Azu is Reading The Last Ever After (The School for Good and Evil #3) by Soman Chainani
In the epic next chapter of Soman Chainani’s New York Times bestselling series, The School for Good and Evil, everything old is new again as Sophie and Agatha fight the past as well as the present to find the perfect end to their story.
As A World Without Princes closed, the end was written and former best friends Sophie and Agatha went their separate ways. Agatha was whisked back to Gavaldon with Tedros and Sophie stayed behind with the beautiful young School Master.
But as they settle into their new lives, their story begs to be re-written, and this time, theirs isn’t the only one. With the girls apart, Evil has taken over and the villains of the past have come back to change their tales and turn the world of Good and Evil upside down.
Review
It is, the climax. And the end, too. Finally. Though it wasn’t a bad journey for me.
It has been a time since the moment I finished reading the book and the moment I’m writing the review, so it won’t be as fresh as it would have been then. But I kind of liked it. Kind of because it was pretty hurtful for a girl feeling identified with the lot of emotions shown there, especially Agatha’s. For when she thought she was right. And for when she noticed she was wrong. I felt like Sophie too, when she was desperately looking for someone that loved her. So it was painful.
But it also showed me that I was right to think that one of the things this story was teaching me was to be true to myself. They weren’t and that’s why everything happened (uhm, Tedros was truer to someone else than himself, but I liked that, he was soft and cute and open and loyal to the person he loved, trusting them a lot more than himself, and for that I forgive him). Also because they don’t communicate, I really don’t understand! You’re honest and open from the start and you save a lot of that. It was maddening, a bit, but that’s how that story is.
At least it had a happy ending for everyone, but the villain. Well, the Big Bad Villain and his league, because it has lots of villains and not all of them deserved bad. I like happy endings. Though honestly I didn’t expected the book to finish right were it did, thinking that it would show us some of what it talked a lot during the three journeys, but that’s okay. I can be content with it.
Even when my friend didn’t read it with me this time, she didn’t even start it at all.
Phrases that I liked so much that I marked them while reading
«“It doesn’t matter if they don’t call it love. We know it is, just as we know the thorns are as much a part of the rose as te petals.”»
— The Master and the Queen.«“You must trust your story, Sophie. It has come to The End for a reason.”»
— The Master and the Queen.«“Worrying doesn’t solve problems.”»
— The New or the Old.«“You can’t plan your story any more than you can plan who you’re going to fall in love with.”»
— The New or the Old.«“We’ll know what to do when the time comes.”»
— The New or the Old.«[…] you didn’t need a hundred true loves to find Ever After… you just needed one.»
— The New or the Old.«[…] that her mother had given her nothing to come home to ever again.»
— Death at an Execution.«Her mother had died to set her free.»
— Death at an Execution.«“I thought the princes killed you!” Agatha cried. “Hester said Dean Sader left you to die in the Woods. We all thought you were dead–”
“A professor of Animal Communication unable to survive in the Woods? Even your mother had more faith in me and we’ve never met.”»
— A Princess Returns.«Once upon a time, she and Sophie had slain a deadly villain who’d torn them apart.
Now her best friend had given her heart to that villain.»
— A Princess Return.«Sophie was tensing so much she couldn’t breathe. “That will never happen,” she whispered and her muscles released in his grip.
“Didn’t think so,” Rafal whispered back.»
— A Forest No Longer Blue.«What would it be like to love someone forever? Could love even last that long? She thought of Agatha on the lakeshore, vowing to be her friend forever… Tedros on a moonlit bridge, promising to be her prince forever… Agatha and Tedros kissing, swearing to each other… “Forever…”
Only Forever never seemed to last.»
— A Forest No Longer Blue.«“It doesn’t matter what you think you want. It only matters what’s truly inside you.”»
— A Forest No Longer Blue.«Sophie hurried to catch up, reminding herself that she’d finally found love, real love, and it was worth anything she had to do to keep it.»
— A Forest No Longer Blue.Evil Is the New Good.
«“Once happiness is gone between two people, I don’t think it ever comes back.”»
— When Good Rescues Go Bad.«Death had been rare to her before last night and now it followed her like a shroud. What was it like to be alive one moment and then be gone the next? What happens to all your thoughts, your fears, your dreams? What happens to all the love you’ve yet to give?»
— The Worst Evers ever.«“First they get mad at me for lying. Now they get mad at me for telling the truth.”»
— The Missing Thirteenth.«“I’ve already killed you and kissed you more times in my head than you deserve.”
Sophie stared at him.
Hort sighed, flicking the water. “But I learned my lesson. No one wants Old Hort. So meet New Hort instead. Modeled right after your cool, manly prince. The Hort chicks dig.”
“But that Hort isn’t real at all,” said Sophie, frowning. “That Hort isn’t you.”
“Well, whoever it is…” Hort raised his gaze. “Finally got your attention, didn’t he?”
Sophie fell silent.»
— Too Many Boys.«“The Storian, after all, sustains our world through balance. It is the first lesson taught at every Welcoming. The sun rises on the Woods only as long as the pen preserves that balance, correcting any inequity through each new story. Which meant, of course, that for the Storian to make Good win in every new tale… it must be correcting for something terribly Evil indeed.”»
— Where Wizards Go to Think.«“Besides, it’s too early in the morning for goodbyes.”»
— The Magician’s Plan.«Agatha waited for her prince to look down and check on her as he pulled over the ridge to the top, but he never did.»
— The Magician’s Plan.«“I took Aric’s knife to protect your princess. To protect your true love, Tedros. Now it’s your turn to prove what you’re made of.”»
— Missions Impossible.«“What happened to ‘I’ll know what to do when the times comes?’” she asked.
“I know what to do when I’m with you.”»
— Missions Impossible.«“Here you are worried that I’ll leave when I see your real self… when that’s the part of you that lets me stay.”»
— Missions Impossible.«“What he doesn’t understand is that a coven is a coven and we protect each other to the death.”»
— Tedros in the Sky with Chocolate.«Maybe she doubted herself. But she didn’t doubt Merlin.»
— Old School Reunions.«“You said I was the one who brought you two back together. Which means you two had broken apart. Which means you two aren’t particularly happy if it takes a third person to fix your love.”»
— Last Stop on the Fairy Dust Express.«He was lying.
Tedros was lying.
The prince bound to his promises, bound to the truth, was lying for her.»
— Last Stop on the Fairy Dust Express.«Right then and there, in a moment where Agatha had accused Tedros of doubting their future, only to see he was, in fact, rock solid… it was she who suddenly had the doubts.»
— Last Stop on the Fairy Dust Express.«For all their fights and failings, her prince still trusted her more than he trusted himself. Agatha’s heart melted. In this single, terrible moment, she loved him more than ever before.»
— Peer Pressure.«How could she fight for something her heart didn’t even want?»
— Peer Pressure.«And because Sophie knew that deep, deep down, in the pit of her soul, Agatha was Good. And when put to the test, Agatha would sacrifice everything to stay true to that Good.»
— Peer Pressure.«She couldn’t dare waver. It was like a bandage. She had to commit to the pain and rip it off.»
— Everything Old Is New Again.«“Agatha, this is two days in the toughest part of the Woods, with villains on the loose and sleeping in close quarters and protecting each other from whatever we might face– I’m your prince and I’m not letting you out of my sight. We need to be together–”»
— Everything Old Is New Again.«Suddenly Agatha felt like the old Agatha: the Agatha who’d studied spellbooks and fed Sophie lines as a cockroach and moved mountains to get Tedros to kiss her best friend and send them home. But her plans had failed then and it would fail now, if the new Sophie acted anything like the old Sophie. Because Tedros wouldn’t kiss that Sophie, then or now.»
— Everything Old Is New Again.«“Once upon a time, those same heroes were trained in a Blue Forest, just like you. The only difference is they made it to graduation without the world ending.”»
— Everything Old Is New Again.«But because in the four hours since she’d left her prince and friend to their own story, his wise, young Agatha hadn’t looked back once.»
— Everything Old Is New Again.«Even with all of Good in peril, no one in their right mind would willingly sacrifice their true love-
Agatha would, thought Sophie.
Agatha would do whatever it took to save Good.»
— Two Queens.«And she would only have herself.»
— Who Do You Belong With?«Because somewhere along the way she’d stopped trusting herself too.»
— Who Do You Belong With?«“I’m just a girl struggling to be ordinary.”»
— Who Do You Belong With?«“At least I’m willing to fight for my happy ending. You’re giving away your true love to someone he doesn’t belong with and expecting him to live with it forever! Tell yourself all you want that you’re not good enough for him, Agatha. Tell yourself you’re doing it to save Good. Tell yourself any excuse that lets you sleep at night. But we both know you’re just too afraid to fight for the person you belong with. And you know what, princess? Even if I hate the boy to his bones, that doesn’t sound Good to me at all.”»
— Who Do You Belong With?«Agatha had been riding a horse named Benedict, which she’d chosen for his scrawny legs, rumpled black coat, and hacking cough.
“Goodness, Aggie, don’t you read storybooks?” Sophie said after Guinevere had opened the stable of riding horses that first day. “Black horses are untrainable, untamable, and mean. Besides, he sounds like he’s on death’s door. What in the world possessed you to pick him?”
“Reminded me of myself.” Agatha said, rubbing his neck and finding a handful of fleas.»
— The Scorpion and the Frog.«Still, day after day, Sophie refused to switch Nellie Mae, as if admitting her poor taste in horses would somehow invalidate all her life choices.»
— The Scorpion and the Frog.«“Sometimes there’s more to the story than you. You can’t pick everything at first sight, just because it looks good, and then force it to be with you. Relationships are more complicated than that. You can’t control the story from both sides.”»
— The Scorpion and the Frog.«For the reason she’d known what was missing in Tedros’ kiss is because she’d already felt it once with someone else.
Someone who loved her for what she truly was.
Someone she’d been too scared to love back.»
— The Scorpion and the Frog.«Alone in candlelight, she closed her eyes and made a wish…
For a prince… a castle… a crown…
Evil this time, instead of Good.»
— The Scorpion and the Frog.«And if she’d just embraced that fact instead of denied it, if she’d just loved herself the way she was, she would have saved herself a world of pain.»
— In Darkness Comes a Queen.«Right then and there, Agatha knew why she couldn’t have an ordinary life.
She was never meant for one.»
— In Darkness Comes a Queen.«“But you are my queen. No one but you. And I like seeing you wear it. Because as long as you do, I know you still love me. And given our history of miscommunication, physical clues are helpful.”
Agatha snorted.
“This is where you tell me how I can show my love,” Tedros prodded.»
— Rebel Hearts.«“You asked me for a way to show your love,” said Agatha. “I didn’t know it had limits.”»
— Rebel Hearts.«“Try to erase Good and you only tilt the balance more in Good’s favor.”»
— Spies in the Stymph Forest.«“But Callis, who only saw beauty in the girl Vanessa threw away, kept the child for herself. She named her Agatha, which meant ‘Soul of Good.’ Finally, after so many years of loneliness, Callis of Netherwood had found her one true love.”»
— An Unexpected History Lesson.«“But sometimes to keep Evil from getting in, you have to let Good out.”»
— Never Ever After.
