Reviews

La escuela del bien y del mal by Soman Chainani

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eliise_talts's review against another edition

2.0

So, well, age bracket for this book is definitely wrong, because I wouldn't give it to my 12 year old child. Maybe to my 16yo, when they have developed enough critical thinking mechanisms to see pasts all the casual racism and sexism in this book that just seems to exist.

I gave it two stars because I'm reading it together with a friend and after watching the recent Netflix adaptation, we had a blast making fun of the book together. That and there were some characters in the book that made it at times somewhat enjoyable.

haileypassmoree's review against another edition

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4.0

sophie and agatha <3

friends to enemies to lovers to friends to…

emma_jolee's review against another edition

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3.0

ermmm did did they get togetha or not... #confused.. bcs they were so in love... (starting a tedros hate club)

fmmiller88's review against another edition

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4.0

This is labeled a middle grade but at times reads like young adult. I felt like while reading it, it has older themes. There are a few things I did not like about it. I understand it is breaking the norms of fairy tales and is a criticism of the idea of good and evil as well as princess versus prince. I do like that it tackled that idea but there was a lot of focus on looks even towards the end where Agatha embraces her looks. It still felt like "if I look pretty, people will care what I have to say." Another issue I had is the end felt rushed where the schoolmaster lures Sophie in. It was the last 15 minutes of the book where things wrapped up too fast and it felt like "insert drama here." I felt that it was too obvious as to why Sophie was in the school for evil. I want to say it makes it seem like I didn't enjoy this story but I did. I liked that it was an origin story for fairy tales and that it flipped the idea of blanket good versus evil.

gpasse's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

This book is a little bit hard to comprehend and understand without having to reread so.e parts. Many cliff hangers throughout. Great ending.

mushysdiary's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

yani_b's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i really loved this book, i read it after being obsessed with the netflix adaptation and it definitely has much more scenes and you get more of the characters. its written for a younger audience and i really relate to agatha's character a lot. this book gave me a world of fiction, magic, and fairytale to escape in and for that i rated it a 5 star.
um idk if this is really a spoiler but im gonna touch on some of the themes in the book but not really give any major details:

so theres this thing about the school being black and white, and good being vain and selfish. i think it would've been better to touch on that topic more and truly explore it in its completeness. i think thats one of the short comings of the novel.

(btw i read this book a long time ago, but im just now writing a review)