A World Without Princes - Book Review

Author: Soman Chainani
Series: The School for Good and Evil #2
Publication Date: April 15, 2014
Source: Purchased (at the Boston Book Festival)

Summary from Goodreads: 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.”

Rating: Did Not Finish

Review

Given how much I enjoyed book 1 (The School for Good and Evil), I was excited about reading another book set in this intriguing world. Unfortunately this book just never drew me in. At around the 50% mark, I've decided to call it quits because it was literally a chore for me to pick it up. When I did make myself pick it up, I'd read a few pages and then found myself distracted. It just wasn't doing it for me.

I was disappointed with the lack of character development. While this was a strength in the first book, it seems like there was none in the second book.

I was excited because at The Boston Book Festival, the author talked about this book's exploration of gender roles and made "A World Without Princes" seem as if  in this book the princes are literally gone. But that was not the case, I am confused by what the author was trying to do with gender roles; is he mocking them? is he trying to send the message that we need them? Ultimately, I felt like this book was un-doing all the good work of book one and I just wasn't interested anymore.