Girls Don't Need Boys | A World Without Princes


A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: March 1st, 2014
Genres: MG, Fantasy
Pages:  433
Source: Bought it
In the epic sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel, The School for Good and Evil, Sophie and Agatha are home, living out their Ever After. But life isn’t quite the fairy tale they expected. 

When Agatha secretly wishes she’d chosen a different happy ending, she reopens the gates to the School for Good and Evil. But the world she and Sophie once knew has changed.

Witches and princesses, warlocks and princes are no longer enemies. New bonds are forming; old bonds are being shattered. But underneath this uneasy arrangement, a war is brewing and a dangerous enemy rises. As Agatha and Sophie battle to restore peace, an unexpected threat could destroy everything, and everyone, they love—and this time, it comes from within.

Soman Chainani has created a spectacular world that Newbery Medal-winning author Ann M. Martin calls, “a fairy tale like no other, complete with romance, magic, and humor that will keep you turning pages until the end.”
I've reviewed The School for Good and Evil before, click here to read it first. I wasn't particularly in love with the first book, heck, the only reason I was glad that I read it was so I could read the sequels, but I have to admit, this book totally surpassed my expectations. Like, WAY WAY surpassed my expectations.


Agatha and Sophie are back at home and living the happy ending that they chose together. For a moment, everything was perfect. But when Agatha secretly wishes she'd chosen a different happy ending, she reopens the gates to the School for Good and Evil. The world they once knew has changed. Everything in the school has changed from the moment they decided to live their Ever After together. Witches and princesses, warlocks and princes are no longer enemies. But underneath this uneasy arrangement, a war is brewing and a dangerous enemy rises. As Agatha and Sophie battle to restore peace, an unexpected threat could destroy everything, and everyone, they love—and this time, it comes from within.


I loved so many things about this book I don't even know where to begin.

Sophie becomes this character that I loved soooo much! Actually, no, scratch that. She becomes super badass and super super brave and I loved her sooo damn much! I understood the reasons she does what she does and I felt like I could relate to her now. Well, she's still a tiny bit selfish but that's just her, she's always selfish no matter what universe she's in. The selfishness asides, she's just soooo brave and badass (I said it, didn't I?) and dark! Especially that one time when she has to go to the other tower to do something so so forbidden and super risky to save both her and Agatha from the wicked school. YOU GO GIRL!

The plot is nowhere near predictable. In fact, it's anything but predictable. It is satisfying, magic-packed, and so so mesmerizing. I kept finding myself getting surprised for every new stuff I found out. I just couldn't get enough of it! By the end of the book, I screamed out loud and silently crying for the next book to come out sooner.

We get to know more about Tedros here. Remember the dense and vain boy from the first book? He no longer exists. In his place, now stood another boy with handsome yet not-so-annoying face that I want to punch it. Tedros gets more screen time to the point where we know exactly what's actually hidden behind that handsome boy facade and you'd be surprised at how pure hearted and lovable he is. Deep inside, he's just a boy who longs for the exact same thing Sophie wants.

The conversations are hilarious and dark at the same time. I don't know if that's possible, but Soman Chainani really pulled it off when it comes to writing hilarious and dark conversations. This book is dark. It has its own way of making us drown deep in dark feelings and then pull us occasionally out of it by throwing humorous remarks here and there. I don't know why, but it just makes the book even more perfect and enjoyable.

NO MORE WHINY GIRLS WHINING OVER BOYS!!! This is probably the best of all. The thing I hated the most in the first book is the stupid girls spending their time whining over boys. Ugh. I mean, seriously, you could do BETTER than that! Um, I can't talk about this without giving some things away. So, SPOILER ALERT! When Agatha and Sophie come back home together, they accidently created an Ever After ending without boys in it. Them together means that girls don't need boys to save them, they can actually save themselves! So, there goes the world they used to know—the world where good fight against evil and vice versa—and here comes a new world where girls hate boys and vice versa. So, it's clear that they whiny girls are no more, right?

But, unfortunately, there's still one thing that makes me took half a star off my rating for this book.

The Agatha we knew is no more. I kinda liked Agatha in the first book. I liked her dark sarcastic sense of humor and how she doesn't trust anyone easily and how she would scoff at the whiny girls whining over boys and how she thinks everyone is stupid and the like. But, this time, it seems like she turns to the complete opposite of the girl she was before. She's the only whiny girl around here now. When the girls are no longer whine over boys, she still dreams of Tedros constantly and honestly I'm kinda sick of it. Just a little bit. I swear.

All in all, I think  A World Without Princes totally surpassed my expectations. I'm still in love with it even though months have passed. It's a dark and funny Middle-Grade book that's filled with adventure and magic that will totally keep you seated for hours. This book proves that even though the first book in the series sucks, doesn't mean the sequel sucks too. Because you know what? I would totally recommend the first book for everyone to read just so they could read the sequel after that. 

My rating:    ★ ★ . 5

Reviewed by Inas


2 comments

  1. I already read it. But in Indonesian vers. (because I'm Indonesian.)
    And of course like you... I love it so much.
    If you love Shopie, I prefer like Agatha than Sophie. Maybe, we have different point of view, but it's no problem for me :)

    And I agree with you. Agatha always thinking of Tedros. But, I still love her because she can makes me feel suprised again and again. My fav scene is when she fool her reflection in the second time. She is so cool. I also admire her loyality to Sophie (seems like stupid, but full of sincerity.)

    I can't be more patient to read 'The Last Ever After' :))))

    ps: I'm sorry if my English is not really good. But I try to tell you whatever I like. Because I know you don't bite me LOL.

    sign,
    muthiara

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So glad you love it too!
      I'm Indonesian too! But I prefer reading the English one bc some of the translation versions I read have poor translations and missing paragraphs and (the most annoying thing) they even censored some of the scenes! (as in, literally cutting it out of the book)

      Agatha is great too, but she becomes too whiny in this book (whereas in the first one she's like 'meh don't care bout anything').
      Sophie is greaaaaaaat!! She's like the epitome of cool and badass in this book!

      THE LAST EVER AFTER IS PUBLISHED!
      I don't know when I will be able to read it. But, soon, I hope.

      Delete

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