Presidential Rating:  

Date Read: 12 August 2016

President’s Favorite Characters: Hester, Anadil

Summary:

 After saving themselves and their fellow students from a life pitched against one another, Sophie and Agatha are back home again, living happily ever after. But life isn’t exactly a fairytale. When Agatha secretly wishes she’d chosen a different happy ending with Prince Tedros, the gates to the School for Good and Evil open once again. But Good and Evil are no longer enemies and Princes and Princesses may not be what they seem, as new bonds form and old ones shatter.

Summary from Goodreads

Verdict:

I am the kind of person who usually likes the second novel more than the first and it honestly sucks that I didn’t enjoy reading A World without Princes as much as The School for Good and Evil.

In this installment, I finally understand why Agatha has to choose Sophie and why it has been so important to leave Tedros behind as this serves as the foundation of the second book.

I still don’t believe that it is true love between Tedros and Agatha though. Probably it is just their hormones that kept them looking for each other in the first chapters of the story (teenagers!). Tedros has the maturity of an ant and I couldn’t believe that other hero students follow him, only to shove him aside in the middle of the book. Not against homosexual relationship of any sort, I am quite open to Tedros kissing ‘Philip’ in the novel but there is something about the boy, Tedros, that irritates me. Is it his innocence, the tendency of loving anybody who shows ultimate trust and sincerity to him? Or is it his stubbornness? What can I say about having too much expectation on a 15-year-old successor of King Arthur’s court?

What I don’t understand is the need for Tristan to be a girl. I’m not convinced that he has just decided to turn into the girl so he/she can return to the comforts of the Good castle. He somehow confesses his admiration for Tedros which for others may look like a love confession implying that Tristan might have been gay all along but then again it has not been established– or it may have been and I just missed it.

The reason behind Miss Sader’s blue butterflies and her distaste for men have been revealed. Still, I thought, disliking men must not be shown by looking like men, i.e. Beatrix cutting her hair short and other girls taking personal care for granted. I do understand Sophie honorable idea that embracing femininity means women must take good care of their appearance and appreciate what they have.

The saving glory of the book is the ending. A part of a trilogy, I understand that the book has to have a cliffhanger, in this case, Sophie ending with the Schoolmaster himself (sorry for the spoiler). This goes back to the characters’ consistency as I have mentioned here. I only ask myself whether it is age appropriate for a mother to ask her 15-year-old daughter to kiss her on the lips and her daughter falling for that trap. However, in a world where a kiss is the most powerful magic, it is better not to ask.

As regards my choice of characters, I’m particularly amazed by how Hester’s and Anadil’s personalities manage to be consistent- working for Good by remaining incredible selfish which is an Evil trait.