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A review by johanna_b
Quests for Glory by Soman Chainani
5.0
They all thought they'd found their Ever After but now all of the student's fourth year quests are beginning to go wrong. Not only are Sophie's endeavors to mold evil to her image failing but Agatha and Tedros continue to grow more and more distant. When a new evil springs up, threatening the fates of both Good and Evil, someone must take charge. But it isn't who anyone was expecting...
I didn't realize how much I missed this series!!! It had been over a year since I read [b:The Last Ever After|18004320|The Last Ever After (The School for Good and Evil, #3)|Soman Chainani|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421947451l/18004320._SX50_.jpg|25268052] so I had to look up summaries for the first three School for Good and Evil books which preceded this one. [b:Quests for Glory|31212082|Quests for Glory (The School for Good and Evil The Camelot Years, #1)|Soman Chainani|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1488534185l/31212082._SX50_.jpg|51866008] is the first of The Camelot Years trilogy and I'm so glad that Soman decided to continue writing these books!!
I loved Agatha and how she has no fear to just be herself .This makes her slow to judge others and their appearance because she is never thinking about her own. The Good inside of her really shone in this book. She just wants what's best for everyone, and even when it's not the best choice, you can tell that her heart is always in the right place.
Tedros had to be strong for so many people while dealing with his own hurt, pain and confusion. The author did such a great job of capturing this internal battle and Tedros handled everything that was thrown at him remarkably well. I was trying to put myself into the situations he was facing and, with me there, they didn't go very well.
As for Sophie, I still haven't made up my mind about her. One minute I think she's had a change of heart the next I just want to scream. But I did grow to understand her more and, at the end of the day, she's just a girl who's trying to fit true love into Evil. This feat turns out to be a lot harder than it sounds and I can almost find room inside me to sympathize with her. Almost.
I could go on about these characters all day and I apologize that I have to move on before diving into the coven, Hort, Guinevere and Lance, as well as new addition Nicola but if I did, this would turn into a 10 page essay instead of a review. My memory of the last three books isn't very good but if I'm right this book seemed a lot more intense than its predecessors and it didn't shy away from the ugly of the world.
That leads to my last point. Maybe more than any book I've read we can see that these characters are flawed and I think that's what made me love this book so much. Too many books these days are about teens going through ordinary teen drama and life but this delved so much deeper. Truth and identity were key themes and one of my biggest takeaways was: we will all make mistakes and we will all make poor choices but it's how we can learn from them, whether it be avoiding the same mistakes in the future or learning to love those around us better, that counts.
So, thank you to Soman Chainani. Your books are epic and I'm counting down the seconds until [b:A Crystal of Time|36203664|A Crystal of Time (The School for Good and Evil The Camelot Years, #2)|Soman Chainani|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1527269633l/36203664._SY75_.jpg|57834117] comes in at the library!! Also here's a link to Soman's website and I encourage you to check it out if you haven't already: https://schoolforgoodandevil.com/ Happy Reading :)
I didn't realize how much I missed this series!!! It had been over a year since I read [b:The Last Ever After|18004320|The Last Ever After (The School for Good and Evil, #3)|Soman Chainani|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421947451l/18004320._SX50_.jpg|25268052] so I had to look up summaries for the first three School for Good and Evil books which preceded this one. [b:Quests for Glory|31212082|Quests for Glory (The School for Good and Evil The Camelot Years, #1)|Soman Chainani|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1488534185l/31212082._SX50_.jpg|51866008] is the first of The Camelot Years trilogy and I'm so glad that Soman decided to continue writing these books!!
I loved Agatha and how she has no fear to just be herself .This makes her slow to judge others and their appearance because she is never thinking about her own. The Good inside of her really shone in this book. She just wants what's best for everyone, and even when it's not the best choice, you can tell that her heart is always in the right place.
Tedros had to be strong for so many people while dealing with his own hurt, pain and confusion. The author did such a great job of capturing this internal battle and Tedros handled everything that was thrown at him remarkably well. I was trying to put myself into the situations he was facing and, with me there, they didn't go very well.
As for Sophie, I still haven't made up my mind about her. One minute I think she's had a change of heart the next I just want to scream. But I did grow to understand her more and, at the end of the day, she's just a girl who's trying to fit true love into Evil. This feat turns out to be a lot harder than it sounds and I can almost find room inside me to sympathize with her. Almost.
I could go on about these characters all day and I apologize that I have to move on before diving into the coven, Hort, Guinevere and Lance, as well as new addition Nicola but if I did, this would turn into a 10 page essay instead of a review. My memory of the last three books isn't very good but if I'm right this book seemed a lot more intense than its predecessors and it didn't shy away from the ugly of the world.
That leads to my last point. Maybe more than any book I've read we can see that these characters are flawed and I think that's what made me love this book so much. Too many books these days are about teens going through ordinary teen drama and life but this delved so much deeper. Truth and identity were key themes and one of my biggest takeaways was: we will all make mistakes and we will all make poor choices but it's how we can learn from them, whether it be avoiding the same mistakes in the future or learning to love those around us better, that counts.
So, thank you to Soman Chainani. Your books are epic and I'm counting down the seconds until [b:A Crystal of Time|36203664|A Crystal of Time (The School for Good and Evil The Camelot Years, #2)|Soman Chainani|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1527269633l/36203664._SY75_.jpg|57834117] comes in at the library!! Also here's a link to Soman's website and I encourage you to check it out if you haven't already: https://schoolforgoodandevil.com/ Happy Reading :)