The battle between Good and Evil begins.

Two brothers.

One Good.

One Evil.

Together they watch over the Endless Woods.

Together they choose the students for the School for Good and Evil.

I thought I was done with this series after finishing the last book, but then Soman Chainani goes and writes a prequel… and it’s just as amazing!

Obviously, being a prequel, we go into the days before Sophie and Agatha’s tale begins. In fact, the prequel goes back to before the School Masters even begin to take Readers for The School for Good and Evil. The school is run much differently under both Rhian and Rafal, and some of the classes and competitions that we saw in the main series don’t exist yet, so we see how they come to be. What was shocking (to me, anyway) is that the twins actually get along and love each other, though their bond is put to the test when a student arrives that they had down for Evil, but ends up in Good.

“It doesn’t matter what you are, it only matters what you do.”

This book was written differently than the main series. The chapters are much shorter and to the point, giving the book a quick pace as the tale unravels, which makes it very hard to put down. It was nothing like I expected when I heard about this prequel, and what’s more is that there is going to be a sequel to this one, so that threw everything I thought would happen in this book out the window. Honestly, that’s my only complaint about this book; I have to wait another year to find out what happens next.

Reading this was one heck of a roller-coaster ride due to the twists and quick chapters. And there’s one twist near the end that still has me reeling and questioning everything I ever thought about The School for Good and Evil series. This is definitely a book I’d recommend, and whether you read it before or after the main series is up to you (but I recommend reading the main series first… it just makes this prequel that much better).

Rating: 4.5/5 stars