The School of Good and Evil: The Last Ever After

By Soman Chainani

I know it's been a really long time since I last wrote a post, but life has been very busy. I actually finished this book a while ago, but I haven't had time to write about it. In fact, I have to play catch up on a bunch of books.

The Last Ever After is the 3rd and final book of The School of Good and Evil series. It is a really long book. The first half I was a little bored and it took me a while to get into it. But the second half of the book was fun and action-packed!

In the beginning of the third book, Agatha and Tedros are now back in Galvadon, living in secret in Agatha's mother's house. When the townspeople realize they are there, they capture Agatha, Tedros, and Agatha's mother.  A witch's burning is planned.  Agatha and Tedros escape with some help, but Agatha's mother sacrifices herself to save them.  They run away and find a secret portal into the other realm.  Princess Uma, one of the former teachers are the School of Good and Evil, takes them to the League of Thirteen, the most powerful heroes. However, time has not been good to the heroes.  They are old, overweight, and cranky.  Their plan is the capture Sophie, have her destroy the ring on her finger, and then crown Tedros and Agatha.

Sophie, meanwhile, is living at the School of Good and Evil with her true love, Rafal, the evil School Master. He is now young and incredibly handsome. Because she wears his ring, he has power because he has love on his side. And he will do anything to have Sophie keep it there.  The School of Good and Evil is messed up though. All of the students, Evers and Nevers, are combined into one school and crammed into the School of Good.  They are all taught to be villains.  At the other school, the School of Evil, old villains have returned and are plotting their revenge. These zombie-like, famous villains gain power by killing their heroes, and they are all out to find their counterparts so they can change their stories.  With each hero that is killed, a bit of Galvadon's protective border is removed.  This is part of Rafal's plan.  He wants the border to be brought down so he can attack the village and kill all the Readers.

Tedros and Agatha disguise themselves and sneak into the School, kidnap Sophie, and hide out with the other members of the League in a secret refuge, which also hides Guinevere and Lancelot.  Tedros must face his mother and what she did by leaving him long ago. The League also decides they must practice together, an old hero and a young hero/villain.  It's hard at first, but they learn to work together for good.

Sophie tries once again to get Tedros to love her. She's unsure whether Rafal or Tedros is her true love, but when she kisses Tedros, she realizes there is nothing there between them. She goes back to Rafal before the final battle.

In the final battle, the stakes are high.  The army of villain is massive while the heroes are few.  Surprises happen throughout, but in the end, evil is defeated. Sophie realizes that she doesn't need anyone to be her true love. She can be alone and happy. Agatha and Tedros plan to marry and be crowned at Camelot. Sophie becomes one of the new Deans at the new School of Good and Evil. And the end is sweet.

What I liked: I liked some of the new characters, like Merlin and Guinevere. Their stories and the twists were great.  The returning side characters like Dot and Anadil were fantastic and always good for comic relief or perspective.  The struggle of the main characters was realistic and interesting.

What I didn't like: The beginning was slow.

I would recommend this book/series to upper elementary and middle school kids who like fairy tales. This story also had a lot of action, adventure, and goriness so boys might like it more too.  It is good, clean, and fun.