YA Weekend: A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani
A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of The School for Good and Evil
Publisher: HarperCollins (April 15, 2014)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Once upon a time, two girls kidnapped from the sleepy town of Gavaldon by the mysterious Schoolmaster. One was perfect and beautiful, thought to be destined for the School of Good, while the other was an oddball and an outcast from birth, sure to have been a shoo-in for the School of Evil. But pretty Sophie with her flawless features and dreams of princes and pink dresses ended up being dumped in Evil, while strange, frumpy Agatha landed in Good! Together, the two friends discovered the truth behind this apparent mix-up, and learned more about each other and themselves along the way. They worked to escape the clutches of the sinister Schoolmaster and made it back home to Gavaldon, but the adventure is far from over.
As you can probably tell, there were a couple of really heartwarming messages in the first book of The School for Good and Evil series, as befitting a novel more suitably aimed at Middle Grade readers. “Beauty is only skin deep” and “Believe in yourself” are only a couple examples, woven into a unique and magical fairy-tale style story.
This sequel, however, is a bit more complicated and a little more twisted. Once again, Sophie and Agatha find themselves back in the land of princesses and witches, princes and henchmen. But gone are the Schools for both Good and Evil, and in their places are the School for Girls and School for Boys. Some major changes have taken place since the two girls left; new alliances have formed while old bonds have broken, and now boys and girls are locked in a bitter war. The fate of the schools and this world rest on Agatha and Sophie and whether or not they can find their Happily Ever After.
So A World Without Princes was a fun read, but I also can’t deny that this sequel has lost some of the magic that made me fall in love with the first book. Story-wise, it was a little rough around the edges, with a plot that seemed to meander needlessly in several places. Friction and misunderstandings and between the two main characters feel forced, prolonging the conflict without adding anything new. Unlike its predecessor, this second book didn’t read like it had a clear direction or a main theme it was drawing from, and the storytelling was very uneven with long stretches that felt monotonous in some places and plot developments that felt like they came out of nowhere in others.
A World Without Princes is also much darker in tone compared to The School for Good and Evil. I’d hand the first book to a Middle Grader without a second thought, since it was at once ridiculous and full of heart, cute with just the right amount of wickedness to enchant readers of all ages. On the other hand, the second book would probably give me pause. The more mature themes and violence in this would likely not bother Adult and Young Adult readers, and it’s certainly not a negative to me personally as I was reading this, but it’s still enough that I’d hesitate to give this book to a 8 to 12-year-old, which I think is the age range most publishers are traditionally using for MG guidelines these days. There’s mild torture, descriptions of images that involve a mother drowning her child, scenes of boys and girls talking about and relishing the idea of killing each other, just to name a few examples of things that that might be disturbing to younger readers. As they say, reader discretion is advised, in the end use your own judgment to decide.
In spite of it all, I love the characters, I love the premise of these books, and I still enjoyed myself a lot. Agatha and Sophie are precious, and I just can’t get enough of them, their shenanigans in this novel notwithstanding. There are still many moments of whimsy and humor that author Soman Chainani does so well, and plenty of scenes brought smiles to my face. Ultimately, I really want to find out what will happen to these two friends, and the repercussions from the climax and shocking conclusion to this book are sure to be significant. “Happily Ever After” hasn’t come yet, and I’m definitely not going to give up on this series until “The End”.
The BiblioSanctum 
That is right, I was supposed to read the first one of this series because Tabitha said so. And look! Already had forgot. I need to get a few YA books in to pack my reading stats soon anyway =) Back on the list the series goes.
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Yes, you ARE supposed to read this 🙂 The first one is definitely worth the read, but this second one is making me a bit worried with the darker turn of events.
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yeah that does not sound like MG material
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Frankly, I was kind of surprised.
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The whole story sounds interesting and it’s true that I saw this one a few times but I don’t read a lot of moddle grade books…
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I don’t either, but I’ll read the occasional one that looks good 🙂
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Happy to know that you really enjoyed the first book of this series, Mogsy. I only gave the first book a 2-star rating because some of the things did not sit right with me especially the residents of the Tower of Good. But I admit that the series was really unique and if only Soman has done things differently then I would surely fangirl over this series.
Anyway, after reading your review, I am already 90% convinced to just ditch the series. I have no problems dealing with dark stuff but if the plot seemed to meander needlessly in several places> then I don’t think that there’s any point for me to continue reading this series. I already have a love and hate relationship with the characters. And whoa, the friendship issues felt forced too? >,>
Lovely review, Mogsy!
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If there were things that didn’t sit right with you in book 1, then it’s likely there will be things in book 2 that won’t either. I thought book 1 was innocent fun, while the messages in book 2 felt a bit mixed. I’m not sure it would be appropriate for general MG, to be honest.
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This series sounds ridiculously charming! I can definitely see how a “war of the sexes” thing might work really well as an MG plot line but scenes of torture definitely would’ve had me closing this one if I were an 8 year old reader. Doesn’t dissuade me from reading it though! Sounds like A World Without Princes just had a case of the second book slump.
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Oh I can’t recommend book 1 enough. It absolutely is as charming as it sounds!
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Well I’m glad you enjoyed this one despite not liking it as much as the first book. For some reason, I enjoyed this one more than the first one,I think it was the added darkness that got me xD That and I really enjoyed how things were different from the first one, with schools for girls and boys instead of good and evil. It was a surprise and I don’t know since I wasn’t expecting it it got me excited! Like you though, I really like these characters and I can’t wait to see how things will wrap up in the next book. Awesome review Mogsy^^
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I agree there was definitely a darker tone to this one and meandering bits as well. I too didn’t love it as much as the first – there was just something so magical about that first novel.
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“So A World Without Princes was a fun read, but I also can’t deny that this sequel has lost some of the magic that made me fall in love with the first book. Story-wise, it was a little rough around the edges, with a plot that seemed to meander needlessly in several places.” YES to this whole paragraph. You encapsulated my thoughts very succinctly and much more clearly than I tried to! There was too much narrative meandering for sure!
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