Book Review: The Test by Gina Mayer (School of Evil Animals #1)

 

 Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Internat der Bösen Tiere #1: Die Prüfung.

This one I've had on my to-read list for a while, hoping it would eventually show up in Dutch libraries. It never did, so I got myself a copy. Spoiler ahead.

We meet Noël, a troubled and shy boy who gets expelled from this school. Soon he finds himself aboard a ship, and he ends up at a small archipelago. Located here is the School of Magical Animals, also called the School of Evil Animals by some. The school consists mainly of other animals, both teachers and students, who can all communicate through thoughts. Noël desperately wants to stay at the school to start a new life there, but before he can he'll have to pass a difficult test.

This was honestly even better than I expected. Not that my expectations were particularly low, but I just expected this to be a simple and fun read about a boy who talks to animals. And it's that, but it's also more.

The book has a pretty creative setting and I was pleasantly surprised at just how big the animal cast was. Most human-POV books with talking animals have the animals as side characters, but honestly most major characters in this book were animals. There's only a handful of humans to be found, which I honestly liked because talking animal stories are my jam. The school is also nice and has a creative setting and an interesting backstory, even if we're not given all of it yet.

Noël is a simple main character, but not a bad one. He does overcome his struggles somewhat in this book and it was nice to see, just like it was nice to see him slowly befriend more and more of the people and animals at the school. My only real gripe with his character is that his crush on the girl named Katókwe was very forced and "instalove". I'd have liked it more if their relationship had more buildup and Noël didn't just instantly fall for her. 

As for the animal characters, this is where I was especially pleasantly surprised. This book, like stated before, sports a huge cast of talking animal characters, and I was genuinely surprised at how likable they all were, and how most of them feel like actual characters and not just the stereotype their animal often gets shoved into (e.g. cunning fox, gross rat, sneaky snake, etc.). 

What's more, this book actually has really good representation of animal species that often get the short end of the stick when it comes to being represented in fiction. Animals like spiders, rats, snakes, sharks and scorpions will mostly be seen as pests or villains in media, but in this book these species are represented just as well and normally as the other species which are traditionally less maligned. Heck, some of Noël's best friends at the school are a spider, two rats and a scorpion. The headmistress is a snake and, again, she's a good guy. As someone who loves these species I was very pleasantly surprised by this fresh take on them. It felt like a real breath of fresh air. 

If the book does has some flaws, aside from Noël's crush, however, I could name one or two. First, I'd have liked the book to touch just a bit more on Noel and the relationship he has with his adopted parents (his aunt and her ex). It's mentioned in passing that their relationship isn't very good, but it's never really explicitly shown. Part of the book's main mystery is Noël's past (particularly his birth mother and why she vanished), and since his relationship with his adopted parents does tie into this it'd have been nice to have been shown a little more instead of being told.

Second, I do wish the book had a little more of an overarching plot. This is the first book of a series, and while most first installments of a series will have a largely self-contained story, there'll usually still be plenty of hints at the bigger story and some elements that tie directly into that as proper setup. Here, this felt a little lacking. The plot is mostly just Noël starting anew at this school, having classes and going through the test. 

Hints to the overarching plot and mystery (that of a villainous bear character and hints at Noël's mother's disappearance) are given but they're very few and far between. And there's not a lot of setup for them aside from maybe one or two scenes. But that's just...not quite enough. The book also ends with a pretty closed ending. Noël is accepted into the school, as is his rival-turned-friend Taiyo, and that's it. Not saying that the execution is bad or anything, but it just needed a tad more setup and hints at the overarching story if you ask me. It just feels like the book doesn't really have a plot aside from "explore the school and take the test". 

That said, this is still a book I had a good time reading. I'll probably be checking out a few more installments in the future.

Rating: 4/5