My rating: 3.5 of 5 starsA copy of The School for Good and Evil was provided to me by HarperCollins/Edelweiss for review purposes.'[...]whether you are Good or Evil, an Ever or a Never, you must learn to respect one another, for no matter how different you may seem, you cannot exist without the other. The line between princess and witch is a thin one indeed...'The residents of the small town of Gavaldon are all raised on fairy tales, and they all believe them to be real. Every four years, The School Master takes two children over the age of 12 and one child is placed in The School of Good and the other Evil. It's been four years. Sophie, lover of pink and a self-proclaimed princess, dreams of going to The School of Good and meeting her Prince and living happily ever after. Agatha, lover of black and silence and solitude with her cat, isn't quite sure if she believes in the schools but she knows if she was destined to go there would be no better place for her than The School of Evil. Sophie and Agatha are best friends and when both are chosen for The School's, it comes as quite a shock when their placements are switched. Agatha is definitely not Good and Sophie can't possibly be Evil...What worked for me: The writing is vibrant and extremely visual with alternating POV's between Sophie and Agatha which provided the reader with a glimpse of both schools through their eyes. Sophie was quite an unbearable character but I do believe that was the purpose (and only solidified her position with The School of Evil). Agatha managed to become the real heart of the story and a truly good person. Both girls struggle throughout the story to retain their friendship due to the constant stereotype that Good can't possibly be friends with Evil.What didn't work for me: The story was excessively long and would have benefited from some additional editing. Also, once I got the gist of the backwards type fairy tale going on it did become a tad predictable. I understand that it was a Grimm-type fairy tale and was dark and malevolent, but I really hated the way Sophie treated Agatha considering they were supposed to be best friends and considering Sophie was Agatha's only friend. The biggest flaw in my opinion was the ending though. It was so strange and seemed a bit out of left field. There's 'didn't see that coming! wow what a shocker!' and 'didn't see that coming because that doesn't even make any sense.' I requested this book solely because of that fabulous book trailer so my expectations were high from the start. This wasn't a disappointment but it didn't live up to my high expectations.Truer to a Grimm Fairy Tale rather than Disney, The School for Good and Evil was intense and distressingly amoral yet still contained what all fairy tales possess: a valuable lesson. One surety about this book, there is truly nothing like it. The School for Good and Evil is a fairy tale that's been shaken up; it's all backwards and mismatched but still manages to retain at least the structure of the classic fairy tale that we all know and love. If you're a fan of fairy tales (especially of the Grimm nature) then this is a story for you.
