I DNFd this one.

I've seen so many people saying this is the new Harry Potter and I just couldn't vibe with it at all. I really wanted to like it but I just couldn't get into it and didn't want to pick it up.

However, I am aware that I'm not the target audience and although I do read the odd middle grade, I tend to prefer middle grade that has spooky elements.

I was hesitant at first to read this book when it was offered to me by Stories Untold (instagram). It’s been a while since I read a middle grade fantasy book. But since it’s a fantasy book, and I love that genre so much, I gave in.

I’m glad I did!!! First, the book was indeed magical. You can imagine how the entire world looks like just by reading it. Second, the story picks up immediately around chapter two when they introduced Ivy Lovely. I’m so used to fantasy books picking up around the middle already. I guess the author wrote it in a way that those teens who are just starting to read, or trying to get into reading will further be inspired to finish the book and love it.

Over all I love it. I recommend it to my daughter as well. She likes the film adaptation of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter but those series requires reading commitment for her very young age. 😅 But this book is a fast and easy read which I’m pretty sure she’ll devour in a day or two as well.

Such a fun, whimsical fantasy that swept me away into its magical world. I struggled a little bit in the beginning to keep everything straight, but I’m positive that’s only because I’m an aphant and can’t see anything in my mind.

Ivy Lovely is a Scaldrony Maid and has grown up in a castle surrounded by slurries. When she finds herself ousted from the castle, she is suddenly thrown into the adventure of a lifetime! She’s told she has magical blood, a sqwinch, and will be admitted to study at The Halls to become a Scrivenist. Throughout her first year of study, she makes friends, gets in trouble and attracts the unwanted attention of The Selector one too many times. What is so special about Ivy Lovely? She’s even brought the Dark Queen to The Halls!

What a magical story and book! Throughout the entirety of The Crowns of Croswald I felt as though I was transported into a magical realm and taken on an adventure with Ivy, the main character. This story definitely had points that reminded me of Harry Potter without being too similar and so if you’re looking to fall into a new magical world that is reminiscent of the vibes that the Harry Potter series gave off then this is perfect for you! As I was reading, I was picturing a movie playing in my head and would absolutely love to see this on the big screen one day. I do wish that I had read this when I was younger as I feel that I wasn’t able to fully connect to the story due to my age but it was wonderful, nonetheless. This is really the perfect book to get younger teens into fantasy and reading as it was easy to read and quick paced. Thank you so much to NetGalley and D.E. Night for the eArc copy of this book!

I liked this book and thought it was entertaining. It is YA, so keep that in mind! The world building and magic of it is fun and not like anything I have read before. It is a fast paced book for the most part, but I did not find myself connecting with any of the characters.

This was a magical feel good fantasy. I truly loved this book and could tell that the author was inspired by some of their childhood favorites like Harry Potter however this story was all their own. I loved the idea of a magic school for royalty and their potential advisor/sorcerers. The magic system itself was also interesting for example the Scrivenists (wizard/witches) had photographic memory and could use their quills to do some spells. That alone would have made this book worth reading but the author also included a lost princess, a curse that had to be broken, evil queen, a love interest and some other mysteries. I felt totally immersed in the world of Croswald and would therefore recommend every young fantasy reader pick this up.

This was such a fun read! If you’re into magic or things similar to Harry Potter I definitely recommend this. The relationships between the characters I absolutely adore, and I most definitely loved the ending! Definitely recommend:)

3,5*
This book was provided to me by the publisher for my honest opinion. Thanks for offering me this chance to get to know this series.

I always find it hard to give my opinion without mentioning specific events as an example, because I don't want to include spoilers. So I'll try to keep it more general ;)

It's a middle grade book and though I'm far beyond that (st)age in my life, I still read MG and YA books. Because they are often fun, eventful and quick reads and because English is a second language to me. I do read adult books, but sometimes the stories written for younger people are just a bit easier to get through.

As was the case with this book, The Crowns of Croswald. I liked it that a lot was going on. Maybe a bit chaotic at times, but for me it made it easier to keep myself focused on the story. I think it fits with the whirlwind of thoughts and events going through and around Ivy, the main character. As she leaves her really small world and starts discovering the world and herself.

Regarding her friends, I missed getting to know them better. Besides their characters, in way of behaviour, we know very little about them. They felt a bit flat because of that. I would have loved to learn more about them. Their background. But maybe we will find out more in the next books?

The world building was not extensive, but enough for this story I think. The magical world and its beasts, customs and magical rules were clear too me. Some of the creatures are quite fun. In the beginning I had to look up some words to find out if they existed or where imagined by the author. But besides that it was all easy to follow.

Though I liked the general story, some things didn't add up, or people said one thing and acted the other. It didn't always make sense.
But, still I liked this adventurous and magical story enough to want to read the rest of this series. I already ordered the second book.

*gifted this book in exchange for an honest review*

I want to first start out by saying thank you to the author, publisher, and team who sent this book over to me in hopes of me liking it. I do appreciate being thought of.

I tried to finish this book but I was unable to. It was extremely slow paced, confusing and hard to follow. I stopped at about 27%. I believe this is a YA book but if young people are reading it I am surprised if they can understand what’s going on. I’m unsure if the slang is different because it seemed to be like UK English and not American English.

The best part about this book was the beautiful chapter pages. I hate to leave a bad review but I couldn’t follow what was going on. I’m sure it’s amazing to those that love it but it just wasn’t for me.

Review

I was given a copy of The Crowns of Croswald through NetGalley! Thank you Daniela for reaching out and letting me read this story!

I had read reviews before reading this book and people said it was similar to Harry Potter. I have to disagree. Yes there is magic and magical beings but I don’t think it relates to the Harry Potter series in any type of way.

I personally think this is a cute little read. I would think the age range would be between 8-14. It’s a quick/fast pace book. There were times I got confused and felt like the story was all over the place though. I also do feel like more things could have been explained or drawn out more.

I don’t feel like the characters had much development but since this is the first book, I’m sure the next in the series will go more into depth or at-least that’s what I’m hoping for. All in all, the story is worth the read. If you like fantasy and magic then this I would definitely recommend this book!

Hi! The Crowns of Crosswald by D.E. Night are a fantasy series for middle school graders. If you want to know whether this book is worth reading, this is the post for you! I’m going to keep this review short and sweet :)

Reasons to read The Crowns of Crosswald

Firstly, I will begin by saying that this is a book I would have absolutely loved as a middle grader and would definitely recommend it to children above the age of 8 years. The writing was simple but full of great vocabulary. The books were written beautifully in a manner where it’s as if you are seeing the story through Ivy, the protagonist’s eyes itself!

The plot was great and unpredictable. But what made me really love this book was the no added drama. Usually, in a lot of books you see a lot of angst created just to lengthen the book and that often ruins it but this was not the case here. There was just the perfect amount of angst, no more, no less.

The characters are wonderful! Well- rounded personalities that were larger than life. One thing that I especially liked was that Ivy was not a helpless protagonist who needed saving. She was smart, resilient, loyal and in no way, helpless.

The ending practically makes you continue reading the series. Without giving too many spoilers away, the book ends with Ivy being in danger and having to train and continue her studies at The Town. Having been introduced to it in the prologue, you, as a reader are intrigued to know more about The Town. Moreover, there are so many questions yet to be answered. Will Ivy’s friends go to The Town with her? What will the Dark Queen do next? Do we see Rimbrick in the next book?

Honestly, the book sucked me in right from the beginning and I recommend it for children above the age of 8! Thank you for my free digital copy of this book in exchange for this honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and D.E. Night’s publicist for the copy of the novel and honest review.

I was approached to give an honest and fair review of “The Crowns of Croswald”.

This was a quick and fun read but it needed to have characters flushed out more. I could make so many comparisons to a beloved Wizard and his tale but Night is trying to make this story her own.

Ivy is an orphan working in the castle kitchen, when by chance she gets the opportunity to attend the famous magical school. Here she meets a variety of students, some friends and some foes.

The elements of the book are interesting but I would have liked more of them rather than rushing through them, which it often felt like.

For any one who loves magical mysteries, this would be a good read for you. Overall I enjoyed it and was happy to be able to review it.

This book is like a younger version of Harry Potter! I loved the magic and the plot but i did find it a bit too young for me

It also took so long for me to read this but when i did, i was glad!

I have only recently delved into middle-grade reads and fantasy is not a genre I would normally pick for myself, however, after reading 'The Crowns of Croswald' by D.E Night I will be picking up more books such as this one.

What a magical and engaging read this was. The entire story enthralled me from the cute illustrations at each chapter head to the magic and adventure to Ivy as a whole. The world-building and character development surprised me to no end.

This book was easy to read and understand despite it being rather chunky and extensive. I would absolutely recommend this to a middle-grade book lover of fantasy.

Thank you NetGalley and Untold Stories for allowing me to read this fantastical book.

This story sparked a nostalgic nerve with me, a young orphan finding out that they are in procession of great magic and is spirited away to a magical Hall of learning. Ivy Lovely finds the things she’d been dreaming of; the friends she’s wanted, the chance to gain knowledge, the halls of the very castle she’s been exploring in her dreams and possibly most important- a place to belong.
The twists and turns of Ivy’s adventures are one I’ll not soon forget.

“They, I am certain, will come to find you soon.”
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This book felt like being back in the world of Harry Potter. A young girl, Ivy, who’s been a maid within a castle has always wished to have magic. She’s befriended a dwarf that has told her, so many stories of the world and all it’s magic. Until one day, everything changes for Ivy. She crosses over the fields and is brought to a school for magic. Things aren’t making sense to Ivy. Something is off, but what could it be. Does Ivy really possess magic or is this all some kind of crazy dream? Dive into this wonderful world and find out.
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This book is very much young adult. There is absolutely no romance. It focuses solely on Ivy’s first year at school and all the oddities happening around her. The POV in this book was one of my least favorite things. It would start in Ivy’s pov and then randomly switch to third person. Sometimes it would randomly switch to another character and then back to Ivy. It got confusing at times. The story itself moves very well within the school as Ivy is searching for answers, but any action scenes were sometimes rushed or lacking details. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. If you enjoy young adult adventure and magic I suggest giving this book a try.

Thank you to D.E. Knight and Daniela at Stories Untold Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

I thought that this story had a lot of potential and I really did enjoy my time reading it. It is fairly fast-paced and has Iikeable characters and an intriguing plot that kept my attention throughout my time reading it

That said, I did think that it fell short of what it could have been. I had a really hard time understanding the world-building portion of the book. This may have partially bee because I dont often read fantasy novels -someone who reads more fantasy novels than I do might have been able to grasp some of the key aspects of the world that Knight creates in this book, but it really did take me some time. In particular, I didn't feel like the explanation of a scrivenist (one of the two types of people with magical abilities) was very clear. I know that when authors write stories such as this the goal is to "show"
the reader rather than "tell." But I could've used a bit more tell in order to more clearly understand certain parts of this novel.

I also felt ike the passage of time in this story was too inconsistent. Sometimes, a single day spans several chapters, but in one part, the chapter literally opens with, "seven moons had past" - when the story in question takes place over the duration at a school year, that's basically the entire school year that gets skipped over! It came off as trying to meet a page restriction by cutting out the entire middle of the novel. I would've preferred to have seen the events take place a bit more evenly over the span of time. I think that would've felt more natural.

One thing that thought D.E. Kright did really well was that this felt like an original story. It can be hard to read books about magical schools without immediately thinking of Hogwarts. There were parts that reminded me of Hogwarts, but to the greatest extent possible with the category of magical schools, this felt very original. I think that's a huge achievement for an author writing in this genre!

If you are a fan of Harry Potter and want to magic to live on, you should read this. Though the story lacked  a bit of originality because some parts greatly reminded me of Harry Potter, it still felt different and I still enjoyed the book a lot.
 
The introduction showed great world building. We were introduced to Ivy, the main character and the magical world in a way that piques our imagination. Dragons, dwarves, cabby drivers, castles, porcupines, potions, quills – all so creative and imaginative in setting up this Town and magical school. Although I felt like we were missing a few pages because the story started out slow with the world building and then suddenly she is breaking the rules and doing adventures. While I was reading it, I felt like  missed something because all of a sudden Ivy is this daring girl.
 
The magic system is really interesting. I especially enjoyed the part with the Hollow Shaft. I would’ve loved to see more of what the royals and what the scrivenists could do. But, maybe in the next books there’d be more details.

This book is the first in a series, even though I enjoyed it, I don’t think I will carry on with the rest. This isn’t just the kind of books for me now, maybe if I was younger I would’ve enjoyed it more. This is perfect for kids at heart!

*I was given a copy of this book for free, to review. All thoughts are mine and not influenced by the publisher.

I loved the story description of this book, sadly it took me a long time to actually get into it, i found it confusing in parts, but once I did I did enjoy it.

I think overall it was a brilliant story, bringing such fun magical mystery to it. A Harry Potter vibe!

*Copy provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

A fun middle grade novel, the start of a new magical series. The worldbuilding is divine and I enjoy the magic greatly. However, there appear to be some plot holes here and there and some of the character development and plot points were not as interesting as the rest of the world and magic. Still, enjoyable.