The School for Good and Evil

The School for Good and Evil is a New York Times Bestselling children's fantasy book trilogy by Soman Chainani.^[1] The first book, The School for Good and Evil, was published on May 14, 2013 through HarperCollins. The second volume, A World Without Princes, was published in 2014, and the third, The Last Ever After, appeared in 2015. The series is set in a world where every four years two children are chosen to attend a prestigious school where fairy tale heroes and villains are made.^[2]

Film rights to The School for Good and Evil have been purchased by Universal Pictures with the intention to turn the series into a film trilogy.^[3]

A fourth book in the series is coming out in summer 2017.

Synopsis

The School for Good and Evil

In the village of Gavaldon, every four years, two children of either gender and beyond age twelve are kidnapped by an unknown force, and are never found. However, sets of mysterious books appear at a local bookstore, and other children not kidnapped begin to realize the kidnapped children are in these stories. Their theories are not believed.

Soon, best friends Sophie and Agatha find themselves in a potential predicament: Sophie wishes to be kidnapped and become a princess in the fated School for Good, while Agatha is deemed a "perfect fit" for the School for Evil. However, once they are taken from Gavaldon, they are each sent to the opposite schools. Sophie becomes a "Never" and Agatha becomes an "Ever". They each try to switch schools and potentially escape, but fail every time. However, Sophie has become smitten by an Ever Boy named Tedros, who is revealed to be the son of the legendary King Arthur of Camelot.

During one of their escape attempts, Agatha and Sophie find the tower of the School Master, who gives them a riddle they must solve in order to go home: "What can Evil never have that Good can never live without?" Agatha soon realizes that the answer is "Love", and that Sohpie must kiss Tedros in order to get them both back home.

Agatha helps Sophie try to woo Tedros using her abilities to mogrify into other animals and cast spells, but Sophie would rather stay in the Schools and be with Tedros forever than leave him forever, much to Agatha's dismay. Tedros and Sophie's relationship ultimately ends during the Trial by Tale event when he discovers that Agatha was helping Sophie not only to succeed in wooing him, but also to pass her classes as "#1 Villain." Sophie undergoes changes after the incident and begins having Nemesis Dreams, which are dreams that reveal a person's nemesis that they must kill in order to survive their fairytale; the downside is that the nemesis will grow stronger as the person grows weaker. Tedros soon realizes he loves Agatha, causing Sophie to further fall into her rage and slowly turn into a bald, shriveled witch. It is also revealed that Agatha is Sophie's nemesis.

Determined to rewrite her story, Sophie breaks into the School Master's tower, only to find he is a young man who only wants her love. Once she provides a kiss, however, he begins to rot and she heartbreakingly remembers that Villains are incapable of love. After falling into a moat full of sludge in front of the Schools, the School Master prepares to throw the Storian into Agatha to kill her and take Sophie for himself. Sophie ultimately saves Agatha from the pen, but gets speared in the heart as a result. The School Master's brother soon appears and kills him, but it is too late for Sophie to be saved, and she dies in Agatha's arms. Agatha kisses her, and brings Sophie back to life due to her wishing ability. They realize they can be friends and not enemies.

A World Without Princes

Agatha and Sophie have returned home and they are accepted as heroes who have returned home. Unfortunately for Agatha, Sophie is taking advantage of this opening. Whereas Agatha wants nothing to do with fame, Sophie puts on many shows. At Sophie's father's wedding, Agatha suddenly wishes for another ending to her story, an ending with Tedros. This wish causes magical arrows to come and messages saying to give Sophie to them. Angry, the town turns into a mob demanding Sophie be given to whoever wants her. The Elders says that they are protecting Sophie, but in reality they are planning to give in to the mob. They tell Sophie to stay in the church alone; and Agatha, thinking that Sophie would be safe, leaves. Sophie is taken into the forest with a message on her chest made from her own blood. She is hung on a tree with the message Take Me and left to die. Agatha finds Sophie and runs away with her trying not to be attacked by the mob. They soon arrive in a fairground and they notice butterflies trying to help them. They get on a train unknowingly bound for the School of Good and Evil.

Arriving at the doors of the School for Good, they are swamped by a herd of girls from both schools robed in blue. As the girls are introduced to their classmates (including a silent girl named Yara) and taken around by the new Dean, Evelyn Sader, they notice that the school has been changed and the fairy tales on the walls have changed as a result, with the damsels in distress now becoming warrior women. Agatha mentions the absence of boys, and it is discovered that after they left, all the girls from the School for Evil were repelled and had to come to the School for Good seeking refuge. The boys from the School for Good were then expelled by an unseen force and had to go to the School for Evil.

As the truth and impact of what they have done settles on the girls, Sophie is horrified to discover that they are back due to Agatha's wish for a different ending to their tale, mainly that she ends up with Tedros. Agatha denies this and insists that all she wants to do is return home. Agatha sneaks into the School for Boys with Sophie following her under an invisible cape to stop her from kissing Tedros. Agatha attempts to speak with Tedros, does, and almost kisses him but in the moment before they do, Tedros becomes paranoid about Sophie still being alive and able to seek revenge and starts raving. As they argue, Sophie hidden underneath a table in the room seizes the opportunity and shoots a spell between them. Agatha thinks Tedros attacked her and Tedros thinks Agatha attacked him and they both start fighting. Agatha then flees convinced Tedros is evil. She goes back to the school for good where Sophie is waiting for her, pretending not to have known a thing. Eventually, it is decided that one of the girls must become a boy to integrate into the School for Boys to steal the Storian. Sophie is chosen and integrates into the boys' school. Soon Sophie's name as a boy is Fillip. Fillip and Tedros have problems at first, but soon, Fillip is protecting Tedros. Then they become the best of friends. Filip confesses to Tedros that he (Sophie) would do anything to see his (her) mother again. Tedros says he wouldn't want to see his, because his dad (King Arthur) sent out a warrant for her head (she had cheated on King Arthur with Sir Lancelot), and when he turns 16, he'd have to honor that warrant.

Then later in the forest at the Trial by Tale Agatha is hiding when Fillip comes with Tedros. Soon, Agatha sees that Tedros leans in to kiss Filip, but Agatha only sees their lips almost touch. She blames "Filip." As the three argue, suddenly, the spell wears off and Filip turns back into Sophie. Tedros is confused and angry, but then, the new "School for Girl" teacher Evelyn Sader, sister of August Sader, has her butterflies fly off trees as they carry the Storian and Evelyn to the trio. As she tricks Agatha by giving Sophie symptoms, Tedros and Agatha kiss for Ever After, but instead, Evelyn pricks her finger on the Storian and it very clearly only says "The En-". Sophie says she'd do anything for her mother. Evelyn conjures the ghost and her butterflies turn red. Sophie kisses the ghost and as it becomes the School Master, the School Master kills Evelyn and sends Agatha home. The School Master tries to kill Tedros, but just before that happens, Agatha grabs Tedros and takes him with her, and the two schools become a malevolent School for Evil together. For now, as it says, their wishes were granted.

The Last Ever After

This is the third and final installment of the School for Good and Evil trilogy, the Last Ever After, released on July 21st 2015. Villains of the past have come back to attempt to change their fairy tales, and this turns into a showdown between the Old and the New.

Everything old is new again as Sophie and Agatha fight the past as well as the present to find the perfect end to their twisted fairy tale.

Once best friends, now enemies, Sophie and Agatha thought their ending was sealed when they went their separate ways. Agatha was whisked back to Gavaldon with Tedros, and Sophie stayed behind with the beautiful young School Master.

But as they settle into their new lives, their story begs to be rewritten, and this time, theirs isn't the only one. With the girls apart, Evil has taken over and the villains of the past have come back with a vengeance. Not only do they want a second chance at their fairy tales, but they mean to transform the old world of Good and Evil into a new dark realm with Sophie as its new Queen. Only Agatha and Tedros stand in the way of Evil's deadly reign—and the Last Ever After of all.

Short summary: Agatha thinks her life is incomplete without her friend. They come to save her but they don't know that Sophie is in love with the school master . They soon discover the league, a group of former heroes who want to protect her. Agatha and Tedros disguise themselves as students and take Sophie. Sophie believes that her one true love is Tedros. Meanwhile, Agatha is trying to get Excalibur, the only thing that can kill the School Master.

Books

• The School for Good and Evil (2013)
• A World Without Princes (2014)
• The Last Ever After (2015)
• The Ever Never Handbook (2016)
• Quests for Glory (2017)

Reception

Critical reception for the first book in the series has been positive,^[4][5][6] and the book has received praise from The Guardian and the Miami Herald.^[7][8]

Awards

• Waterstone's Children's Book Prize for Best Fiction for 5-12 (2014, nominee for The School for Good and Evil)^[9]

References

External links

• Official website
• Princess Not-So-Charming at Harvard Magazine