Story summary: I lazily stole the Goodreads description for the first two books--of course I'm going to do it for the third. Here it is, slightly rearranged to avoid spoilers:
"[A]s [former best friends Sophie and Agatha] settle into their new lives, their story begs to be re-written, 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 to change their tales and turn the world of Good and Evil upside down.
[E]verything old is new again as Sophie and Agatha fight the past as well as the present to find the perfect end to their story. This extraordinary conclusion delivers more action, adventure, laughter, romance and fairy tale twists and turns than you could ever dream of!"
Sequel to The School for Good and Evil and A World Without Princes.
- Epic fairy tale battles.
- Epic friendships and romances.
- Epic secret organizations of really old retired people.
And Why You Might Not:
- Boy, the relationships in this series are really intertwined and convoluted.
- And these relationship twists pretty much take up the first half of the book. It's a thick book, and could have been cut in half and been much better.
Thoughts: Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed the second half of this book. And yes, I was surprised because the first half was pretty tough for me to slog through. Every time people made up, or fought, or made a relationship decision, something would happen to turn it around the other way. Some silly miscommunication or other that could have easily been prevented with a little humility and honesty. It was really frustrating and annoying.
However... it actually turns out there's a reason for this soap-opera-ness. A proper, according-to-world-rules reason, which I don't think I've ever seen done in quite that way before. And once the characters figured this out, their issues came from actual character flaws and not just an annoying lack of communication. Which is much more interesting. So the second half was fun and tense and a quick read, if still a little less fun than the first book.
A fun series all together, even though reading the two sequels did lessen my enjoyment of the first a little bit.
However... it actually turns out there's a reason for this soap-opera-ness. A proper, according-to-world-rules reason, which I don't think I've ever seen done in quite that way before. And once the characters figured this out, their issues came from actual character flaws and not just an annoying lack of communication. Which is much more interesting. So the second half was fun and tense and a quick read, if still a little less fun than the first book.
A fun series all together, even though reading the two sequels did lessen my enjoyment of the first a little bit.
Grade: 2 1/2 stars
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