May 2026 Book Recommendation: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Intro

When I was looking through the reading recommendations that I’ve done, I was surprised to realize that I haven’t done this one yet. The School for Good and Evil is one of the first series that I remember super falling in love with—and I still love it to this day.

This is a great read for fans of Harry Potter and fairytales, because it perfectly combines the two. (The school is essentially fairytale Hogwarts.) It follows two normal village girls who are swept away into the realm where fairytales are made—where those fairytales are very, very real. It’s loaded with action, humor, romance, and tons of fairytale-style hijinks.

So, let’s get into the details.

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani Overview

Genre(s): Middle-grade, fantasy

Series: Book 1 of 6 of The School for Good and Evil (Complete series)

POV/Tense: Third-person past

Length: 544 pages

Every four years, two children are taken from the gloomy village of Gavaldon to become students in the School for Good and Evil, a magical academy that teaches its students how to be characters in their very own fairytales. One child is destined for the school for Good, and one is destined for the school for Evil, upholding the balance between the two.

Most children dread being kidnapped in such a manner—but not Sophie. She longs to leave her dull life behind and be taken to the school for Good, to become a princess like the ones in the storybooks. With her beauty and vast collection of good deeds, she’s certain that she’ll be chosen.

Agatha, Sophie’s best friend, cares little for such things. All she’s ever wanted is to be left alone. But, living in a graveyard with a mother who’s constantly being accused of witchcraft, she certainly seems to Sophie—and all the rest of the village, for that matter—like the ideal candidate for the school for Evil.

As Sophie expects, they’re both taken. But they aren’t placed in the schools she thought they’d be. Agatha, with her blunt, sulky attitude, finds herself in the school for Good, destined to be a princess and marry a handsome prince. And flowery, chipper Sophie finds herself in the school for Evil, destined to be a cruel and hideous villain.

Was their placement a mistake? Or are they both being shown the truth of their souls, beneath the surface?

Personal Thoughts

There are several things that I really appreciate about this book—and this series as a whole—but my favorite thing is probably the plot twists. As a writer myself, I can’t help but marvel at Chainani’s ability to execute twists and turns that manage to be surprising, without coming totally out of the blue. Like, when you first read the twist, it’s shocking, but then, when you think back, you realize that he did foreshadow it—he just did it in such a fashion that the information didn’t seem important at the time. In my opinion, those are the best kinds of twists. And there are very few writers I’ve seen pull them off as well as Chainani did in this series.

Another thing that I like about this book is the focus on Sophie and Agatha’s relationship. While there is a romance—even a sort of love triangle, for a little while—it never takes precedence over Sophie and Agatha’s friendship. Stories where the main relationship isn’t a romance are already rare, and ones where the main relationship is a female friendship seem especially so, which is one of the reasons why this series really stands out to me. And their friendship is probably one of the best ones I’ve ever read; they have their highs and lows, they argue (sometimes viciously) but, at the end of the day, they both know they have each other’s backs.

Probably the biggest criticism I’ve seen for this series is from people who don’t like it when characters are labeled as strictly “good” and “evil.” (In which case one can’t help but wonder why you’d pick up a book that’s literally called The School for GOOD and EVIL.) But I personally think that these critics are ignoring some pretty major details. First off, it’s a fairytale school—and fairytales are, almost by definition, very black-and-white. All Chainani is doing is staying true to the source material. And second…the series doesn’t even actually make it black-and-white a lot of the time; “good” characters do bad things, and “evil” characters do good things. Several characters who are in the School for Evil could be categorized as good guys, and several characters who are in the School for Good could be categorized as bad guys. Most of the time, the students of the schools actually end up working together to fight a greater evil. So, yeah, it’s not actually as polarizing as the title makes it sound.

Outro

That’s all for today’s reading recommendation. I hope I’ve gotten you interested in this book! Or, if you’ve already read it, feel free to look into the similar titles that I’ve listed below. (More middle-grade books about fairytale and fantasy schools.) Until next time, happy reading!