Reviews

Fall of the School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil) by Soman Chainani

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debchan's review against another edition

3.0

diversity win! the villains in the prequel AND the sequel are gay but 1) never even get a happy never after or 2) have terrible endings in which you think um maybe these two villains are actually incapable of love. huh. somthing to think about.

as someone who's been actually reading these since they first came out like ELEVEN YEARS AGO NOW, i know for sure there were way more cool things to connect but honestly i just can't remember all that. especially with the sequels crowding my memory.

but i didn't find this as interesting just because all i really cared about was rhian and rafal - i said in the first book's review i can't handle "tragic doomed because it's a prequel and the books have already been written." having been through that, i was like but the guy who made sophie his queen is literally rafal? and then it all made sense. (but seriously, in the books, didn't mr school master admit to killing his brother "rhian")?

the whole appearance thing changing was a nice touch bc i could've sworn the school master was supposed to have blue eyes. i just wished original rafal didn't die the way he did. i'm aware chainani didn't have volumes to expand on it, but seriously after getting along for hundreds of years, would one rando student really arise so much suspicion in each other??? like not only are they siblings, they're TWINS. i know everyone's a rhian hater and honestly it totally makes sense. me though? i'm a rhian TRUTHER and i have been since book 1.
i'm only just a bit disappointed because despite everything, sophie and agatha were soulmates. they had tons of miscommunication and fought all the time but at the end of the day, good and evil could co-exist. does chainani want to tell us that no matter what, that even though rhian TRIED to be good every day of his like hundred year life, he couldn't? that he couldn't love his own brother. yet sophie defied all odds and saved agatha over and over again?

back to rhian, bro only likes boys. so what's this weird thing about him liking sophie and evelyn. like what was that about. he's so disgusted at the thought of finding a girlfriend?? he falls in love with every hot guy he meets?? but i'm not forgetting sophie describing his kissing her so passionately. idk maybe he became a bit more like rafal? (who def had a thing going with james hook anyway). or did chainani think: rhian evil = rhian likes guys. bc aric and the snake had that whole thing and they were evil too.

it's not a bad series per se. certainly very questionable and a sprinkling of what may be problematic but it's nice to read something that i started so long ago. and they were quick reads too so i got a bit closer to my year goal :)

mzlac134's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.75

noorandbooks's review against another edition

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5.0

I'm too upset to write a review rn idk I already knew what would happen in the end because I put together the pieces from The Last Ever After and the first prequel but it was so much worse than I expected and idk I think for being a fan of this series since it came out I deserve financial compensation from Soman Chainani because I'M SO UPSET RIGHT NOW

theblueskye's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.25

vernip's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

Since they left it at such a mess last book, the first 3rd of this book was...less than stellar.
Actually a slog to get through.
Could NOT be less interested in the gradually depowering, centuries-old twins that act even more bratty than their teenage students.
Could NOT be less interested in Captain Hook's vendetta against (understandably more evil) Peter Pan and the unwitting "good" kids he roped into his scheme
Could NOT be less interested in the whiny new kid they brought into their school who was supposed to be Agatha-lite but failed miserably in that execution...and the even more cringeworthy fact the "good" schoolmaster is trying to woo that boy...(sidenote, the rampant gay of the "good" schoolmaster last book was charming and even slightly showing of the character's needs of some other male bestie than his brother, but now? It's just desperate & sad...and VERY creepy!)

But it all came to a pretty good head at the start of part 2 when it was revealed that Pan wanted to become schoolmaster because can you THINK of any classic fairy tale character who embodies both good and evil more than Peter muthabuckin'-sadistic-as-all-get-out Pan?
However, it just got worse as there was a seemingly endless parade of lies, betrayals, backstabbing, switching sides, and insane plot contrivances that made it all seem rather pointless.
At the end, we're even more primed to get the series proper started, but even then, it really is just lip service as the main character himself says he has no need to take care of that until later.