I received this book for free from the publisher and author (Stories Untold) in exchange for an honest review.

"Her thirst for knowledge and love of reading- everyone else at the castle seemed dull and muted, uninterested in anything beyond their work and the latest servant gossip."

We follow Ivy, a sixteen year old orphan working as a kitchen maid. She spends her free time reading books gifted by her friend Rimbrick. A kitchen mishap causes her to leave the castle, where she gets invited to attend a magical school, The Hall of Ivy. There she learns to harness her powers and discovers her past. I really enjoyed Ivy as a character; she exhibited brave and I loved her motivation. I adored Fyn and Ivy's cute relationship! Rebecca, Ivy's roommate was there to help her out of any situation. The book was filled with magic and adventure. The Crowns of Croswald, although an enjoyable read, I identified passages and scenes similar to Harry Potter. When writing about a middle grade magic only so many tropes can be recycled before it becomes repetitive. An innovative twist on the magic school trope would have made the book stronger. The powerful ending scene bumped my rating up because it demonstrated the growth Ivy experienced throughout the book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a middle grade fantasy that revolves around magic!

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

The Crowns of Croswald is such an enthralling read!

It's been quite some time since I last read a fantasy book and I am so glad I got to read this one. It felt like I was taken to a world full of adventure and magic - fun, thrilling, and nerve-racking. I'm supposed to give 4 stars but writing this review made me realize how much I loved it and how much delight and excitement this book has given me. So I gave it 5 stars instead. 😁

This book sure is Harry Potter, Narnia and Alice in Wonderland in one. Just so so good! I really admire how the story was written - so magical, so whimsical. It is just amazing how the author got to imprint a picture of this book in my head. I'm a fan of books that make my imagination run wild and how this book was written got my imagination up and running. That's how good it is. I just love how it feels like I was reading a fairytale where the princess does the saving. I never wanted the book to end. Thankfully, this is a series. 😁

Well the story is about Ivy, a 16 year-old orphan who grew up working as a scaldron maid. The adventure begins when she crosses the magical boundary and started learning about the magic she possess, she finds out that there's more to her past than she knows about.

Here are 10 Reasons why I love The Crowns of Croswald:

1. How unique the story was written is just so captivating. I love D.E. Night's imagination, it amazes me. As I said earlier, it is just amazing how the author got to imprint a permanent picture of this book in my head. Am I now a scrivenist? 🤔🤭
2. How the book gave me that nostalgic fairytale feels and vibe.
3. It's middle-grade book but both the young ones and the young at heart can enjoy it. 👍🏻
4. The characters are lovable - Scrivenists, hairies, dwarfs, shorehorse, unicorns, dragons!
5. The protagonist Ivy - fierce, strong and willful
6. Ivy and Rebecca's friendship
7. Ivy and Fyn's adorable chemistry, attraction and grumpiness towards each other
8. Loved the adventures this book has taken me.
9. Loved the enchanted and magical world of Croswald. The Old Carriage House, The Hollow Shaft, the Halls of Ivy, the slurry fields, Castle Plum. I'd like to see other things Croswald has to offer.
10. I also love that there was a bit of romance in the story. The instant chemistry between Ivy and Fyn is so adorable (Oh, those innocent crushes! Brings me back to how it feels when I was 16 😂). 

I am very curious and thrilled on how the rest of Ivy's story will unfold in the next books. I'm excited to know how Ivy will become stronger, and fulfill her destiny. I wonder what will happen to Ivy and Fyn's budding romance. Hmmmm. Still have a lot of questions in my mind right now. Will surely have to read the rest of the series for me to find out all of these. And I will definitely do!

The Crowns of Croswald takes readers on a whimsical journey to Croswald, a fictional place where scrivenists study at the Halls of Ivy to learn magical ways. The story follows Ivy, a 16 year old orphan who had been working as a scaldrony maid (a bit of a magical play on the role of a scullery maid) until she was summoned to join the ranks at the Halls of Ivy.

This is a middle grade read appropriate to both middle and high schoolers.

The story has plenty of whimsy and magic, adventure and suspense, and also a little puppy love romance. It is a slow to warm novel, as I feel first in a fantasy series often are, to provide the reader with some background information— but it definitely turns into a page turner.

You will fall in love with Ivy and route for her through her mishaps and grand adventures. She’s quirky, and definitely at times finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, but is strong, goodhearted, and determined.

I loved the magical creatures and elements in this book that are nostalgic to other magical series but still with a unique flavor. Some of these elements at times produced some confusion for me, and I left the book with a few unanswered questions— however, this could be the writer’s intention to keep the reader hooked for the next in the series.

Thank you to D.E. Night, Stories Untold, and NetGalley for providing the copy in return for honest review.

When first approached about reading The Crowns of Croswald, I was a bit unsure because it’s a middle grade book. Though I am a big YA fan, I can’t remember the last time I picked up a middle grade fantasy book. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this, mostly because of the imaginative story and creativity of this author. I ‘m so glad I took a chance on a middle grade book like this. It brought me back to being a kid and really using my imagination and seeing the fun and excitement within this book’s pages.

Summary:

Ivy Lovely is a kitchen maid who dreams of being a scrivenist. When a dear friend leaves her a pile of books and a curious note about her background, she is surprised at her invitation to study at the Halls of Ivy among royals and squinches. Throughout her first year, Ivy continuously comes across the name Derwin Edgar Night, the same author of the books her dear friend had left her. However, this person has been erased from memory - forgotten by everyone but her. Could he hold the key to Ivy’s true identity?

Review:

This book is a wonderful mix of Harry Potter and similar type books. It has a little something for every fantasy lover - dragons, magical creatures, magic spells, and adventure. I also thought it was witty for the author to include themselves as a character in the book. This story also has the typical characters of many fantasy books: the heroine, the sidekick, the love interest, the villain, the mean girl, and someone needing rescue. Overall I thought this was an enjoyable quick read. My only complaint is the storyline was more fluffy than what I’m used to. Details were a little bare when it came to characters, but I think that’s also the norm of the middle grade genre.

This story is faced paced and full of magic. You really dive into the world of Croswald headfirst and you are never bored. Ivy was a really fun protagonist as she was either always on an adventure or getting herself into trouble. I really enjoyed Ivy’s friendships especially with Rebecca and her pet dragon/scaldron Humboldt. The mystery running throughout the novel was done well. It kept me intrigued and weaved into the rest of the story nicely. The magic is always present in every part of the story, particularly once we get to the school and brings to life the magical atmosphere you want from a book like this. I did not in general like the treatment of characters such as Helga and the Butterlove’s. Or that we had some really involved scenes with some characters who we then never really see again – although its likely these will pop in the later books in the series. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book. It is exciting, funny, has eccentric characters and is full of magic. Overall if you want a bit of pure magical fantasy and escapism then this is for you.

Ivy Lovely, 16-year-old former scullery maid, is having dreams and visions that aren’t quite making sense to her. When she is thrown out of the Plum castle, she is terrified, as she has no family and nowhere to go. Just then, she is magically whisked away to the Halls of Ivy, school of magic, where she begins a whole new life and embarks on numerous magical adventures.

This book, intended for middle grade children, is cute and fanciful. D.E. Night is creative and her writing is fairly good. She has the imagination, creativity, and talent to become a wonderful fantasy writer. I won’t pretend that the The Crowns of Croswald isn’t Harry Potter fan fiction, because it is. I like that it has a female protagonist, as well as a female villain. I love the romance between Ivy and Fyn - super adorable. Did I know Ivy’s story within the first ten minutes? Yes. Was the double moon disappearing a real mystery? No. But, I’m not a 12-year-old kid. If Night is trying to write a book that is intended for kids, but loved by adults, this book is a start. It is excellent practice, as long as we acknowledge it for what it is. Harry Potter with some tweaks. I’m confident that Night has plenty of her own ideas and creativity to share with us in the future and I will definitely look forward to reading that work in the future.

Thanks to D.E. Night, Stories Untold, and Netgalley for the ARC in return for my honest review.

Book Review // The Crowns of Croswald by D. E. Night // ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A book made of magic, royalty and mythical creatures. This book was so interesting and cool. What magical power would you like to have?

Ivy Lovely doesnt quite know what is hidden in her magical blood, what has been covered up from her past. When she joins the Halls of Ivy, her dream school, Ivy is just as excited as any other new student, but soon things begin to not feel so right and maybe there’s a lot more Ivy needs to learn about her school and even herself.

I will begin by saying this book was so enchanting and magical that I felt like I had really entered a different world. I loved the mix of Scrivenists and royalty as I thought this was a great concept for a magical school. The Scaldron dragons were the first creatures that I fell in love with they sounded so sweet but cool, I loved that they cooked food, cute! The princesses crowns were the next thing that amazed me, it was so cool how each stone created a different power, this made all the characters so interesting to meet as I wanted to find out what their powers were. Apart from Ivy, I think my favourite character was Rebecca, she was so cool and she really found herself, friendship, and her love of her crown throughout the book (I won’t let you in on her power as I don’t want to ruin it, but it’s a power I would love to have). My only wish is that I wanted to learn more about the classes at the Halls of Ivy and see how Ivy began to learn how to control her magic, this would have been really interesting to follow. This is a great middle grade read which I have already recommended to my younger brother, a book full of action, power, magic and royalty... what more could you want?!

Thank you for this copy of the e-book from NetGalley, I was offered this book in exchange for an honest review! Can’t wait to read the next book in the series!

I have really enjoyed reading children/young adults fiction recently. I think that there is a particular feel, a sense of reading without the same rules, a sense of possibility and adventure. I was unfamiliar with this book and this author, but I have become rather fond of stories about the acquisition of magic! The first thing that hits you reading this book is the incredible imagination at work. In this imaginary world you are given such amazingly detailed descriptions. This is the story of Ivy who is whisked away from a life of servitude to attend The Halls of Ivy where children learn to use their magical skills. Ivy is excited to be at the school she has always dreamed of and is amazed to discover her exceptional skills, however it is not long before she realises that there are dark forces at large and the Dark Queen and her entourage are on the move. I felt reading at the start of this book was like beginning a board game. You encounter unfamiliar territory, new terminology, rules and ideas which you need to assimilate to move around the board. This did make the beginning of the book, for me, quite difficult. It is loaded with description and detail and I found it slow simply because there is so much to absorb. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if a word was imaginary or one I didn’t know! Then suddenly it came together and the adventure took over. There is a sense of brooding danger which added to the tension and excitement. I think that young adults will find characters in this book who they will relate to: teenage character traits reveal themselves in the costumery and spell casting. The evolving friendship between Ivy and Rebecca was intuitively portrayed as is the blossoming romance. The character of Derwin Edgar Night is fascinating and illusive and with his reappearance at the end of the book the adventure is all set for the next volume in the series. With thanks to Netgalley and D.E. Night for a digital copy of this intriguing story.

This review is based on the opinions of two of my 7ths grade students, as well as myself. This book was quite difficult to get into at first. The storyline was good, but there was so much going on all at once at the beginning that it was a bit overwhelming. There were characters to get used to, but then there were names of objects and places and spells and…

Anyway, about halfway through, the story became more interesting and easy to follow. Ivy has been thrown into a world that she had only ever dreamed of – quite literally. She finds herself in over her head at first, but quickly comes into her own, through the help of a princess, a believed-to-be-dead scrivenist, a boy who seems to pop up when she needs him the most and her own curiosity. It’s a story of coming into ones own and overcoming your past in order to embrace your destiny.

The adventures that Ivy and her friends are on in this first book – magic aside – are quite ordinary and easy to relate to (getting into trouble for being late, helping a friend, being picked on by the “mean girl”, etc.) Middle grade students will find Ivy’s story much more exciting because they are able to see hints of themselves in her and Rebecca.

All three of us are interested in reading the rest of the series.

Ivy Lovely is very ordinary - she is a lowly maid for a castle where even those with magical powers are bland. When chased out with nothing but a dress and a small beastly friend, a gift left for Ivy sets everything quickly in motion. She's swept up by a stranger telling her not only is she on the list for the most wonderfully magic school around, but she actually has magic flowing through her very own veins.

Arriving at school and wanting nothing more than to make a good impression and learn, Ivy quickly finds herself to be labeled a "rule breaker" and a bit of a "trouble maker". Through her discoveries, though, she starts learning about the past, her family, and finds herself on the tail of a mystery that everyone except her can't help but forget.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Ivy's story as she learns to navigate the Halls of Ivy and finding her true self. There were quite a few plot twists and I was constantly guessing, trying to figure out what was going on and who could be trusted. Sometimes things moved a bit quickly, but overall the book seemed to have a good pace for the tone and plot.

The characters were both fun and flawed, leading to a great mix of curiosity and mischievous adventures. This helped build the plot in really great and intriguing ways. I found the book hard to put down because I wanted to solve the mystery as much as Ivy.

This book is great for anyone who has read Harry Potter and is looking for the next magical adventure. I think it would also be a great read for young readers that are just getting into fantasy settings, as the book was easy to follow while still keeping the reader on their toes.

I can't wait to read more about Ivy and her magical adventures!

This book was magical from start to finish, it gave me Harry Potter feels but it was a copycat at all. If you love royalty, magic, mythical creatures, mystery and more then this is the book for you. I though Ivy was a fantastic character and I was with her every step of the way as she navigated The Halls of Ivy and making new friends and enemies. I was invested and I can’t wait to read more of her adventures.

I was sent a copy by NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This book was such a lovely fantasy perfect for young readers and those who are starting fantasy. It follows a young orphan named Ivy who is thrown into a world she doesn’t know.

The illustrations at the start of each chapter are so beautiful and a lovely addition to the book. The author has done a wonderful job of creating a little fantasy world and a character you will love.

I give the 3 star rating because it does remind me of Harry Potter and I really don’t like Harry Potter. I can’t explain why I don’t like it and what it is about it but if you’re a fan you will most likely enjoy this.

This book was beautifully written and so relatable to young adults today. The main character felt like she couldn't find her place in the world which I know so many struggle with every single day.

The story follows Ivy through the discovery of her magic which leads her to a school called Croswald where she learns to master her magic. It was so fun to read! I have heard various reviews that say that this book is very similar to Harry Potter, which I can definitely see! I felt that this was a lighter read than Harry Potter but still very good.

I highly recommend this book to young adults. Although the world we live in is not full of magic and fantasy, the moral of the story remains true. It just shows that sometimes you may have to follow the path less travelled to find your people. You may have to face challenges along the way, but just be who you are and the rest will follow.

I think that this author has great potential as a writer and I cannot wait to read more from them soon!

As a result of my various committee appointments and commitments I am unable to disclose my personal thoughts on this title at this time. Please see my star rating for a general overview of how I felt about this title. Additionally, you may check my GoodReads for additional information on what thoughts I’m able to share publicly. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this and any other titles you are in charge of.

I was leaning towards 3 stars for a majority of this book- but the last quarter was quite a page turner!
Ivy Lovely is a scullery maid, but after being kicked out of her position/castle home, it doesn’t take long to realize that she’s destined for much more. She takes her place at the Halls of Ivy, a magical boarding school. Again, you can tell pretty early on that Ivy is not your average student there. Having (unknowingly) had dreams of the very castle where the Halls of Ivy is located, Ivy (the person) quickly realizes there is a mystery she needs to unravel.

The story is solid throughout the book. What kept my initial rating low is the author’s tendency to tell information rather than show. Parts of it read like a summary of a movie- although a highly interesting movie I’d love to watch! There are pieces that could’ve used more description, and some that may have had too much. However, the entire climax was incredible and I had a hard time putting it down! Overall, I think middle grades fantasy lovers will enjoy this book.

This isn’t a genre that I would normally choose to pick up but when I was contacted directly by the publisher i thought hmmm why not....
This series has so much potential that I am beyond excited to read the rest of the novels

The first thing I’ll say about this story is that it holds a lot of potential. I’ve seen it compared to Harry Potter in other people’s reviews, which I would agree with, as it follows the same pattern of a young person living in misery and treated as a nobody by their carers until they get whisked away to a magic school and discover they are special, and chosen by prophecy. But beyond the basic structure, it does its own thing and develops a very different world, which I will go into later. My problem, however, is that everything is too confusing. Typically, for a story that takes place in another world, it works best to introduce it to the readers with something familiar, something simple. One might start with a character from our own world, if it’s a portal fantasy, or a character that inhabits a world at least vaguely familiar to us. Crowns of Croswald, on the other hand, does not do this. Its prologue take place in a magical town full of things that give no familiarity, and though they are described and eventually become familiar as one reads the book, it gives the reader a lot to deal with right away. If I were to read that prologue again now, knowing what I know, it wouldn’t present a problem, but for first time readers it’s not ideal.

Then when Ivy, our protagonist, is introduced she is also in a totally unfamiliar setting; she is a scaldrony maid in a castle surrounded by fields of slurry. Words here are vaguely familiar, but still jarring. They will be important though, and they do contribute to what I felt was the greatest strength of this book: world building. A scaldrony maid takes care of little dragons names scaldrons, which have been bred to replaces furnaces, which leads to Ivy being looked down on at the school because of her position; slurry is a plant that dampens magic, which is how Ivy has never encountered the magical world before she goes beyond their fields.

I would say that Crowns of Croswald doesn’t have any more new words and systems than any other story of this kind, and I know that many readers enjoy having a lot of lore to sink into, but sadly the way everything was introduced was a bit overwhelming for me. It’s possible that D.E. Night fell into the trap of putting every single aspect of world building she conjured up onto the page, resulting in a bit of a bombardment of information throughout the story. She does described things beautifully, though, and I visualised everything very clearly as I read, which speaks to her skill with words. It just needed a bit more refining.

There were also a lot of inconsistencies and contradictions in the story, which led me to feel confused as I read. For example, in the prologue, a character is leaving the magic town via a flying cabbie shaped like a house and driven by a green rhino-like beast (a great image!), which creates a mini storm around itself to prevent people seeing it. As the story progresses, though, it seems that this is not a hidden world, as magic seems to be common knowledge, so this secrecy seems redundant. Another example is the fact that Ivy is utterly surprised to find out she has a spot at the magic school, despite her mentor-figure telling her outright that she may expect an invitation the day before she does, and that she has magic in her veins. This happens to her multiple times; a fact is given to her, and then she later discovers it again as if it were brand new. It was all a little strange.

All the characters also felt a lot like caricatures. It’s possible that in the later books they get developed further, but it felt like they were all on the cusp of becoming rounded and complex, but kept falling back on to their tropes, which made me a little less invested in Ivy’s fate. I will say, though, that I was very intrigued by her history. All throughout the book, from the very first chapter, there are hints that Ivy is more than she seems, and when she gets to the school she starts learning about the Dark Queen who currently rules the land, and that the true monarchy was wiped out long before, cursed tragically to always wander and forget themselves at the same time as the second moon disappeared from the sky. Also, the shady figure of Derwin Edgar Night haunts Ivy’s dreams and school corridors. These are mysteries I wanted more of, and their reveals felt a bit rushed at the end, but still good. My last criticism is the pace; it was quite slow, and the sequence of events relied quite a lot on things conveniently and coincidentally happening so that Ivy discovered the right thing at the right time. There wasn’t a lot of action and reaction going on. Just a lot of things happening and the characters going along with them.

Despite all this, I can see a lot of young readers enjoying it, as it is a middle grade book, despite the characters all being in their late teens. There are also currently two more books that I know of, and I would be interested to see what else Ivy discovers about her family and the history of Croswald in the future. All in all, a fun read, I just feel it needed a bit more work to be truly impactful.

I wasn’t totally sure what I was in for when I started reading this, but I’ve always loved fantasy coming of age stories!

Night’s protagonist, Ivy, is likeable and a well rounded cast of characters surrounds her. I really enjoyed her dynamic with classmates Rebecca and Fyn. Our primary antagonist, The Dark Queen, is appropriately menacing and a worthy adversary. My favorite character is a toss up between Fyn and the elusive Derwin Edgar Night.

The world-building, while certainly not neglected, is neither cumbersome nor overwhelming. Night gives us plenty of details to understand where we are without burdening us with too much information at once. Ivy’s first venture through Croswald couldn’t help but remind me of Belle’s morning walk through town in Beauty and the Beast, if that town happened to be a cross between Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley from another well known magical coming of age series, which has a clear influence on Night’s work. Unfortunately, some of my favorite world-building moments happen in the last half of the book and I don’t want to spoil anything!

Ivy’s journey to understand who she is and where she belongs is both familiar and endearing. While I’m certainly not the target audience for this series, I remember my younger self’s reading habits and I would have loved this. Middle-grade and younger YA readers will certainly enjoy this magical world.

Star Rating : 7/10

Would I recommend? Yes
Similar Titles? Harry Potter, The Paper Magician, The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Fantasy is generally not my genre of choice with reading so I definitely needed some time to shift into that mindset when starting this book. It was so wonderfully written that I was able to get lost in this world very quickly!

In this book, we follow Ivy as she learns who she is and what her powers are. As she starts at school to learn her craft, trouble ensues as Ivy’s life is threatened by the Dark Queen.

If you enjoy YA books and are looking for something new and different, this one is for you!

This is a page-turning fantasy in the tradition of fairy tales, whimsical worlds, and coming-of-age stories. What a light whimsical gem to read! The captivating world-building coupled with the characters makes for an exciting and enjoyable adventure that features Dwarves, Scriveners (magical scribes, Dragons, and of course fairies! The writing flows easily to set a clear pace for the reader. D. E. Night has created her own fairy tale world, reminiscent of ‘Harry Potter’ for others, but for myself it is its own magical tale. I see this being targeted at Middle grade readers bordering on Young Adult transition.

Plot features: mythical creatures, gifted students, enchanted quills, and a magical school. Overall I am excited to continue this series and see what awaits