The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night
4 Star Review (Very Good/I Liked it)

The Crowns of Croswald is a coming of age, fantasy novel intended for middle school aged children, full of magic, dragons, and whimsical worlds. Ivy Lovely is a 16-year-old scaldron maid at Castle Plum. When she has had enough of maid Helga’s shenanigans, she decides its time to set off on her own adventures. Ivy has her heart set on going to magic school and perfecting her talents as a scrivenist.

D.E. Night is putting off all the “Harry Potter mixed with a whole lot of Cinderella and a dash of Alice and Wonderland” vibes with this novel. Containing a creative story plot, amazing world building, and lively, enjoyable characters, Night has you sucked in from the very beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. And the cover is absolutely stunning!

Although Crowns of Croswald is intended for middle school aged children, it could be read by anyone of all ages who enjoy adventures of exploring magic, discovering their true selves, and battling evil head on. This novel was fast paced from the beginning which I thoroughly enjoyed. It did, on occasion, jump from one period of time to another quickly causing me to wonder what happened during that time frame. It did end on a cliffhanger, leaving me desperately wanting to read the next in this series.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary review copy. In no way has that influenced my voluntary review.

First off, this book gave me all the Harry Potter vibes with the school of magic and interesting world and characters. The writing was okay but I never felt fully pulled into the story. I felt a little confused at times with some of the world-building and the pace of the story. I wished that there was a little more clarification on the magical system and the world itself.

Overall, it was enjoyable - but just felt a little slow at times. The exciting plot points didn't happen until later in the book so the first half I felt bored and almost stopped reading a few times. This is a 3 star read for me. It was okay but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to others.

The Crowns of Croswald is a great middle grade fantasy! Ivy, Rebecca, and Fyn are all very likeable characters. The author did a great job with her fantasy world building. I don't read many middle grade books but I really enjoyed this one. The scenery sounded amazing and the side characters were amusing. I would recommend this to young readers who like magical stories as well as adults who want a lighter fantasy read.

I always enjoy picking up a Middle Grade novel and this one did not disappoint. It was really reminiscent of Harry Potter with the magical school but a it stood out in a unique and imaginative way. As an adult reading the middle grade novel it did seem more age appropriate for a little bit older audience with the storyline but apart from that it was interesting and kept me hooked.

The main character Ivy was determined and stubborn and ready to do her best, while of course getting into some trouble along the way. Definitely perfect for fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

Whimsical, engaging and age appropriate.

It is my hope that this reveiw is fair as middle grade fantasy is not my usual fantasy choice. Due to its more juvenile themes, I didn’t read this book as quickly as I do others. That being said, I was pleased to find it very age appropriate for younger readers with no adult themes that would be of concern to parents. I also think young readers would like this! The pacing was good, the plot interesting and the world delightfully quirky.

I did feel that the basic premise was a bit toooo similar to Harry Potter. An orphaned child who grows up in a less than ideal situation with no love receives an invitation to attend a magical school. She takes truly unique transportation into a magical townsite where she can purchase all she needs for her school year. As she discovers more about her family, she learns the Dark Queen wants her dead. Their are characters who will remind you of Dumbledore, Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy.

The plot does drift away from that of Harry Potter but still the early similarities were a little on the nose for me. Still, it’s not likely to bother children and I would still happily recommend this book to middle grade readers.

This book was such a wonderful breath of fresh air. The Crowns of Croswald is the beginning to a middle grade series about a magic school. After the author of my favorite series about magical schools turned out to be extremely problematic, I was more than excited to give this one a try. It definitely delivered. This book has many wonderful characters, solid world building, and some really interesting magical concepts. Our main character Ivy is a fascinating character who really starts to come into her own over the course of this book. I loved her perspective and seeing the world through her eyes. It's also such a fast read, it just flies by. I will definitely be picking up the next books in the series, and I can't wait to see where this one goes.

I would like to thank NetGalley and danielastoriesuntoldpress on Instagram for giving me an e-arc. My review is being left voluntarily and honestly.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I found the magic system and the school really interesting, though I did really struggle with the pacing of this book. At times, I felt extremely overwhelmed because it seemed like after something happens the book would time skip to the next event. I really wanted to see more of the normal days that the students and even Ivy went through. I would’ve loved to see more of her and Rebecca’s friendship, outside of them getting in to trouble, same other characters.

Another thing that pulled me out of the story from time to time was the sudden shift of narrating Ivy to narrating either something else or another person without a warning. Take the quill scene in the beginning for example, I was confused and it took me a second to fully grasp what I had just read. It pulled me out of the story completely. Same with randomly shifting to narrating to another character. It didn’t happen too often, but this is something that dragged my rating down as well.

Again, I LOVED the concept, the events and magic in this world really intrigued me, but I felt like there wasn’t enough fluff, which is a first for me. I adore Ivy and the other characters, the settings were explained beautifully. If there would’ve been more fluff per say, this could’ve been easily a four-four and a half star book for me. The author definitely has a way with words and dragging readers into the world they’re building.

Ivy Lovely, who grew up dreaming of magic, gets an unexpected invitation to attend the Halls of Ivy, the hallowed magical school of Croswald - where she will join royals and scrivenists in learning to harvest their powers.

But when she gets there, strange things keep happening - why can she remember things she's supposed to forget, who is that man she keeps seeing in her dreams, and why does the Dark Queen always show up around her?

This is the first book in the series, so understandably it's full of world-building - setting the time and place, pulling the reader into the magical world of Croswald, and introducing the reader to the characters.

However, I felt like it fell a little short from that - it wasn't as immersive as I would have liked. The story was more on "telling" and not "showing" which is a sad thing for a fantasy. The pacing was also a bit slow for me, as nothing exciting happened until about 70% of the book.

I didn't connect with the characters at all - Ivy was too stubborn and impulsive, not caring about the consequences of her actions because everything just seemed to happen for her (too easily).

This was my first fantasy read after a while, and I'm realizing that maybe middle-grade fiction or YA is not for me anymore. Oh well, tastes change.

Thanks to NetGalley and Stories Untold for the free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

This review will be posted in Goodreads and Instagram as well.

Crowns of Croswald is set in the magical world of… you guessed it… Croswold! Where currently the Dark Queen rules after the last of the previous queenly line died.

I really enjoyed the world building in this novel, feeling thoroughly emersed in the school and with all the characters. Ivy was a really fun main character, never afraid to get into trouble and explore everything to do with the mystery she feels deep in her bones.

If you’re looking for a fun YA Fantasy this is it! I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series already!

In the spirit of full transparency, the publisher, Untold Press, contacted me unprompted on Instagram. I was provided a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review and I appreciate the opportunity.

As a side note, I want to state that this book is very, very similar to the Harry Potter series. For those of us in the book community who have been harmed by that author’s rhetoric, this book may be difficult for you to love for that reason alone, so please let this serve as your trigger warning, if applicable. However, I did power through anyway and managed to finish the book, but I won’t pretend that the glaring similarities didn’t color this experience for me. Also, I find it alarming how similar they were outside of the fact that it is a series I can no longer enjoy. I can’t imagine if certain parties were alerted to this book they would be very happy.

Overall, this was a 1.5 star book for me, and has nothing to do with the issues listed above. I am an educator and am always on the lookout for new middle grade and YA books I can stock my classroom with and there is no way I would incorporate this book. Frankly, it’s boring and drags in parts that wouldn’t make it very enjoyable for students in the age group it targets. There were so many unnecessary details and the language, while gorgeous, included vocabulary that was far too advanced for any at this level.

Secondly, the characters were incredibly unlikeable. Once again, there were so many that were rip-offs of those in the Harry Potter franchise and they weren’t even good replicas. Harry, while he definitely had flaws, was never overly obnoxious or bratty, both qualities of the main character in this story. Also, it was nearly impossible to care about the villain or any of that arc because they didn’t seem to pose any real threat and weren’t at all scary. I don’t believe children need to be scarred to enjoy a story, or traumatized through reading about a villain, but there were so many eye roll moments I found I often had to force myself to go back and reread sections because I had started to skim.

Finally, the prologue almost made me stop reading. It was confusing in a way that nearly made me give up. I understand that it’s meant to spark interest, but if you confuse your readers this thoroughly, that isn’t going to be accomplished. It also didn’t really seem all that connected with the rest of the story. I’m still trying to figure out how it fits. To be quite honest, I imagine prologues like this are why publishers and agents often tell querying authors to not include one. Also, if this is meant for middle grade or YA readers (I still can’t decide who this book should be marketed toward because it skated along that line in a weird way the entire time), they wouldn’t keep going.

Again, I want to thank Untold Press, Netgalley, and D.E. Night for providing me a copy in exchange for my review, and I am so sorry I wasn’t able to give a more positive one.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Ivy had spent her days as a scaldrony maid in a castle hidden behind a magical barrier, dampening and shutting out the magical outside world from the mundane world of the castle grounds. That is until she is forced from her home and soon taken to a magical school for royals and scrivenists alike to learn and hone their magic. But, perhaps her new life is not all it seems, with an evil Queen making an appearance in the kingdom and the dark brood searching for something, or someone.

This book is whimsical and full of magic right from the beginning. Its themes are very much like the Harry Potter books or even The Chronicles of Narnia series, so I think any young reader who likes these will like this book too! It was really interesting to see magical creatures that we haven't seen before and learn about them as Ivy does too. The school is fantastic also, I really liked the idea of the different restaurants that have different food, hosts and chefs. Also, I fell in love with Humboldt the scaldron!

At first, I wasn't very sure if I liked this book or not, the first half of the book is very quick and jumps a bit so I felt it was a little hard to follow at times. I felt like some of the new things in the book that Ivy experiences for the first time could have been explained more and I had to guess for myself what these things are. But, the second half of the book really took off for me and I found I was much more interested in the direction that the plot was heading.

Overall, I think that the whole premise of this story is very interesting and I always love reading a book from a strong female POV, I'm looking forward to reading the next one so I can learn more about Ivy and the magical world she lives in! I also want to mention that the book has lovely artwork on each chapter page!
4/5 stars

Made me feel like I’m 11 again. I love schools of magic, gave me so much of a Harry Potter vibe. At first it was kinda slow since I was only getting to know the names, the terms and the places. But after knowing everything I was really enjoying it so much. I got so curious about what’s gonna happen that I was not able to put my Kindle down.

Reading only the first book is like a tease. I need to know more. I can’t wait to know more about the story, the school and the Dark Queen.

This book is what I actually need after reading 5 romance books in a row 😆 Shared it with my little cousin and she loved it too.

Thank you so much NetGalley 💕

The Crowns of Croswald reminds of Harry Potter. I think that middle-grade readers will enjoy it. There were things that I enjoyed and I believe that it’s good book, but I wasn’t the right audience. I love fantasy books, but sometimes I had hard time reading due to the fact that the characters are quite young. So, I believe that readers close to the characters’ age and those who enjoy middle-grade literature will enjoy even more. Overall, it’s a good book and it has a great writing style.

[This review is also posted on GoodReads and Barnes & Noble. Review on GoodReads is attached]

A fun fantasy option for younger audiences. Good imagery throughout with world building and magic. An ideal read for YA who enjoy Harry Potter and the world of magic.

This was a good book. I now this book is leaning more towards younger readers and I feel like I would have enjoyed it more if I was younger. However, I thought the story itself was interesting and easy to follow. I did enjoy where the story led and I think the rest of the series could be interesting.

I will say that there are a few similarities to Harry Potter, but it didn't affect the way I read the book at all. I thought the idea of scrivenists was actually really interesting and I loved reading about it. Honestly, I wished theree was more detail about what scrivenists do and the kinds of things Ivy was learning about in school as it was kind of glazed over. However, maybe there's more information in the other books.

I enjoyed seeing Ivy make friends and new relationships. This definitely gave a good insight into who Ivy is as a person and a friend. However, I found that we missed the growth in the relationship with one of the characters and never really got to see how deep their relationship was.

Overall, it was a good book and I would definitely recommend this book to younger readers.

The Crowns of Croswald is a middle-grade fantasy I’ve heard compared to Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. While CoC has a wonderful magic system, I find it much more whimsical and fantastical.

The way Ivy carries herself seems a bit young for sixteen years, but her inquisitiveness, love for schooling, and intrinsic optimism are infectious.

I found the pacing quite quick and jumpy throughout the first half of story, making it somewhat hard to follow. But once I reached about 60%, the writing and the story came together and finished beautifully.

Something I would have loved to have had more of was relationship building between Ivy, Fyn, and Rebecca. It came and went in such short spurts until that 60% mark. But I felt throughout the first half of the book Ivy was just floating through the story with wise old men as friends.

I look forward to more of Ivy’s story in the Town of Belzebuthe!

This book was so magical and sent me on a nostalgic journey of my childhood as it had certain similarities or influences from Harry Potter. With a strong female lead, Ivy has unknown powers and as she crosses a magical boundary, she discovers a fantastical land.

It was probably a little young for me, but it is a magical story that I think many of oils enjoy!

I will say this books has great world building, it was easy to picture the setting and scenes and forget you’re reading. Cute premise, likeable characters, I really liked the FMC Ivy, she’s adventurous and brave. I just kind of feel like maybe it was too similar to HP. I know it’s marketed for fans of the HP series, it was just too close for me - even a lot of the characters were very comparable. I feel like for HP fans it can go either way, it could feel nostalgic or it could feel a bit like a knock off - I’m somewhere in the middle. I did enjoy the plot and pace.

Honestly was a bit dull. The fantasy was mid tier, and while it reminded me of Harry Potter, it was bland. There were too many plot holes, and not enough character development.

This was not my cup of tea, but I understand the appeal. Definitely suitable for young readers with its Harry Potter vibes. The romance seemed to both come out of nowhere and be completely obvious and seemed quite forced (I use the term romance loosely). It jumped around a lot and action seemed quite rushed. Again, I am coming to this from a high fantasy reader so while this was not for me, I do think young people will enjoy it more than I did.