School for Good and Evil

Fantasy · Comedy

First published: 2013
Print length: 496 pagesHarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, 2022

Description

In Gavaldon, two children disappear every four years and are carried to a hidden school that trains the heroes and villains of future fairy tales. Sophie expects beauty and ambition to earn her a place among the princesses, while her outcast friend Agatha has long been treated as a witch. When Sophie is abducted and Agatha follows to rescue her, each girl lands in the school opposite the role she expected. Sophie pursues the popular prince Tedros and tries to prove she belongs with Good, while Agatha discovers qualities associated with genuine goodness. As a magical quill writes them into a new tale, the friends face lessons and trials that challenge whether appearance, desire, or choice determines who becomes a hero or villain.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Descriptive · Direct · Witty

Pace

Brisk

Tone

Dark · Humorous · Playful · Suspenseful

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Plot · Relationships

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

AmbitionBelongingFriendshipIdentityLoveMorality

About Soman Chainani

Soman Chainani is an American children’s novelist and filmmaker whose fantasy fiction recasts fairy-tale conventions as contests over identity, loyalty, and the stories that confer power. He is best known for The School for Good and Evil series, which begins by sending Sophie and Agatha to the schools opposite the roles they expect. That reversal sets up his characteristic method: brisk, plot-led adventures built from direct, descriptive prose, witty exchanges, and friendships tested by romance, ambition, and competing ideas of goodness. As the series expands beyond its school setting, Chainani turns familiar storybook machinery toward institutions and public narratives. In Quests for Glory, separate graduation quests open into struggles over Camelot, authority, and leadership. A Crystal of Time places its characters inside a court where performed loyalty and a persuasive claim to the throne can outweigh truth. His later installments keep widening the action while returning to the question of who gets to assign heroes, villains, and rightful rulers.

Series

School for Good and Evil · Book 1

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks
Language: English
ISBN: 9780008587789

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