This middle-grade book did not immediately grab me. I was intrigued for the first few pages, but I found the descriptions too wordy and complicated for a middle-grade novel. I found myself struggling to continue reading for about the first half, especially as the story progressed. While it does give you some Harry Potter vibes, it does not meet the magic and prose of that series that so easily shaped my childhood. I had looked forward to reading this novel based on the description but found myself disappointed through the first half.

That said, the second half of the story does a better job of drawing you into the tale. The events are well-paced and the writing, while the descriptions were sometimes overly complicated, does paint a vivid scene for the reader. I think this story would be great for advanced middle-grade readers or younger youths as it tackles those age-old questions of discovering your own self and how to own everything that you are, themes that these age groups tackle in their own lives.

I would have rated this book higher if not for the drag at the beginning of the story.

I received a copy of this on netgalley in return for an honest review.

Ivy Lovely has spent her entire life in the slurry fields and while there has always been something magical about her, she never dreamed she could become a scrivinist. When a carrage arrives for her to take her to school she doesn't believe she even belongs there. Past secrets, evil Dark Queen, new friends, and self discovery are all parts of this thrilling story. The pacing was perfect and every part of this had a purpose and progressed the story along. I can't remember the last time I read something with such amazing pacing. The story is full of secrets and excitement and the world building keeps you completely enthralled. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in a fantasy world with tons of secrets and a school setting.

I think one of the first things I noticed about The Crowns of Croswald is its magic system. I could see that it was inspired by Harry Potter, but as I read through the book, it took its own form, and I was very fascinated by it. The world-building around the magic system and in general is done well and holds up as you further progress into the book.

Ivy, the protagonist of the book, is a 16-year-old orphan who finds herself embroiled in some perilous situations involving magic when she arrives at the school. From this part, the story really picks up and becomes quite fast-paced. As much as I started loving Ivy, I was a little put off by how much she put her friends in danger through her actions. But besides this aspect, I really liked Ivy's character and I find her to be an interesting and unique character.

Coming to the climax of the book, I think it gets a little confusing and convoluted but as I read through the chapters, I fully managed to grasp what was going on.

Overall, D. E. Night has done a fantastic job with the world building in The Crowns of Croswald, which makes it a really fun middle-grade read.

The Crowns of Croswald is an apt read for the fans of Harry Potter. Ivy Lovely, an orphan, finds herself in a magical school, she only ever dreamed of. Her curiosity and her hunger for adventure was rather refreshing. All the characters were great and the world building was flawless.

“Mom says I drew all over the walls. You could imagine the day she bought me a proof pad! Good day for me, good day for the walls!”

D. E. Night wrote this book with a great pace and I found it to be an easy read. However, it was predictable and would definitely suit the younger readers more than it did me. Moreover, Ivy's relationship to the other characters needs more development.

"Though I should start anticipating your arrival wherever I go." “Well, great minds think alike, don’t they?”

I'd rate this a 3 stars and would recommend it for children who loves adventure or anyone who couldn't get enough of harry potter. I really loved how D. E. Night ended this story with a shade of mystery and an air of intruige, therefore allowing readers to want more from her world. I'd be happy to pick up the next book in this series. Thank you Netgalley, the author and the publisher [Stories Untold LLC] for providing the review copy.

Since English isn't my native language, I had a problem with understanding some terms and expressions, that's why it took me some time to finish it.
I don't read much fantasy any more, but this one was young adult with just enough magic and real life. Storyline is somehow similar with Harry Potter. I'm glad that we have heroine Ivy here, who is brave, although some "average girl", who goes on a life adventure and learns more about herself. She has a pet dragon, who is really cute and great attraction for the book. She has two great friends, who helps her get through school and life.

The story was interesting, full of surprises and twists I didn't predict. Writting style had an interesting flow, but after a while I got used to it's writting.

It's a nice read.

I had to be mindful that this book was written for younger audiences, so with that in mind. It's a pretty standard children's fantasy book.

One of my absolute favorite tropes is the lost heir or missing prince(ss), and this book covered that beautifully!

There were times when Ivy (the MC) did or said things that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. She doesn't necessarily treat her friends in the nicest way and there are no repercussions for this. Her behavior, speech, and actions don't translate to a 16-year-old very well. She seems younger than that.

It was interesting to see each student how their magic was different from the others, whether through stones or in other ways.

While I haven't read Harry Potter (shocker, I know) it did give off heavy similarities to the fandom. However, I would definitely recommend this book to my younger cousins and children in my life who are looking for fantasy and fun in their reading!

Thank you to the publisher - Daniela B and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions

🔮many thanks to stories untold for sending me this book to review! it’s been a while since i read any middle grade, and i enjoyed the opportunity to do so within such a whimsical world as croswald. (also i’m always down for recommending magical school alternatives to the younger generations that aren’t You Know What.) ivy lovely, our teenage protagonist, has spent her life as a scauldron maid (scauldrons are tiny dragons and i love them, especially humboldt), until the age of sixteen when shes kicked out of her place of employment and decides to forge her own path. this decision has more ramifications than she realizes, which come in the form of a flying rhino, turbulence, and lots of quills as shes whisked away to the magical school, the Halls of Ivy (coincidence???).

🔮i really like the conceit of magic as being created through writings and drawings; i think it’s quite fun and clever. i also would kill for a little tea brewing station built into my bed!! (@ikea, when??) i have to say, that while ivy is established canonically as 16, i’m not entirely sure if i’m sold on that. it might just be that i haven’t been sixteen in a few years, but she feels younger than a freshman in magical high school. overall i enjoyed this book and will probably read the follow ups, of which there are three (again, magical high school, you love to see it). i hope as i read the next books, the relationships between the main characters are explored more and allowed to strengthen.

🔮if you like magic schools, food-motivated water-horses, and those little bottles with ships inside them 😉, be sure to check out ‘The Crowns of Croswald’.

I was so enchanted with this world.

I want books I get lost in, and this one absolutely absorbed me. I loved the fantacy kingdom of Croswald and all the descriptions of the beasts, characters, settings, and of course, the food!

This series starts off with an outsider who has no background story. Ivy Lovely has lived an existence nobody would envy. After a particularly bad day Ivy is catapulted into a new life and an exciting, dangerous adventure. As she continues over obstacles she makes new friends and uncovers secrets many would kill to keep forgotten.

I didn't want this book to end, and luckily it's just the first book in the series! I can't wait to share these stories with my nieces.

This is such a fun, cute story! Has so many different magical elements you definitely feel like you’re transported to a different world. It was great seeing Ivy’s character learn and grow. The author has created a very special world for her characters. It's really a great story for young/middle readers.

The story follow Ivy Lovely who has lived in a mundane world for her entire life. She has many talents - a photographic memory, making perfect sketches of everything, remembering her dreams. After a series of events she crosses a border that separates her world from the magical, where she quickly becomes a student in a magical boarding school. Ivy has to quickly adapt in a new world and uncover some mysteries.

How cool is that?

What I liked:
- The whole story is a big adventure!
- The author build a great world with new magical words. Spells, items and creatures;
- It’s interesting to see the character’s development but also it was so fascinating to read more about scrivenists, ink, quills and storytelling!

What I didn’t like:
- The story is pretty much derivative of a Harry Potter, but it’s fine. After reading a lot of YA fantasy you see that most of them are the same old story.
- It starts real slow!
- The characters are supposed to be around 16 I think, but they behaved a little immature…

The book is middle-grade: there are a lot of adventures, action, a brave protagonist who is on a journey to discover herself and find her place in this new magical world. Younger readers would be interested in The Crowns of Croswald; me, as more of an adult already *crying*, would enjoy something more deep and complicated.

D.E. Night's The Crowns of Croswald is a wonderml world of whimsy! Set in an
immersive and richly detailed world, the story follows Iv Lovely, a former scaldrony maid, as she explore the secrets possibility of magical school, new friendships and a hidden past.

World building is D.E. Night's greatest strength. All of Croswald evokes strong imagery and we, as readers, ge to witness plenty of magical quirks. Night is committed to detailed descriptions, she works hard to ensure that
her readers can see her world as clearly as she can and to populate it with enough information for it to be believable. The result is a number of interestingly titled magic books and fascinating shops.

There are definite similarities between The Crowns of Croswald and some of the most popular children's fantasy books of our time. Fans of the early Harry Potter books, the Percy Jackson series, or even older-age-demographic Disney might enjoy The Crowns of Croswald.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
After all of the hype over how much this was like Harry Potter, I expected and hoped that I would enjoy this book, but it just didn't work for me. The world-building was stunning, but I just felt as if the characters didn't really stick with me, and it just ended up feeling kind of hard to read to me. I'm in the minority though, so it's probably just that it just didn't work with me.

I have to admit that I enjoyed this more than I expected to, since I'm not normally a reader of fantasy-type books but I was in the mood for something out of my comfort zone. In no time at all I was completely engrossed in the world of Croswald and the adventures of Ivy Lovely and her friends. I am definitely a new fan of Ivy, Croswald, and D.E. Night. My only "complaint", if you can call it that, is that I do wish we were able to learn more about the characters, especially Ivy and Fyn. Fortunately "Crowns of Croswald" is first in a series, so I am looking forward to spending a lot more time getting to know them. "The Crowns of Croswald" reminded me a bit of the Harry Potter and Miss Peregrine's series in all the best ways, but is still completely unique. If you enjoyed them, you will love The Croswald Series. Thank you so much to NetGalley, D.E. Night, and Stories Untold for offering me a copy of the book in return for my honest opinions.

This book is the fantasy story the school girl version of me was searching for what never found. It's a Harry Potter lovers delight, but a magic school and a hidden chosen one are all the tropes that are in common.
The magical world or Croswald is as multifaceted as are the Crown Stones of the Royals and the curiosity of the scrivenists.
The prologue plunges you into the world with no warning but a lot of foreboding, when I finally realised in Chapter 1 that it is Ivy who is the protagonist, I was thrilled.
The book is fast paced and ends on a satisfactory note yet has you curious for more. The division of labour in Croswald, between the magic practitioners and their studios archivists is so unique and amusing. The nerdy kids finally have a place of their own in the fantasy world.
The author creates wonderful friendships in Ivy's life, female friends, a mentor, a hidden helping hand, and a childhood guardian, all perfectly suited for their roles and compassionate in different ways.
This book will fill your imagination with wonderful sights, like you are in your own Glanagerie, read to know what that is!

The Crowns of Croswald is a compelling story of a 16 year old girl named Ivy Lovely who thinks she’s a nobody, just a scaldrony maid in Castle Plum. (And mind you scaldron dragons are my new favorite, I absolutely adore Humboldt!)

We learn right from the start that Ivy is a talented artist, who has repetitive dreams of a castle she’s never been too, and sketches it in secret in the night with her secret dwarf friend, Rimbrick. Rather quickly Ivy finds herself tossed from Castle Plum and on her own, but with an odd note and a generous gift from the vanished Rimbrick.

Ivy finds herself thrown into the magical world of Croswald and the Halls of Ivy. Her curiosity leads her into many adventures and much trouble as she seeks to find the meaning of her dreams, and ultimately she ends up finding out who she is without realizing her journey was about herself.

This book was a slow build for me at first, there is a lot we learn about Croswald, the Halls of Ivy, the Selector, squinches/scrivinests, royals, the Dark Queen, how this world works, how magic works, who has magic and more. All of this is very interesting and very well done, it just took me a bit to get through. Ivy’s character is very well fleshed out and I have a strong sense of who her character is and how she responds to situations. We also learn a little about a Royal character named Rebecca, and another older sqwinch, Fyn. I’m hoping in the next book I get to see more from these characters as I really felt they didn’t get enough “page time”.

DE Night has done a wonderful job creating Croswald and its workings, and there is the perfect amount of magic, mystery and adventure. I’m also hoping in the next book(s) we get to see a little more romance!

I really enjoyed this read that was offered to me via NetGalley and I look forward to reading the next books in the series as well as recommending this book to anyone who loves a middle grade fantasy. I know it’s been said it’s great for readers of Harry Potter and the like, and that is true. There are similarities between the two, but Croswald is also so different and definitely worth the read!

I really wanted to love this story. I wanted to love it so much that although I struggled to read it over a period of 2 months, I still persisted in the hopes that it would get better or something about it would click for me. I'm really sad to say that it never happened and it was with a great resounding sigh of relief that I finally came to the last page of this book. I feel terrible leaving a low rating, especially when the author's team did reach out to me to read it, but I did receive a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and an honest review I shall give it. It does seem that I'm very much in the minority with my feelings about this book though so perhaps it just really wasn't for me! 2 stars.

One of the first things you'll notice about this book, whether it's when actually reading it or when reading reviews about it, is how much it's compared to Harry Potter. There are definitely a lot of similarities from our protagonist, Ivy, growing up mistreated and living in a cupboard, to being magically sought-out one day and receiving an invitation to a prestigious magic school, to various elements of the school itself and the teachers as well. But while there were similarities, I think there's still enough difference in the magic, world-building and plot for it to stand out on its own, and I personally didn't feel that it was *that* similar. Although I had some issues with the writing, I have to acknowledge that there was a lot of wondrous creativity that went into the world-building. I thought the concept of scrivenry was so unique and something that I've never seen before. I liked the use of gem stones to differentiate magical abilities, and I also thought the different abilities were cool, especially the shapeshifting. I thought the magical creatures like hairies, the scaldrony dragons, and the shorehorse, and magical contraptions like the cabbie was also a very unique aspect of the story and they're things that I've never seen in other fantasies (so far as I can recall).

There was actually a lot to enjoy about the world that Night introduces in The Crowns of Croswald but it was the execution that I felt was underwhelming.

We're introduced to this world as if we should already be familiar with it, such as with how the world is laid out, how the magic works, the societal structure, etc., and I found that initially quite confusing though I was willing to read on in the hopes that the world-building would eventually clear things up. And while we do get more information, it felt very patchy and this world never clearly formed in my mind, which didn't help me situate myself or really feel "into" the story as events unfold at a very fast pace. As I read on, there were many inconsistencies in both the plot and the characters that kept jarring me out of the story and it ended up becoming quite frustrating as it persisted until the end. Put plainly, I found myself feeling lost and confused through the majority of the book and couldn't really latch on to the plot or the direction it took. I really wish that we got more scenes with the scrivenry magic because although a large part of the story was about scrivenists and what they can do, we don't really get to see it in action.

What also made it difficult for me to get into the story was the lack of connection to the characters. Ivy came across as much younger than 16 and I found most of the characters fell flat. I was disappointed that the one aspect I usually love in MG fantasy, which is the strong friendships, was sorely lacking in this one. Ivy grew up without friends and that individualist mentality persisted throughout the book so that she ended up doing a lot of things by herself, and that's totally understandable. However, there were times when her "friends" would show up at random, and they would act like they had a closer relationship to Ivy than what we've been shown. That disconnect would always throw me off because we don't really *know* these characters although the sudden closeness in their interaction makes it feel like we should. The author seemed to rely a lot on telling instead of showing and that also had a big impact on how connected I felt to everything--it was all just a little underwhelming.

Ultimately, it was the lack of investment in both the story and characters that made it such a struggle for me to get through this book. I was honestly surprised by how long it took me to read it and I'm quite sad that I didn't enjoy it more; but as mentioned, my opinion seems to be the minority so perhaps it's a case of "it's me and not the book". That said, I do believe that the target audience of young readers will surely delight in the magic and creativity of the world that Night created in The Crowns of Croswald!

Special thanks to the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wonderful read! If you’ve been looking for an alternative to Harry Potter, this has to be it. Magic, mayhem, hidden destiny, a youth with a thirst for knowledge and little respect for the rules, royalty, loyalty and mystique - all the ingredients for a fun, fast-paced tale with some twists and turns. I didn’t pick the plot-twist early either, there was just enough magician’s flare to keep you distracted on one hand while the major plot of the story began unfolding on the other. A very enjoyable read!

When I first started reading this book, I thought it was going to be an Harry Potter-like-kinda book but I beg to say no. This book is a book of its own. I loved how it started in the beginning and how the story turned on Ivy, my favourite middle age character in a long while.

I hope this isn't a spoiler but I knew from the very beginning that there was something special about Ivy that she didn't know.

And I love how she got to meet amazing people who helped her in the journey of discovery.
If you need to read a book that keeps you hooked through the pages, a book filled with magic, scrivenist, scaldrons and cabbies.

#thecrownofcroswald is your best bet.

I’m a 4th grade teacher and was excited to dive in to this middle-grade fantasy! Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sharing this story with me!

Crowns of Croswald is full of magic and adventure. After looking at the author’s website (it’s amazing) for the series, I couldn’t wait to learn more about this magical world. While it was very fun to imagine, there were many times when I was confused and felt like a glossary and/or map would have been helpful. I had to do a lot of rereading to understand what was going on.

Ivy is a fun character that I enjoyed reading about, but I never felt connected to her. I kept picturing her as a 10 or 11 year old, but in reality her character is 16. The way she speaks and acts didn’t feel like a teenager to me which kept me from truly getting to know her.

At times this book was moving slowly and other times it was full of action so my opinions about this book kept wavering. I would recommend this series to experienced fantasy readers with great imaginations who can truly appreciate the creative and magical world of Croswald.

The Crowns of Croswald
3/5 ⭐️ to The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night

Thank you to the publisher for reaching out and giving me an egalley through NetGalley to review!

This is the first book to a fun, unique, and magical fantasy series that follows a young girl (Ivy Lovely) who is whisked away to a magic school after she turns 16 to become a scrivener (a recorder of magical history and discoveries). This by no means is a bad series, but it didn’t capture my attention and heart the way some YA and middle grade series have.

What I liked:
I really enjoyed the overall storyline, idea, and setting of the story. It was familiar enough with the idea of the magical school, which is a favourite trope in the genre, while being unique enough to be distinguishable as its own. I enjoyed the writing, which brought me right into the book with our characters to this wonderful magic school setting with all sorts of new & wonderful magical creatures. I thought the overall storyline fit the characters well, and it was familiar enough but with its own flavour. There was enough complexity to keep me interested, and the pacing made a lot of sense! I do have a different comment about our MC, but overall I loved getting to know her, and following her on these adventures. She learns a lot about herself, grows in confidence, and helps the people who she meets at the school who have helped her. So sweet!

Other comments/what I might change:
The first thing that I felt was a little jarring and took me out of the story a bit was that there is an author/mystery person who our MC is trying to find and help, and this person has the same name as the author of the actual book. I realize that this was an intentional choice by the author and some younger readers may find that cool, but it didn’t work for me personally as a reader.
My other comment, not that this is a bad thing at all, but this book and our MC very much felt like a middle grade book even though Ivy is supposed to be 16. Again, this did not take away from my enjoyment of the story or our MC at all, but it was something I observed while reading.

Would I recommend this book? Definitely, if magic and magic schools are your thing and especially if you like MG/early YA fantasy stories! Will I continue with the series? Maybe. Thank you again to the publisher for this review copy!