Tag: romance

Last year Marshmallow reviewed Quests for Glory, the fourth book of Soman Chainani’s School for Good and Evil series, and then A Crystal of Time, the fifth book. Finally the wait is over, and today she writes about her thoughts on the sixth and final book in the series: One True King.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like fantasy, twisted fairy tales, and Soman Chainani’s books, then you will enjoy this book! If you haven’t read the first five books of the School for Good and Evil series though, then you might want to read them first.

Here is how I introduced the series in my earlier reviews:

It all began in The School for Good and Evil, Soman Chainani’s first novel. This was a school of fairy tales, where witches and princesses, warlocks and princes were trained. In the end a select few would become the heroes and the villains of future storybooks. The tales would be recorded by a magical pen, The Storian. We learn about this whole world through the eyes and experiences of Agatha and Sophie, two friends whose destiny takes them to different places and brings them back together.

The first book is followed by A World Without Princes, where witches and princesses are friends, and warlocks and princes become accomplices. The dividing line now becomes gender, instead of good versus evil.

The third book of the series, The Last Ever After, reorganizes the world of the School, and Sophie and Agatha have many new adventures.

The fourth book, Quests for Glory, started the Camelot Years, when both Agatha and Sophie have graduated and now expect that their stories are finished. We know of course that that is definitely not the case. They face many new challenges, both in Quests for Glory and in A Crystal of Time.

The book under review here is the sixth and final addition to this series.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): Tedros, the fiance of Agatha and the heir of King Arthur of Camelot, is now an outlaw. In the fourth book, we meet Rhian and Japeth, the twins with a plan: Japeth would attack and pillage kingdoms while Rhian would come and “save” them. When Tedros fails to pull the famous sword Excalibur from the stone, like his father had done once, people of Camelot begin to lose faith in Tedros. When Rhian manages to fool Excalibur and successfully pulls it out, they crown Rhian as king and declare Tedros an imposter. And Sophie becomes Rhian’s queen.

Then in the fifth book, Rhian is killed by Japeth, the Snake, who takes the place of his twin. As Tedros and his friends investigate, they learn more and more about Japeth. But all the evidence that they find eventually leads to one shocking conclusion. It seems like Japeth and Rhian were correct. There is another heir to King Arthur’s throne. 

Marshmallow’s Review: I think that One True King is a really good book, because it has a lot of surprises. The plot is very intriguing and how the story wraps up is very well written. I felt sad about some parts of Merlin’s story—though it was also hilarious that he became a baby–“Mama llama!”

Just like the fifth book, this sixth book is very long, with over six hundred pages. But it still makes you want to read it fast so you can learn what’s going to happen in the end. I read it in one sitting because I wanted to know what would happen. It was very intriguing.

One True King is probably more suitable for older kids, because it has some mature moments. It is probably best for kids of age thirteen and up. 

One True King wraps up the whole story of Sophie and Agatha, and the amazing fantasy world Soman Chainani created. I will miss this world and the characters.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Last week Marshmallow reviewed Quests for Glory, the fourth book of Soman Chainani’s School for Good and Evil series. Today she writes about her thoughts on the fifth book: A Crystal of Time.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books about fantasy, twisted fairy tales, and Soman Chainani’s books, then you will enjoy this book! If you haven’t read the first four books of the School for Good and Evil series though, then you might want to read them first.

“In the forest of primeval
A school for Good and Evil
Twin towers like two heads
One for the pure
And one for the wicked
Try to escape you’ll always fail,
The only way out is
Through a fairytale.”

It all began in The School for Good and Evil, Soman Chainani’s first novel. This was a school of fairy tales, where witches and princesses, warlocks and princes were trained. In the end a select few would become the heroes and the villains of future storybooks. The tales would be recorded by a magical pen, The Storian. We learn about this whole world through the eyes and experiences of Agatha and Sophie, two friends whose destiny takes them to different places and brings them back together.

The first book is followed by A World Without Princes, where witches and princesses are friends, and warlocks and princes become accomplices. The dividing line now becomes gender, instead of good versus evil.

The third book of the series, The Last Ever After, reorganizes the world of the School, and Sophie and Agatha have many new adventures.

The fourth book, Quests for Glory, started the Camelot Years. If you want to learn about the book, see my review from last week.

This review is about the fifth book of the hexalogy.

Marshmallow’s summary (with spoilers): When “King” Rhian puts a bounty on her head, Agatha is on the run. With her true love about to be executed, her best friend forced to be the “king’s” queen at the tip of a knife, and everyone else who could help her in prison, Agatha has nowhere to go. That is, until she meets her wild-haired canary-like Beautification teacher who takes her on stymph to the School for Good and Evil. (A stymph is a ginormous bird with no skin or flesh. It is practically a skeleton that is alive.)

The students there are all first years and have barely unlocked their finger glows. (Every student at the School for Good and Evil has a finger glow that is a unique color. For example Agatha and Tedros’ finger glows are different shades of gold, while Sophie’s is hot pink.) In other words, they are not very good at magic yet, but they are still eager to help Agatha rescue Tedros and the rest of the rebels.

Agatha and her accomplices are eventually able to save their friends, but some people are left behind, including Sophie. The rebels go back to save them and do so, but at a cost. Clarrisa Dovey, the dean of Good, who was Agatha’s godmother, dies, and is finally reunited with her true love, Lady Lesso, the deceased dean of Evil. (Lady Lasso was murdered by her blood-thirsty son, Aric, in The Last Ever After.)

But during the time Sophie was at Camelot, she discovered that Rhian and his twin Japeth are not only trying to be the king of Camelot but of the world. They plan to do this by destroying the Storian’s hundred rings that secure the very life of the Endless Woods. By the time the whole rebel team learns about this, there is only three left and time is running out. Will they be able to stop Rhian and Japeth before it is too late?

Marshmallow’s Review: The longest of the series so far (624 pages!), this was a great read! My new favorite character is Nicola, a first year, who saves the lives of Agatha and her friends many times. Agatha’s cat is pretty cool, too. He’s funny. And if you’re wondering, Sophie is not as bad in this book as she used to be, but she’s still annoying.

This book answered some open questions from previous books, and posed a lot more new ones. Can’t wait for the sixth and final book!

Marshmallow’s rating: 100%