A huge thanks to the author and publisher for the copy. This book had a strong Harry Potter feel to it! I loved Ivy, but overall, I think the beginning of the story dragged out a little too long for my liking and didn't set the book up for me love it. If fantasy is your thing, you may think otherwise. It was out of my typical genre comfort zone, and didn't wow me as much as anticipated.

Ivy is a sixteen year old orphan, who has no clue to who she is, and the power hidden within her. She's been working as a scaldron maid in the heated kitchen of the Slurries. After one of her occasional mishaps, she is thrown out. Her luck soon took a turn for the better, when she is accepted into a prestigious school for Scriveners and Royals. There she makes new friends and goes on a whirlwind of adventures, that so happens to help her find out who she really was.

This whimsical, fantastical story, is a must read. I stepped into a magical world filled with mythical creatures, spells and a dark queen. A coming of age book, written with bold descriptions that literally transported me into a realm that I didn't want to get out of.

Now I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books, but I have seen all the movies. Although this book had a Harry Potter feel to it, it still stood firmly on its own in terms of world building and characters.
What I didn't like about the book, was the predictability of the storyline. However, even though it was predictable, you can't help but keep reading to see how everything turned out.

What I did love was firstly our hero Ivy. She was both shy and brave. Her curious mind, strong will and time growing up in the Slurries, helped shape and toughen her enough, to deal with the challenges she faced. I also loved that it was fast-paced. Whenever you think you're settling into a chapter, something amazing hits you around the corner.

The Crowns of Croswald, the first in a series, is a great middle grade fantasy, that I would recommend to lovers of magical realms, fascinating creatures and adventures, young and old alike.

I would like to thank Daniela from Stories Untold Press, author D.E.Night and NetGalley, for offering me this book for an honest review. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Great book! 👍
Happy Reading!

Special thanks to Stories Untold Press and D.E. Night for a copy of The Crowns of Croswald for Kindle through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Ivy Lovely knows that there has to be more to life than being a Scaldrony Maid. Condemned to a life of The Slurry, kitchens, royals who barely knew of her existence, and a head of the kitchen who was absolutely unbearable, Ivy finds comfort in her drawings and in books gifted to her by a dwarf called Rimbrick. She dreams of being a Scrivenist, knows that she has the photographic memory and talent required, but is sure that she could never be destined for that life. She’s part of a kitchen staff, a Scaldrony Maid who can’t get anything right.

When she makes a mistake that’s deemed unforgivable by the head of the kitchen, she runs. Ivy runs as far as she can and doesn’t look back… only to run into a curious man who informs her that he’s been looking for her to deliver a message and a package. In disbelief, Ivy is told that she has been invited to the Halls of Ivy to study to be a Scrivenist. A dream come true!

But there’s so much more to Ivy than meets the eye and her adventures in magic are only just beginning.

Review

I’m excited that this book is the first in a series. There is so much promise and the world that Night has created is absolutely stunning. I want to know more about the towns, the school, the stones… everything! However, I feel like a lot of the details were lost in the first book. There are times it feels like everything is thrown at us and we’re expected to just roll with it and understand exactly what’s going on. Because of this, there are times I felt like I was reading a foreign language and trying to use context clues to make sense of things. It pulled me out of the moment and the magic.

That said, the story is excellent. Ivy is a compelling character and doesn’t seem like an extremely unrealistic protagonist within the confines of the world created by Night. She’s curious, doesn’t think that she’s the head of everything, but also doesn’t see herself as undeserving or at the bottom of the class. She’s confused by what’s going on, she tries to understand it, and she doesn’t expect her friends to risk themselves to do it.

There are a lot of comparisons that can be made to the Harry Potter series. Yes, Ivy is an orphan. Yes, she’s treated poorly by her “guardian”. Yes, there’s something special about her that the audience can guess at but she’s oblivious about. Yes, there’s a magic school. Yes, there’s a trio of friends.

But where there are elements and pieces of an equation that are similar, the story itself and the characters are far from those created in the pages of Harry Potter. Night doesn’t duplicate the equation, she takes pieces of it and creates something new.

I’m eager to read more from Night and I’m excited to see Ivy grow!

I loved this cute, quick and fun, middle-grade read!

Yes, there are similarities to Harry Potter, however there are also a lot of differences. I felt this style of magic was really interesting and I also loved the creatures in this story.

I would definitely recommend this to a younger crowd but also to adults simply because it is a treat!

This book has a Harry Potter feel with fun world building. I enjoyed the main character Ivy, but I did think it was a little drawn out at the start without a clear vision of where the story was going. However, once the plot picked up, I found myself wanting to know more. There were some good twists as well. Overall, a solid read.

It's a really nice middle grade fantasy book where we find the protagonist , a young girl who has been removed from house discovering that she has the power of magic. She's then enrolled in a magic School to learn about magic and to discover her powers and soon the dark queen gets intrigued by her and the plot follows.
Recommended for the Harry Potter lovers, because it has such a wonderful touch of magic, elements of fantasy world , adventures and so on.
Really loved the book, looking forward to the other books of this series.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley for an honest review and over all I really liked the story. It felt a little jumbled at times and rushed but it kept me wanting to know what would happen. It feels a little bit like Harry Potter which I love so this was a fun fantasy. I want to read more in the series to see what happens.

Crowns of Crowswald was an incredibly fun and sweet read that I really, really loved. It gave me all the nostalgic vibes of Harry Potter and magic school. I loved it's humor and nuanced characters. This felt like a read I'd love to recommend to my younger siblings or nieces or nephews. I don't even read a lot of middle-grade and I still though it did a great job with its plot and magic. The atmosphere is light and fun, but there are still stakes. Highly recommend this book.

The Crowns of Croswald is a story about identity and discovering who you truly are, full of magic and mystery, battling against evil.

There’s effortlessness in the writing which reminded me of the reason why I love middle-grade books so much.

I enjoyed Ivy’s story and I’ve been kept on my toes the whole time. Ivy’s inability to stay put gets her into great adventures, while she is learning magic and searching for who she is. I loved the characters and I was really curious about how their story will unfold.

The Magic school concept was okay, I liked how the story slowed down in some important to the plot parts but went faster in some other not-so-important parts. We dived along with Ivy into magic and the secrets of Croswald. I liked Ivy as a character, but I had the feeling that she was inadequate to her age (16 years old) and she gave me the vibe of being younger than that. The mystery and the secrets that surround the story make the reader want to dive into the next book, „The girl with the whispering shadow“ (which I already have!).

The Crowns of Croswald is a new, magical, series which I suggest to every middle-grade lover!

This is the first in a four part series and I think it provides a really strong base for what I think will be a great story!! We meet the mysterious Derwyn Edgar Night in the first chapter before being thrown in to the world of Ivy, a scaldrony maid in a castle.

The Crowns of Croswald gave be nostalgic vibes, reminding me of a certain other magical school but with more weird and wonderful creatures and classes. I really enjoyed the idea of training to be a Scrivenist and how the teens individual proclivities were nurtured and encouraged.

I loved the characters in this book, I wish they had been a little more fleshed out at times but I knew more than enough to be invested in each and every one of them! My heart broke a little at certain parts which is always a great sign of a well loved character.

On a note that's not about the story, I adored the beautiful illustrations at start of each chapter!

Overall I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be purchasing a hard copy for my shelves along with the rest of the series!

I can't wait to read more about Ivy, Rebecca and Fyn and hopefully learn more about Rimbrick, Derwyn and return to the Wonderful Halls of Ivy.

Thank you Stories Untold for giving me an e-arc of this book to review.

So if you have been following my Goodreads or Instagram you will know I have been reading a lot of middle-grade fantasy to be able to share with my children in school.
Enter the world of Croswald, I am going to be honest and say that the start of this book had me a little confused. I had no idea what was going on for the first chapter, but as the story flowed and we met Ivy I began to feel more at home.

Ivy strolls onto the page and took my full attention, she is 16 and living her worst life, but as luck will happen, she gets booted from it. Bring on the magic school and the adventures she has.
The school was very interesting and I loved meeting the other students. However, I wish we could have had more in-depth information on the children and their lessons. I was so interested in how their magic worked and how the whole world worked really.
The ending was dramatic and everything you want in a middle-grade fantasy. Ivy really comes into her own by the end of the book and the journey was full of different adventures.

Overall I adored this story and I am going to be purchasing the next few books as I need to see where this story goes and want to know more about the world. However, I wish we had had more time with Ivy for her first year. I felt like time was not overly described, so halfway through the book, we were towards the end of the year, which confused me as it felt like we skipped a massive chunk of time. But this obviously would not be noticed by a child, so I feel like this isn't a put-off, but makes me hope we will get more information about the world during the next books.

This is a definite must for any fantasy lover, especially for children who need their next adventure. I will be getting a copy to add to my library in school and will be encouraging my children to read it.

When I received the message asking me to review this book I was definitely hesitant as it isn’t a genre I usually read. Saying that, I ended up really enjoying this read! It was a nice easy read, that was full of magic and I’m definitely looking forward to reading the rest of the series!

Rating: 3/5

A whimsical middle-grade fantasy with familiar, yet unique elements. I've heard this compared to Harry Potter in regards to the magic, school, etc - however, still unique enough and I thoroughly enjoyed this read!

I loved the world-building and whimsical feel and so reminiscent of childhood stories. Ivy is a character that could be frustrating at times, but overall just a lovely, lovely story.

My only complaint was the pacing. It just seemed to be too much at times and too much going on,

Regardless, I will be continuing this series and can't wait to return to this world!

Thanks to the publisher/author for providing this book in exchanging for an honest review.

I really liked this book. It brings me back to when I first started reading, being an excellent book for teens and young adults I think.

It's creative and magical and the little illustrations in the beginning of the chapters are really lovely. The small chapters are also a plus for me, as it gives flow to the story.
I like that the author gives a personality to the multiple creatures and involves them in the story and also as companions to help Ivy.
As for the characters:
Ivy: She was a bit flat for me in a big part of the book. For someone who is discovering a different part of this world, I felt she was way to calm. She's very intuitive and very curious, which leads her to where she needs to be, however I feel that, whith everything happening, she would ask more questions.
Rebecca: She was the friend Ivy needed by being trusful, helpful, caring and supportive.
Fyn: Was a bit of a surprise.
Humboldt: He's just adorable
Rimbrick and Winsome: I love that they are mentors to Ivy. But again, Ivy doesn't question them enough.
Also, D.E.Night: I see what you did there and i love it. :D

As a final thought: I did like the story and can't wait to see what comes next. Hoping for more character development.

i’d like to start off by saying this simply wasn’t my cup of tea. i knew from the start that this is a middle grade fantasy series so i started reading it with an open mind, but i just couldn’t get into it. for a fantasy series, it simply lacked magical feel for me.

despite ivy consistently mentioning the previous 16 years of her life, i kept picturing her as a 12 year old. that may have something to do with the harry potter parallels i tried so hard to ignore (main character leads a crappy life then finds out they’re special and goes to live in a magical school that is literally a castle).

there is one scene that really bothered me. ivy meets a broad woman who lives above of mr. munson’s shop and, i quote: “however, her size would suggest she lived beside the town baker instead.”
this blatant fat-shaming was incredibly distasteful to read and it’s disturbing to me that this was printed in a book aimed at young, impressionable children and teenagers.

overall, i just couldn’t get into this book. i don’t usually decide not to continue reading a book, but there were a couple of times i came very close with this one.
that’s not to say others shouldn’t read this - and if you do like it, good for you! but as i’ve stated before, this simply wasn’t my cup of tea.

I think that it's a book that has potential to become popular among kids who like books about magic and magic schools. The main character is nice.
But there are some points that made the reading experience kinda meh for me. The plot is nice, but there were some clichés that I truly disliked : a strong link between some characters' ugliness and evilness, a boy described as "round" who loves to eat, people of color's skin described using food and not colors...

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliant fantasy series for teens and families. This is the first book in a four part series. Ivy Lovely, aged 16 years, orphaned and working in a kitchen, finds herself enrolled in a magical boarding school, where a world of magic potions, scrivenists, mythical creatures and Scaldron dragons await.
During her first year, Ivy finds herself on a rollercoastwr journey of fantastical adventures, and learning with a few broken school rules along the way. Del.E Night has penned a fabulous new fantasy world, reminiscent in style of JK Rowling's famous Harry Potter series. The sketches that mark each chapter opening are beautiful. I could easily imagine this series on TV or Film. #thecrownsofcroswald #familyfantasy #denight #storiesuntold #netgalley #teenfantasy #fantasybookseries

It was not my cup of tea. Was extremely childish and was more a children's book than a middle grade. As a 24 year old I just could not get through the writing. It was very cringey

A really nice magical read for middle grade readers. Its very whimsy and imaginative, and I know I would have loved this as a kid.

This book is fast paced and filled with adventure, perfect for kids who may struggle with books keeping their attention

3.5⭐
Fantasy is not one of my personal go-to genres, but as a 5th grade teacher, I know that it is a favorite genre of young readers. I was excited to read this and find a fresh book choice to recommend to my students. Even better is that this is the first book in a series!

Blurb from Goodreads: Ivy Lovely is 16 and she has no idea who she is—or what her powers could be. When she crosses a magical boundary, she discovers a whole new world of enchantment and mystery. Making friends that will last a lifetime—and save her life—she steps into her own abilities and discovers more about her hidden past, magical blood, and the power of Croswald’s mystical stones. But all is not well: a dark history and an evil Queen threatens all that is good. Will Ivy’s bravery and wit be enough?

Everyone will find something to love about this book: mystery, magic, good vs. evil, royalty, a strong female lead, even a young crush. This book was written with such whimsy and amazing descriptions; I loved visualizing while reading. As a word nerd, I also loved the whimsical names for various objects, jobs, etc., in this world. I’m excited to talk to my students and school librarian about this book, and to get this series into their hands!

I received an eARC of The Crowns of Croswald in exchange for an honest review.