What Is Good And Evil?

Just finished a book that I picked up on a whim.  The cover was cool, the description sounded fun and the hardcover book would look great on my bookshelf so I decided to give it a go.  The book is called The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani and my feelings on the final outcome are mixed.  I'm gonna mix it up a bit and do less detailed synopsis so there will be less rambling to slog through, let me know if you like this better, or if you prefer a more in depth synopsis.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD.

Sophie is everything a princess should be, in fact she has been preparing all of her young life for the rare opportunity to become one. Agatha is the complete opposite, dreary, dark, and not into princes at all.  Both girls are spirited away to the either the School for Good or the School for Evil.  To everybody's amazement Sophie gets put in Evil and Agatha into Good.  This of course causes all kinds of problems as Sophie wants nothing more then to be pretty and be rescued by a prince, while Agatha just wants to go home. The girls find a way to talk to the mysterious School Master, who controls the school, and the magical pen that writes the children into the fairytales after they graduate from the school.  They are given some obscure riddle,

giving Agatha hope she can return home with her friend Sophie.  Through out the story Sophie tries to get Tedros, the most desired prince to fall in love with her to prove that she is Good, not Evil. Agatha thinking she is really Sophie's friend does her best to help her.  Sophie however does nothing but prove over and over how selfish she is, while Agatha continually tries to help and protect whenever she can.  Eventually Sophie's true inner Evil is revealed and all her beauty melts away to reveal her ugly Evil inner self, intent on destroying the school.  Agatha meanwhile has learned to love her inner beauty and won the heart of the fickle Tedros. It is also discovered that most of the students do not become Royalty, but many of them become loyal companions, or steadfast animals, or even props (think the the beanstalk, the pumpkin carriage and the birds that come when Cinderella calls).  It is also revealed that Evil never wins and all the Evil students have to look foward to is a hopefully glorious death.  After a full on student against student fight it revealed that the School Master has set all of this up to find his pure Evil mate, and that person is Sophie.  Sophie decides that she does not want this and in some sort of twist takes an arrow meant for Agatha, finally proving her friendship and Goodness.  The story ends with the students...well something and then Agatha and Sophie dissolve into birds and fly away.

This book had a lot of promise, and in certain area's lived up to it, but over all I was left feeling a bit confused and meh.  The good.  I liked the idea of a fairy tale school, with various classes and rules. I liked the continual reference to various fairytales and the various students that ended up in them in various capacities.  I also liked at the end the idea that it was rarely fair to label a person as Good or Evil as most people are both. The book has some pretty sweet illustrations.  What didn't really do it for me was the over all mushiness of the plot, it was a bit hard to follow and took a long time to get anywhere.  When we finally get were we are going it didn't make any sense.  The ending was abrupt and just kind of happened, like the author had an idea in mind, but did not know how to make the transition from the story to the next idea.  I had a hard time trying to decide if Sophie was truly Evil, or had just grown up on fairy tales telling her what a
princess should be like and she was just doing what she thought she had to, to become one.  Agatha's transformation was much more believable, but pretty predictable. I hated how much being Good or Evil was based on looks, especially Sophie, who became more and more physically unattractive as she got Eviler, unlike Agatha who was precieved as prettier the Gooder she got.  I hate this because a) we have enough issues now a days without beauty and goodness being linked and b) some of the best villians out there are some of the best looking people out there.  The middle 2/3 of the book seemed repetitive, going over the same ground over and over again without a clear point, which made it drag a bit.  The world building could have been really cool, and the bit that was in there was done well, but I still feel like I know nothing about the world in this book.  Overall the book had a willy-nilly, mushed up feel to it, there was a lot of action that did not go anywhere, a lot of supposedly important questions that got posed that either did not get answered, or were brushed aside, and an ending that was not only random but made no sense at all.  There is a second book in this series and to be honest I am not sure if I'm gonna pick it up or not. I give this book 5 out of 10 magic glowing pinkies.
Is there such thing as pure good or pure evil in humans?  Do you think physical appearance is a good indicator of good and evil? What fairy tale object would you like to live your life as?

Knitting And Dancing

Flipping through my reading list and my to be reviewed list and realized I had not done a post about Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George yet, which would make it a little awkward to do a post about the sequel when I finish it shortly.  Anyways here we go.

As always SPOILER ALERT SPOILERS AHEAD

I initially picked up this book as it is a retelling of one of my absolute favorite fairy tales Twelve Dancing Princesses  which sounds about perfect.  Our story starts with a creepy prologue with a Queen begging a favor from the inhuman King Under Stone. He agrees to a bargain to grant victory to Westfalin in a war that has been going on for years.  Fast forward several years later and the war is finally over.  A young soldier by the name of Galen is making his way towards Westfalin to hopefully find a job with his Uncle, the head gardener in the Kings gardens.  On his way he encounters an old woman with whom he shares his meager store of food.  He also gives her a scarf he knitted, as all soldiers learn to do.  In return for his unusual

generosity the old woman gives him an old cloak that makes him invisible.  She also hints that the Princesses of Westfalin may be in a bit of trouble.  Galen is taken in by his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin, all of whom see a bit of resemblance to there own son who is presumed dead in the war.  Galen becomes his Uncles assistant in the what is known as the King's Folly, which is the name the towns people give to the elaborate time and money consuming garden that the king had built for his wife, to remind her of home.  After she died he has still maintained the garden in memory of her.  We head to the castle where the eldest Princess Rose and her sisters Lily, Jonquil, Hyacinth, Violet, Daisy, Poppy, Iris, Lilac, Orchid, Pansy and Petunia (there mother was very fond of flowers) are being berated by dear old dad the King for wearing out there dancing slippers yet again.  Everybody is frustrated because the girls, who are normally very good, are unable to tell anybody what is happening.  The King tries every method he can think of, locking them in their rooms, guards at ever door and window, maids sleeping in the same room, but to no avail, every third night the princesses shoes are found worn to shreds.  Back in their rooms we learn that after the death of their mother, the girls have taken on paying for their mothers bargain and are compelled to go dance for King Under Stone.  Rose heads to the garden to try and think and is startled by Galen, she falls into the fountain and as a result of her frigid dunking catches a nasty cold.  This does not prevent the girls from dressing up and dancing, as any deviation from the payment schedule results in sever punishment. The other girls end up sick as well, their immune systems worn down by the constant dancing and worry.  Galen does his best to make them feel better, sending them bouquets of their names sake tied with chains he knitted himself. He has taken to Rose in particular, especially after many conversations in the garden.  He knits her a beautiful shawl as a gift, which she takes to wearing constantly.  

Meanwhile the King is trying to find a way to solve the mystery of his daughters dancing and proposes that he will allow any noble who can find the solution to marry one of his daughters and inherit the kingdom.  This is actually the solution to several problems.  One, he can hopefully solve the mystery, two, it may be a way of re enforcing allies now that the war is over, and three, since he has no sons the husband of one of his daughters will inherit the crown.  King Under Stone is not happy about this, as he intends for the 12 Princess's to become the mortal brides of his creepy half mortal sons.  He ensures that none of the foreign dignitaries ever get a glimpse of what the girls are up to, and even worse, he arranges for a deadly accident to befall them after.  After a couple of the Princes die, the other countries start calling for an investigation, saying that the King and his daughters are using witch craft to kill off all the Princes. The church sends a Bishop to get to the bottom of this problem.  Until the girls are cleared the whole country is placed under an Interdict, which places great strain on the kingdom. Meanwhile Galen, with the help of the mysterious Walter who also works in the gardens has convinced the King to let him try and solve the mystery.  He uses a combination of cunning, knitting and his magic cloak to follow the girls.  He sees them get all dressed up.  After a while an enchantment puts everybody except the Princesses (and Galen who has a sprig of nightshade in his pocket) to sleep.  A rug in their room becomes a staircase and the Princesses descend.  They pass through a gate into a forest of silver trees and into boats rowed by the Princes of Under Stone.  They are then made to dance with their assigned Prince all night and then head back up to the above world.  Galen works out that the King Under Stone is at some point going to keep the Princess's from leaving, forcing them to marry his sons. Galen takes a twig from a tree as proof.  He uses the twig to knit a magic chain that he can use to lock the gate.  Back at the palace the Bishop is busy terrifying the Princess's, locking up their tutor on the charge that she is a witch and threatening excommunication for the whole family. Galen goes back with the girls as they are now required to dance every night and takes a goblet as further proof.   On the third night the King Under Stone senses Galen and decides to keep the Princess's under ground.  Galen awakes above ground to discover along with everyone else that the

Princess's are missing.  The Bishop declares that everybody is guilty of witchcraft and that the King must abdicate.  Galen goes to the Bishop's rooms and finds the Queens diary where she details the deal she made with King Under Stone to have children and a later deal to secure victory for the kingdom.  The Queen did not realize that King Under Stone was using her to produce wives for his sons and that he would eventually ensure the countries victory, but not until most of the world was destroyed by it.  The Queen died before she could fulfill her end of the bargain, leaving it to her daughters to finish out the terms of dancing, just as the evil King wanted.  Despite this proof the Bishop is determined to see the King stripped of his throne and the whole family ex-communicated.  Galen finds a way to the underworld, and helps the Princess's to escape.  He shows the proof to the King and the curse is broken.  The Bishop does not care and still insists on punishment...until the priest of the castle discovers a letter stating that the Bishop was just supposed to assist the castle priest and has no authority.  It turns out that the King Under Stone is actually an ancient foe of the country and many powerful magician's gave up a lot, some even their lives to seal the King Under Stone into his underground kingdom.  Walter and the old lady who gave Galen his cloak are two of the surviving magicians. Galen asks Rose if she will marry him, to which she consents.  They marry and everybody lives happily ever until the next book.

I liked this book, it was a retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales, it combined magic with a more realistic world, it had a variety of believable characters and a knitting soldier which was just cool.  I love books that have an everyday talent, knittitng, cooking, metalsmithing, dancing, painting, writing, sewing, etc. and shows how you can make magic out of it.  I appreciated the fact that the author tried to give every character some sort of distinctive personality.  Obviously the book mostly focused on Rose and Galen, as it would be hard to have decent length book that focused on all 12 girls, but each Princesses still got a personality to set them apart.  I like how magic does not have a huge part in the above ground world, it is there, hidden and known only to a few, but by and large it is a representation of an Elizabethan era Europe, even the names of the countries are variants of real life places.  I like that religion came into play as it would during that time period and I liked that it was represented as both good, and when taken to extremes by certain individuals bad. I thought it was a bit of a risky decision to make their mother an unwitting "bad guy", being the reason the girls were cursed in the first place.  I loved that the author did not go with the perfect mother who the girls had to impossibly live up to. While pieces of this book were very original and fresh, the basic story and pattern were very familiar, not really deviating from the standard YA fairytale story giving a "have I read this before?" feeling on occasion. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anybody who likes fairy tales, knitting or a good story.  I give it 9 out of 12 dancing slippers.

What fairytale do you want to be retold?  Do you like it when they mix religion and magic?  What household art do you find magical?

As a bit of an extra, if you want to read the original tale with the most beautiful illustrations try and get your hands on this book

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

It is stunning and detailed and amazing and I love it so much!

Happily Ever After My A**

Please welcome a guest blogger today, the incomparable Bee! (all names have been changed to protect the guilty...I mean innocent :-)  )

When my sister asked me to write a guest spot on her blog I wanted to be funny or witty. Then I realized I am neither of those things. Therefore I will do what I do best, which is write about some injustice and jabber on until it is beaten into submission and lying on the ground :) by the way... You may call me Bee

Happily Ever my A**
I,just like most girls growing up, watched and read princess "adventures" about getting a husband. That's right, when you break it down that is what it is always about. They don't have one when it starts, and in the end they are only happy because they found a man to complete their lives

What A Disney Princess Teaches a Girl

I believe that's this concept has bleed into almost all books directed toward the female gender. It is very hard to find a plot that doesn't involve a boy/man that at some crucial point saves the day, or that they fall in love. Even books that are all about girl power still have to involve a love interest i.e. The Hunger Games, Graceling, Uglies series. I am not saying that we don't enjoy digging into a good love story that makes us all warm and fuzzy, but I think it is high time that authors get with it, and find new threads to string their stories together. I think the problem with all of these stories, is that we grow up thinking that a man will make everything better, instead of being strong independent thinkers. Because even the best boyfriend/husbands screw up, and when you need to learn how to deal with life!!! And for that matter, it is no wonder that marriages don't last, because we don't know how to be a complete whole person before diving into things..hmm I seem to have gone on a tangent (I do that a lot)

I realize this post gone on too long. The bottom line is that fairy tale endings are fine and fun to read, just make sure to supplement with something else to balance out your brain. If you made it through this, thank you.
Bee