PreciousHortDeservesLove !!!

4.5 starsNow before you do anything, I want you to take a good long look at the blurb.Sounds cute, right? A re-imagining of fairytales. A Hogwarts-like school where princesses/princes and villains are trained. Two very different girls that hint at an unlikely friendship.Okay, now throw those thoughts in the lake. Go on.This book will not be anything like you imagine. Many times have I found myself questioning whether or not it should even be classified as middle-grade. The pretty cover clothes a disturbingly dark story, but one of humor, friendship, and dare I say it, true love.Sophie and Agatha are two very different girls. Sophie is gorgeous, stuck-up and only dreams of being a princess and marrying a prince. Agatha, on the other hand, is hideous and after getting kidnapped to the school, she only wants to go home with her best friend, Sophie. Who, as you can guess, is so not interested.I did not like Sophie at first. The girl is supremely shallow and bitchy. She only does good deeds so she can get into the school of Good and her friendship with Agatha in the beginning is nothing more than a charity project. She sort of reminds me of Sansa from A Game of Thrones before all that shit went down and she gained some brain cells. But her character development was brilliant and totally realistic. She relapses to her old selfish ways multiple times in the narrative (usually over a prince and screwing Agatha over in the process), but towards the end, I was rooting for so hard even though (view spoiler)[she had turned evil. (hide spoiler)] She's an incredibly sympathetic and complex character. Agatha, I loved from the start. Her devotion to Sophie and disdain of beauty-obsessed princesses and macho princes completely won me over. Though I must confess I liked her less towards the end when (view spoiler)[she went all moony-eyed over Tedros. It happened too quick and it seems to follow the fairytale trope of The One without concrete reasoning. (hide spoiler)]Their opposites-attract friendship actually reminds me of Elphaba and Glinda from Wicked.They hate each other at first, but then, they begin to rely on each other. They struggle through tests (So. Many. Tests) and their friendship gets stronger every time. Sophie needs Agatha as much as Agatha needs her. They are the core of the story and I loved it.And the romance? I can't talk too much about it without giving away the ending, but I will say this:(view spoiler)[I really, really need to applaud Chainani for creating a LGBT relationship in a children's book. And although I like Tedros, I will bitch-slap him if he messes with them. (hide spoiler)]The School for Good and Evil will make you laugh, make you cry and generally, leave your feels in a mess.And I cannot recommend it highly enough.My review of A World Without PrincesMy review of The Last Ever After["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>

** spoiler alert ** REVIEW TO COME TOMORROWSecond Read Review : THE REVIEW IS POSTED "For he looked into your hearts and saw something very rare. Pure Good and Pure Evil." this book was recommended to me by my big sister, she said that this book was good and she thought I would like it and I should tried reading it but that time I hated reading novels for no apparent reason. I just hated so I just ignored her recommendation until February 2015. I don't remember the exact date but I do remember that on February 2015, I went into a bookstore just because I wanted to buy comics not a novel but I couldn't find any comics that I wanted to buy and then I saw this book and I remembered how my sister recommended it to me and she even said I would like it and I should tried reading it, So I decided to buy a copy and I didn't even think I would become a book lover, I just wanted to try it and if it's boring then I would stop reading it. but my life has never been the same after I read this book. I have changed. from being a person that hated novels to a person that can't live without novels because they help me to become a better person and they make me stronger to get through hard times. I just can't live without books anymore. so I wanted to say thank you very much to Mr. Chainani for writing this book because without this book, I wouldn't become this person and I wouldn't have all these amazing adventures that I got from novels. this book changed my whole life and I never want to be the person I was before I became a book lovernow, lets talk about the book!I decided to reread this book because I used to love it and I gave it 5 stars so I wanted to know whether I still loved it or not and at first I didn't really enjoy it like it bored me but I kept reading it and the story got interesting and this book also made me laugh so much and I also found myself muttering like " JUST KISS! " way too many times and maybe that's because I mostly always read YA books and the pacing in this book was okay. it wasn't too fast or too slow. it was fine and when I reread it, I felt as if I was reading it for the first time because I didn't remember anything except the opening and the ending of this book but when I almost reached the ending, I somehow didn't feel as excited as I used to feel when I reached half of the book. I don't know why, though. *shrugs*and this book has romance and in my opinion, the romance wasn't really good. it was kind of boring. I think I would enjoy it much more if it didn't have romance. I honestly don't know why Agatha still wanted to be friends or best friend with Sophie, this girl hurt her! Agatha was so nice because if I were Agatha, I wouldn't want to be Sophie's friend anymore not after THIS! "Poor?" Agatha coughed. "You pushed me through a win- dow!" WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!? seriously, If I were Agatha I wouldn't care about Sophie anymore. Agatha's heart was so good, no wonder she got into School for Good. I tried the quiz and I was an Ever but still, if I were Agatha, maybe I would forgive Sophie but become her friend/best friend?? NO WAY. Sophie was crazy bitch. I mean didn't she think twice before she pushed Agatha? I know she was angry at Agatha but Agatha helped her several times! I could see how much Agatha love her and didn't she think about how much Agatha have helped her?! this girl is really an ungrateful bitch. and few days ago while reading this book, I thought I would order the second and the third book but then after I finished reading it, I changed my mind. I won't order the sequels because I just don't really care about the ending or what will happen in the sequels and actually, this book was 3 stars for me but I gave one extra star because this book got me into reading and it also made me laugh and I don't laugh easily while reading. thank you guys for reading and liking my review! hope you all have a nice day! -------------------------------------------First Read : 5 Stars ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~GUYS! I tried the quiz and the result was I'm an Ever, I got accepted to the The School for Good ( with a soul score of 70% Good and 30% Evil ) But before taking the quiz, I thought I was a Never and I would get accepted to The School for Evil ... what about you guys? Have you tried the quiz? If you have, which school you got accepted? What are you? A Never or an Ever? and what about your soul score? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I AM REREADING IT! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THIS BOOK WAS THE BOOK THAT MADE ME LOVE READING BOOKS. I used to hate books without apparent reason and I'm STILL so grateful I tried reading this book because if I hadn't read this book, then I wouldn't have been here and I wouldn't have had all these awesome adventures with books.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This might even be a 4.5/5 stars. I really really enjoyed this a lot - the anti fairy tale thing is so well done and just SO GOOOOOD. Love the characters love everything LOVE.

So, again, I had a feeling about this book. Before even starting it I knew I'd like it, probably even love it. And it proved me right. "Agatha, you dressed as a bride for Halloween.""Weddings are scary." It's impossible for me to dislike a character after such a statement. From the very first page I was sucked into the magical realm of the School for Good and Evil and it didn't let me go until the very last word. Sophie is a princess at heart. She loves pink, is beautiful, cares for her looks and Good Deeds and wants nothing more but to be kidnapped and brought to the School. Agatha is the proclaimed witch. The villagers avoid her, she lives on a graveyard with her mother and her black cat Reaper, avoids mirrors, wears black and is all grumpy and dark. But when both girls are kidnapped, everything turns out entirely different since Sophie is dropped into the School for Evil and Agatha into the one for Good. A terrible mistake. But soon the question arises whether it is really a mistake or maybe they are exactly where they belong? Sophie acts the way I always imagined a true princess act- spoiled and self-absorbed. She cares for nothing but her looks, her reputation and herself. Whenever she tries to be good it turns out twisted and wrong, whenever she fights, she does for the wrong reasons. Under all the pink layers hides something unexpected and dangerous. Of course she has quite a rough background, but it doesn't redeem her. I cannot say I hated or even disliked Sophie, because I didn't. At first I thought everyone in this book would be just a simple, sweet fairy-tale character, but the book soon proved me wrong. The struggles, doubts, fears and conflicts went much deeper then in a childish, simple fairy-tale. In a way, many dark parts of the book addressed the real-world and showed that the same darkness is as present in our life as in a fairy-tale. Agatha on the other hand, with all her cynical attitude and dark clothes and, well, 'ugliness' is anything but evil. She is good, but not the fairy-tale, glittery kind of good. She is real . She makes mistakes, misunderstands, tries to help her friend, knows compassion as well as antipathy and has lots and lots of fears and doubts. Not only was she a conflicted and confused character at first, oh no, she was the embodiment of so many young people of the nowadays world. Although she, just like Sophie, messed up, I found myself grinning instead of complaining. Maybe because I knew I'd have made the same mistakes, who knows. I loved Dot and Hester just as much as I loved Agatha and Sophie. I liked Tedros, the prince, who was also far less fairy-talish (is it even a word? I guess it isn't.) than I expected him to be and even the School Master. Their actions made sense and what was even more important, they made them come alive. And the ending. Oh my, the ending was brilliant! This book generally was unpredictable , but the ending itself was like being hit with a book in the face. I loved the plot progression, the character development, simply everything! It wasn't perfect, but it was real, beautiful, enchanting . The questions that were asked in this book addressed our world as much as the magical one and the given answers were just as important. Many of the contemporary books that mean to be realistic and address real-life problems and conflicts aren't as true-to-life as this fantasy, fairy-tale book. They often feel plain and boring repeating words that have been said already and describing what has been discussed long ago and providing ideas and answers and solutions through saying instead of showing. This book showed solutions and ideas. Not only was it beautiful and full of light and hope, but it provided so many useful arguments and showed many of the now existing problems. It was impossible for me to not-love this book and I highly recommend it not only to those who love fairy-tales, but to everyone in need of reading something beautiful and hopeful!

WOW. That turned into a real roller coaster ride at the end. I'm flabbergasted. Need to start the second book ASAP!

Kindle deal for a limited time 02May18 $1.99 on AmazonOnce upon a time a girl dreamt of being kidnapped….Wait..What? Every four years two children from the village are taken away, whisked off to a school where they learn how to be in a fairy tale. One of the children could end up a hero while the other is destined to be the villain. Sophie is sure that once she is taken she will get to find her prince and her happily ever after. She has even found the girl from the village who she is sure will be her counterpart and befriended her…that’s how good she is. Agatha is sure that Sophie is crazy and there is no such place, let alone why does she have to be the villain.On the outside it makes perfect sense. Sophie is beautiful, blonde, wears pink dresses and can sing while Agatha has straggly black hair, carries dead things in her pockets and lives in a graveyard. “Say I sink to your intelligence level and pretend to believe all this. Why am I going to villain school? Why has everyone elected me the mistress of evil?”“No one says you’re evil Agatha,” Sophie sighed. “You’re just different.”Agatha narrowed her eyes, “Different how?.....” “….For the Create a Tale competition your story ended with Snow White eaten by vultures and Cinderella drowning in a tub.”“I thought it was a better ending.”“You gave me a dead frog for my birthday.”“To remind you we all die and end up rotting underground eaten by maggots, so we should enjoy our birthdays while we have them. I found it thoughtful.”Agatha has never had a friend before Sophie so when a shadow comes to steal her in the middle of the night Agatha tries desperately to save her friend. They are both taken but everything seems to go wrong when Sophie is dropped into the grounds of the School for Evil and Agatha is sent to the school for good. It must be a mistake Sophie is sure she is good, she must meet her Prince, fall in love and get her Happily Ever After. Agatha doesn’t want to be at the school, the only thing she cares about is saving Sophie and getting home. It is all harder than it seems and to survive each must do well in the school they’ve been assigned to or suffer a fate worse than death.In the School for good, Agatha can’t help but notice that the Good might all be beautiful and princesses and sure they are supposed to be courageous and kind but mostly they seem vapid and selfish. All the princesses want is a prince to love. Their biggest goal is to get a prince to ask them to the ball or suffer a fate worse than death. As far as Agatha is concerned “love is something storybooks invented to keep girls busy” In the School for Evil, Sophie is at a loss for why she would have ever been placed there. She is a princess, just look at her. There has been a terrible mistake but she is convinced if she can just get a prince to kiss her everything will be fine.I had such a fun time reading this. It makes fun of itself. Agatha was incredibly likeable from the beginning and Sophie grows on you but it takes a lot of time. Sophie is harder to love because she is probably 75% evil and 25% good. Sometimes she goes a little overboard. I loved the friendship between the two girls and how much Agatha really cared for Sophie and just wanted to go back to the village so they could still be friends.The side characters of the evil school were also a lot of fun, as evil characters are. They are just misunderstood by the other side. They are the children of famous fairy tale villains and sure they’ve had stirring of love before but luckily they’ve been stamped out by their families early. “First time I told my dad I liked a girl, he slathered me in honey and sealed me in a bear den for a night. Haven’t liked one since.” “First time I told my mother I fancied someone, she baked me in an oven for an hour,” Mona agreed, green skin paling. “I never think about boys now.” “First time I liked a boy, my dad killed him.” And of course there is a Prince. Tedros is everything Sophie is sure she wants and deserves. Son to King Arthur he is the most desirable of all the princes. He glistened with a noble sheen as if his blood ran purer than the rest. The stranger took one look at the frowning sword armed boys pulled his own sword and grinned.Forty boys came at him at once but he disarmed each with lightning speed the swords of his classmates piled up beneath his feet as he flicked them away without inflicting a scratch.Sophie gaped bewitchedAgatha hoped he’d impale himself. But no such luck.There were some great classes and challenges that were a good time to read through and I loved the push pull of the friendship between Sophie and Agatha. The ending was a little different than I expected but I really enjoyed the twist at the end. I liked so many of the ideas behind this story and it will be interesting to see where the author took it in the next book which I will of course be reading soon.Recommended for when you want something fun that is more about friendships than romances. Great MG reading.

Adorable and adventurous, The School for Good and Evil is a fun escape from reality. When beautiful Sophie and weird Agatha end up in the wrong school - perfect Sophie can't be evil now, can she? - they're determined to fix this unforgiving mistake. This is a magical adventure through and through; the book is set at this School of Good and Evil, a wonderfully imaginative school that trains future fairy tale characters. Meaning when you graduate, you'll be in a fairy tale book; whether a princess, a villain, a gremlin, or even a tree, your faith will be determined by how well you do at this school. This idea kind of blew my mind a little; I found it so unique and incredibly fun. The girls, each clearly thinking they're in the wrong school, are determined to trade places, but this proves to be quite the challenge. Told in a dual POV, we have Sophie who's the picture perfect of a true princess fighting against face warts and drab clothes; while her strange, ugly friend (her words!) is stuck being taught how to be a perfect princess in a perfect pink dress that was clearly meant for Sophie. This role reversal is both amusing and kind of refreshing. It shows that what's on the outside doesn't always reflect the person's true self, sending an important message to young'uns. Sophie is an obvious brat who thinks a good deed involves teaching others how not to be ugly anymore. It makes you happy that she's finally learning a lesson on what being good really means. These two protagonists are polar opposites, both offering the book their own dash of charm and warmth. The great characterization doesn't stop at these two, we have a vast number of characters by their side who fill up the book with humor, mischief, magic, and lively personalities. These include teachers and students, as well as various magical beings ranging from gargoyles to wish fish. If this isn't enough to charm you (be difficult, why don't you) check out the delightful illustrations we're treated to at every chapter beginning: Furthermore, the plot has an intriguing mystery element involving the school master and its history which had me entranced. I loved the idea of the battle that turned the master into a mystery himself, leaving me dying to know more. Moreover, everything surrounding this whole story is mysteriously compelling. It's also highly creative with magical touches at every corner - an MG novel perfect for fans of Harry Potter and the likes. As the plot can become a bit dark, even sinister at times, I would hesitate to recommend it to the younger end of MG readers, but I recommend it to everyone else - young and old. You'll never find yourself bored, and you're bound to feel the book's enchanting atmosphere the minute you open its cover, just look at it:--A copy was provided by the publisher for review.For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

I was searching for a middle grade book with complicated characters and interesting themes; that is exactly what I found in The School for Good and Evil. Friendship is one of the things this book focusses on most. Agatha and Sophie look like a pair that no one would expect, but their bond continually survives all the obstacles thrown at them. Ultimately it is what's most important in their lives.My favorite part of this book was the question posed again and again. What is it to be good? Is it about looking good, looking like you are loving? Or is it about being selfless and viewing the world as what is true instead of the exterior? Agatha was my favorite character because she viewed the world in the latter way. She forgave Sophie again and again, holding out hope that she would change. Agatha also understood (or came to understand) that the world is not black and white, good and evil. It is full of humans who are both together. I also enjoyed the atmospheric writing style. At times, it was difficult to understand because I was trying to grasp every single detail. That's not how this book is meant to be read. It's written not to give you a play by play, especially in the action scenes, but to convey magic and a picture. It's very whimsical. The author captured the feeling of the original Grimm Fairytales in this book. Overall I enjoyed it a lot. I didn't give it five stars because the first half of the book was a bit slow for me, but halfway through it picked up, and I said outloud, "this is great." I can't wait to continue the trilogy and see where these characters go.