⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you so much to Stories Untold Press for sending me an e-copy of the book in exchange for a read and honest review.

First off, if you're into Harry Potter and/or Cinderella, then this is the story for you. The Crowns of Croswald narrates the journey of 16-year-old Ivy Lovely as she goes from a girl working as a maid in a mundane world to a scrivenist in training in a magical world protected by an enchanted border. It's a fantasy of fairy tales, magical worlds, and coming-of-age stories.

This is the first book in a trilogy and I personally really enjoyed the plot's trajectory. It was a pretty easy read (I'd say middle-grade fantasy) for me and also felt really nostalgic. Since this is the first book in a trilogy, expect it to be a lot of world-building as we're introduced to new characters, places, and concepts. So, with that said, it can seem a bit too slow for some at first. But it does get more interesting and plot-driven as the story continues to unravel and more pieces of the puzzle come together for both Ivy and the reader.

I did give it four stars though because a lot of things addressed in the beginning didn't really make sense until the very end of the book. I do get that it was part of the mystery but they could've been explained better earlier on.

Nonetheless, I do recommend this for young readers who love fantasy or just want a pretty easy introduction to the world of fantasy writing!

Plus it seems like there might be some romance 😉

This book has a lot of potential.

The premise was really interesting but I feel like the world building could have been done better.

It took a while for me to get into the book as it felt confusing at times, as if I was meant to have prior knowledge of this world before picking up the book.

I feel like I got a small insight into Ivy and the other characters, but I would have loved to have seen more development of their respective relationships.

I received a review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to Stories Untold Press and Netgalley for a free e-copy in exchange for a free review!

I loved this book so much! This review isn't going to be super detailed (because I've found out writing a lengthy review is exhausting) but here we go!

First, this book is a super cute and clean middle grade fantasy with strong Harry Potter vibes. while also leaning into the lost princess trope (somewhat spoiler, but not really because most readers will have figured the big twist out by the time it's revealed). The magical world is enchanting and very original. I was eager to learn about each and every new element that our main character Ivy came across with during her adventures.

Speaking of Ivy, all the characters are well-rounded and well written. Ivy's love for learning and adventure is so relatable and I wished I could actually be there with her along her journey. Even with what's revealed about her mysterious history by the end, there's enough yet to be revealed to get you excited about the sequels. Rebekah is a great best friend and I absolutely love the loyal and charming Fyn. The budding romance between Ivy and Fyn is downright adorable and I ship them super hard. The lack of information on the dark queen makes her ominous just enough to keep you excited for her final appearance, and then when she dramatically reveals just how terrifying she is it's hard to stop reading.

A small complaint is that I wish there would have been a bit more explanation of new magical creatures and elements. Ivy is thrown into the magic world rather quickly and she learns very fast, but the reader has to keep up a little bit. Some more discussion of Ivy's instinctual magic would have grounded the plotline a bit more too. But overall the plot moves fast enough throughout the school year's timeline to keep you entertained with enough slow moments to let characters bond and keep you intrigued in the mysteries surrounding Ivy. I also wish some non-magical elements of the story had been a bit more original, like the rich kid who bullies the main character and blaming them for problems rich kid caused, but this wasn't too much of a big deal or distraction. And the magic system and original magical creatures (DOG SIZED PET DRAGON!) make up for it.

I don't have too much more to say, but TL;DR: this book is so charming I'll be buying a physical copy and the next book in the series as soon as possible!

Shorehorses, Black Unicorns, and Hairies.
Finally a magical school I’d like to attend.

The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night is the beginning of an imaginative middle grade series, featuring Ivy Lovely whose curiosity leads her on a series of adventures.

Growing up as an orphaned scaldrony maid in the castle, Ivy’s life was rather mundane, until mishap with a scaldron dragon on Moonsday caused her to flee. She discovers an invitation to the Halls of Ivy, a school where students learn how to master their magic. Unaware of her source of magic, she tries to unlock the clues while trying to outsmart the Dark Queen.

I’m not going to lie. I’m not a fan of middle grade magic school books. I feel like it’s an overused trope- where it follows the same old rubric. And I’m here to tell you, that I enjoyed The Crowns of Croswald immensely.

It was my first NetGalley download, and I read it, surprised by my enjoyment. Bought the series directly from the author -her website is gorgeous by the way- and recently reread it to be sure. This book is unique and creative, and was clearly written by someone whose whole heart is in Croswald. It reads like a young girl’s dreamscape, fleshed out into a fully realized fantastical world.

I’m looking forward to reading this aloud to my kids soon, and continuing on with Ivy Lovely and her adventures.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to @storiesuntoldpress for the digital copy of The Crowns of Croswold.

What a lovely middle grade fantasy read. I had so much fun delving into this magical world and following along with Ivy as she learns about her own abilities and history. The magical boarding school, powerful quills, and cast of characters are all pure whimsy.

I read this one without the fam this time but I know this is something my daughter would enjoy as well. I will definitely be purchasing a hard copy (and the next 2 in the series) for us to read aloud together. Good news? The fourth installment is set to come out in January, 2022!

I was thrilled when the publisher @storiesuntoldpress messaged me to gift me this book for review.

The Crowns of Croswald by D. E. Night is a beautiful middle grade, fantasy novel. It follows a young maid call Ivy Lovely. At the age of 16, Ivy is throw out of the home where she was a maid and discovers that she has been invited to the Halls of Ivy to learn magic. As the story progresses, Ivy discovers more about her past and her destiny. I loved this book and can’t wait to read the sequel!

Rating: 4⭐️

The Crowns of Croswald is a fun read! I’ll be honest and say that the similarities to that very well-known boy wizard had me a little distracted at first. But after the first quarter, the story came into its own.
The writing is descriptive and atmospheric. I loved the creative ideas: the scaldron dragons – flightless, potbellied dragons who cook the food. The hairies – little fairies who live inside the lanterns and light up. The glanagaries, the Hollow Shaft – if you want to know what those are, you’ll have to read the book!
I enjoyed the world building. Ivy Lovely is a great protagonist, humble, brave and, well, lovely. Lovely by name, lovely by nature. I liked Ivy’s group of friends, Rebecca and Fyn. There are other great characters, some of which I wished I had heard from more.
I felt that the story ended a little abruptly, but in general, I enjoyed it. It’s a great book. Lovers of fantasy and magic will love it, young and old alike.
It’s a trilogy, and I will definitely be buying the whole set.

A magnificent world of magic, detailed narration and unique magic system. I love books revolved around books and writing. However I hope I can dive deeper into who Ivy really is, I barely know her by just her action, decision and other characters' describing her. There's a distance between the me (the reader) and Ivy. Since it's the first book, I think it's okay that everything seems randomly summoned, like some unrelated things being told one after another which don't really connect to the end of the book. Also, I feel that everything is being overpowered by the great world building, including the characters and the plot.

I was not able to get into this book, so I will not be reviewing at this time, since I have not finished it. If I end up reading it at a later date, I will review at that time. Thank you!

This middlegrade was a fun read. I really liked the magic system and the world-building (the parts that weren't copied from HP).

If you are a hardcore HP Fan, I would not recommend this, since you certainly will see a lot of similarities.

The plot is a bit cluttered, there's a lot going on and that feels confusing sometimes.

The writing style was not quite my thing, everything seemed a bit abrupt and choppy, but this was a debut book and I see a good chance that might have improved with later books.

The ending was a mix of surprising and foreseeable, so overall I thought it was good. Would be interested in picking up the next book in the series.

Book review: The Crowns of Croswald – D.E. Night
Ages 8-14

My thoughts:

This book is perfect for younger readers who love stories set in interesting and whimsical worlds involving a magical boarding school and a unique main character! D.E. Night has mastered the skill of world-building. Every description of the town or school was so vivid it felt like I was actually standing there! This was definitely a highlight for me! I’m a sucker for atmospheric reads.

I really enjoyed Ivy’s character. She’s a girl who wears her heart on her sleeve and has an adventurous spirit. I think she is definitely a character that most can relate to. I enjoyed learning about this magical world and discovering Ivy’s magical abilities throughout the book. However, I wish there was more information on the magic system and some of the characters like The Dark Queen and The Selector.

The story is action packed and includes an interesting mystery that will keep you intrigued to the very end. I also loved the imaginative elements included in the story. For example, I found the cabbies and their travelling system quite interesting and humorous. I also absolutely adore Humbolt! Definitely the VIP of the story for me.

Overall, The Crowns of Croswald is and enjoyable middle grade fantasy novel that will whisk you away on a magical adventure alongside Ivy Lovely. You will discover the Halls of Ivy and learn all about scrivenists, quills, ink and more. This book ends with a cliffhanger but, it’s the first book in a series so the adventure continues!

A superbly written fantasy world that completely immersed me in the sounds, smells and sights of the world of Croswald. I felt like this book was a cross between Harry Potter and the Morrigan Crow series, both of which I adore. I felt the character of Ivy written younger than 16 and so would classify this as a middle-grade as it did not have the features of a YA book. The story was evocative and had me wishing that they would just tell me already what I had suspected. The book rushed a bit at the end to answer these questions, but understand that it was leading up to the next book in the series. Overall really enjoyed the reading experience and look forward to finding out what happens next to Ivy.

This has a great premise and a beautiful cover. I think this is a book that I’d need a physical copy to actually have the motivation to pick up as I can’t seem to find myself gravitated towards it. This isn’t a problem from the book that’s just that my interests aren’t swayed towards it anymore.

This book was so fun. It started out little bit slow. Not in the sense that I was bored but in that I felt a little lost, almost like I started a series in the middle. It took me a little bit to get a handle on it but once I did, I fell in love with Ivy and her friends. I got quite emotional at the end and I would love my children to read this book.

Initial thoughts:

The Crowns of Croswald was a magical read. It’s the perfect fantasy book for younger readers - I can imagine myself at that age wishing to attend the Halls of Ivy and be a royal or a scrivenist! The magic system was interesting and I loved the idea of the gems in the crowns having different powers - I thought that was really unique and fun. I liked all of the characters, I think Ivy was a very strong protagonist, and I enjoyed her interactions with the other characters.
All in all, this is a fantasy book that is perfect for middle grade readers.

Full Review:

Overall: 4/5
Overall, I enjoyed the book. I wish there had been a glossary of some of the magical terms, as it took a while to understand some parts, which could be a struggle for younger readers. The world building was solid and believable, and I loved all of the little details sprinkled throughout.

Plot: 3/5
I thought the plot was very steady throughout, with some interesting twists and turns along the way. I spaced out my reading of this book more than I usually would, and each time I read more it was easy to get back into the plot and what was happening. I wish we could have seen more of Ivy's time in classes as I felt those scenes were really strong and dove into the magic system more. I also would have liked to get to know some of her classmates better.

Characters: 4/5
The characters in this book are all interesting. Each character has their own unique backstory and motivation. I really enjoyed Winsome as a character, and the mystery surrounding Derwin Edgar Night from the first chapter.

Writing: 4/5
The writing was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed some of the more lighthearted scenes a lot. I found the dialogue to be slightly stilted in places, but overall that wasn’t a major issue. I really loved the world of Croswald, and I’m sure I’ll be recommending this book to my younger relatives!

I really wanted to like this book. I liked that it promised a strong female lead and a fun-and-peril-filled fantasy world. Several reviews I read before agreeting to review it assured that all "lovers of Harry Potter" would enjoy The Crowns of Croswald. And while I am sure some Harry Potter fans have also enjoyed this book I found that the similarities were so great that, rather than enjoying this book on its own merits, I was constantly comparing and contrasting it to J.K. Rowling's magical world. I also sometimes found that the nuances of this magial world were difficult to follow. Because D.E. Night thrusts readers directly into this world of scrivens and scaldrons, rather than slowly building a magical world from the regular human world (as Rowling does) I found as a reader I was playing catch-up to the characters and their environment. While this was challenging for me (I don't read a lot of fantasy) for die-hard fantasy fans this may not be a concern.

What I did like about this book, however, was that it delivered on the strong female lead. Ivy was a delightful character, and I found myself cheering for her from early in the story.

This was the first fantasy novel I have read in a long time and I really enjoyed it!

The Crowns of Coswald by D.E Night (the first in a series) was a completely magical and whimsical adventure that followed Ivy’s journey with her two closest friends. With its own uniqueness, this story was about the realisation of the possibility to be more than people say you are.

A HUGE thank you to Stories Untold and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book to read in exchange for an honest review and following of the author’s account!

I was offered a copy of this book on NetGalley by a publicist in exchange for a review and for follows on social media sites. I was excited to be asked and excited by the book’s description, as well as a glowing review left by a Goodreads account that I follow.

This is the first in a series, with three books already published and a fourth and final book expected in January 2022.

D. E. Night is both the author’s name and the name of an important character in this fictional world. I struggle, I admit, with this seeming self-insertion because it is so frowned upon by those who think that they write “better” fanfiction, but I endeavor to look past my biases. Self-insertion has a long and glorious history, and while we might laugh at, we still revere Dante Alighieri as a writer.

There are many parallels to be drawn here between the Harry Potter series. I KNOW and am perpetually annoyed that people say that so often in reviews, but in this case, I actually think the comparison is warranted. There is a hidden village beside a large castle for magical education, hidden from the eyes of the general non-magic, un-invited folk by magic and reached by a caravan of flying carriages, hidden too by magic, the insides of which resemble houses (as with Rowling’s Knight Bus). There are unusual, magical animals, tamed and used by magical people and non-magical too, and fairies for lights (here called “hairies” but conceptually very similar to the live fairy lights seen at Hogwarts over Christmas). There is even a small, aged, male professor so short that he must sit upon a pile of books to see his class (Professor Filbert Fenix and Professor Filius Flitwick) and a Jester who wears clothes similar to and fills the same role in the castle as Peeves the poltergeist (although the Jester seems also to be part of the kitchen staff). I am trying not to be too nitpicky in pointing out that the Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts is Rubeus (meaning “red”) and at the Halls of Ivy the locksmith is Ivory. Most of the characters in similar roles are gender-swapped though, with a female protagonist, a female head of the school, a female locksmith, and a pompous, rich, female bully.

I am currently reading Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger, and finding similarities between these two books as well. Adults around Ivy, protagonist of The Crowns of Croswald, and Sophie are obviously hiding information about the girls themselves from Ivy and Sophie. Ivy crushes on Fyn, a class facilitator in charge of helping first years. Sophie crushes on Fitz, an older student who excels in his classes and who introduces Sophie to the world of elves. There were moments reading these two books simultaneously that I got confused whether a misadventure had been Ivy’s or Sophie’s.

Really, “special” child at a magic school is its own genre of literature, and obviously a subgenre that I enjoy, and these three all fit in there nicely.

Unique to this world is the magic system, and that is immense and likely to be covered in even greater depth in later books in the series. Scrivenists have natural photographic memories that they hone in school while learning to control their quills (porcupine quills it seems rather than feathered ones, “porcupels”). Alongside the budding scrivenists (“sqwinches”) in school are the royals, whose magic comes from the crowns that they receive when they turn 16 and specifically from the stones set into those crowns. Scrivenists are eventually assigned to castles to live and study and aid the royals.

Night struggles with pacing, and I empathize because I struggle with exactly the same. There are elements of her story, introduced fairly early, that the author knows are significant, and Night keeps reminding the reader about these elements, though these mentions, these paragraphs of Ivy’s thought straying to those objects and ideas seem forced and unnatural and out of place. Night, this is SUCH a struggle for me too! I really, truly do empathize!

The POV is mostly limited to Ivy, but slips several times into omniscient or to another character without warning. Usually, I was able to quickly correct my POV to match the story’s though, and I know that I am biased towards a single, limited POV because it is so important to my story that I stick to that single POV to preserve the secrets that the protagonist doesn’t know.

I find that I struggle to keep the vast cast of characters in The Crowns of Croswald straight and that the wider cast is not as fleshed out as I would like them to be. This is another common struggle, a mark often missed in even the most lauded writers who try school fiction (I am thinking particularly of Delia Sherman). The characters that I do feel familiar with after reading The Crowns of Croswald are extremely likeable or unlikable as the story calls for them to be. Rebecca is one of the more fleshed out characters, having her own family and struggles with her identity. I would like for Fyn to be more than a tool for Ivy’s story, but I like him quite a bit. Damaris the bully I dislike as I am supposed to do. The Dark Queen was a nebulous threat until she was inches from Ivy, and then I was properly repulsed by her intentions even as I found her an intriguing villain, a more fleshed out character than I was expecting frankly.

But the story is exciting, with several turns, although I saw at least one of those coming from very near the beginning of the book.

I am interested in the larger story of this world, of the Dark Queen’s transformation, of how she will be vanquished, of Rimbrick, the Wandering Family, and the murdered Isabella. I wish to learn more about glanageries and how the different scrivenist and royal magics work. I want to know more about the world. I need to know more about the Selector and the Forgotten Room.

I do recommend this book, especially if you’re looking for another “chosen one” in a magic school story, unique magical beasts, or a story of curses and curses broken. I enjoyed the magic, the creatures, and the invented words especially, and I enjoyed the plot that let me explore such a clever, unique world.

I loved this book. I haven’t read a fantasy book in a while, and this book was exactly what I needed. It’s magical and whimsical world was a delight to read.

The book is about a girl named Ivy, who is thrust into the world into the world of magic, whereupon she realizes her true potential, her history and heritage. The magical creatures, the secondary characters and the plot are all so intriguing.

This is a definite re read for me. What a spectacular read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this novel. This was a fun magical world and I enjoyed the storyline and the characters, there were magical creatures which all middle grade books need.
Ivy’s story is one of learning who she is and what she can do, friends she makes along the way and her history she may or may not learn about. Fans of magic schools, friends and foes will enjoy this book.