The Girl with the Whispering Shadow is the second book in The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night. The trilogy is a middle grade fantasy novel with magic involved and a magical school, Croswald the main lead Ivy goes too.

I read the first book and really enjoyed it. The book flew by even faster than the first one and I can sense this only as a bridge between the first and the ending novel. But never the less I am very excited to see how the third and the final book comes by. The first book ended with the school's masquerade ball with The Dark Queen trying to destroy Ivy.

The story starts we Ivy not being able to spend her summer with her best friend, and instead is taken a new town - Belzebuthe, a secret town for only those with magical blood. In this also we see Ivy running from The Dark Queen and also simultaneously finding the Kindred Stone.

We see relationship between Ivy and Fyn more stronger and growing closer in this book. I enjoyed the first book more than this one. I am sure book 3 is going to be even better than both these and just the perfect end to the series. We definitely see more of the Croswald and world building in this book. But never the less, I felt the execution for the first one was so much better..

Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an electronic copy of this book.

While I rather enjoyed the first book in this series, I'm afraid this second instalment is not quite to my taste.

As is the case with "The Crowns of Croswald", the strength of Night's narrative is in the quality of her world-building, which brims with quirky, inventive detail that makes for a whimsical, magical reading experience. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to see more of the world of Croswald in this second instalment. I'm also very much a fan of the delightful chapter-header artwork.

Unfortunately, the quality of the writing lets this book down. Night's dialogue is rather stiff and awkward , and the narrative as a whole requires more polish. I'm sure this could be achieved by some careful editing and re-writing; the text currently reads more like a first draft than a finished product. A further critique is that, while the characters are perfectly likeable (if a bit one-dimensional), they all behave and speak as though they are much younger than their indicated ages. Night describes Ivy and her friends as being in their late teenage years; I feel the narrative would be better served by re-writing them as thirteen-year-olds.

Thus, while I'm a little disappointed by this second book in the series, I do hope Night manages to turn things around in future instalments, as "The Crowns of Croswald" has potential to be an enjoyable middle-grade fantasy series.

This book is the second in The Crowns of Croswald series and picks straight up from where the first book left off. Starting with the summer holidays away from Ivy Halls. With the events and revelations of end the first book fresh in her mind, she travels to a secret protected town for Scrivenist called Belzebuthe, in hopes to discover more about the location of the second piece of the Kindred stone. Whilst she is safe within Belzebuthe, the Dark Queen has other ideas to draw her out from the protective bubble and draw her back to Ivy Halls where she intends to steal the Kindred stone from her. In the process endangering everyone and everything Ivy holds dear.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than the first. The plot was much faster pace and more action packed. There are still elements where the strong Harry Potter vibes are present but less often than the first book and quickly absorbed into the Coswold setting. We learn a lot more about what happened to Derwin in the past and hints about who the Dark Queen really is. We also get introduced to Quogo (Quill duels), secret club meetings, Invisitaurs (Invisible creatures), an owlery and much more to the magical world outside of the school setting which was great. Imagine being able to catch the stars in the sky and actually getting wishes granted! There is also a more obvious love interest going on in this one which is very cute! I love that Ivy is getting to realise more of her strengths and weaknesses in this and we get to become more familiar with the other characters in her new "found family".

I really enjoyed this book and glad I got to continue with this series. This ended on a bit of a cliffhanger though and I can't wait to pick up the next one. Going to put it on my Wishlist.
Thank you to @netgalley and @storiesuntoldpress for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This review has also been posted on Instagram and Goodreads.

When we left Ivy Lovely at the end of The Crowns of Croswald, she had just defeated the Dark Queen at the Ball, had learned her true identity, was given part of a Kindred Stone, and had discovered that the pirate she kept being drawn to in glanageries was actually her family's scrivenist, Derwin Edgar Night.

In this book, Derwin then sends Ivy off to "The Town" (the enchanted magical city of scrivenists, called Belzebuthe) to search for the second part of her Kindred Stone and stay hidden from the Dark Queen. It just so happened that the address Derwin sent her to stay at in Belzebuthe belonged to none other than Fyn Greeley and his mother! Ivy spends much of the book running around with Fyn and his friends, getting into trouble and dodging a creepy shadow figure.

We got to see more of how the magic in Croswald works in this book, which I really enjoyed. Ivy spent most of the story either in Belzebuthe or on other adventures, and only a very small part actually at The Halls of Ivy. It was quite fun to get to know some other settings! The whole world of Croswald still gives me major Harry Potter vibes, and I enjoy it quite a bit.

In the first book, I didn't find that there was much character building of the secondary characters, like Fyn and Rebecca, but I found that was improved in this book (however I still don't much care for, or trust, Fyn). I did have a bit of difficulty keeping the members of the Quogo Club straight, but that is likely more a personal thing than the characters themselves.

I don't have much to say on the side of criticism - there were a few grammatical errors here and there, but nothing too serious. This second book also reads like a middle grade novel, which is great. There were moments when Ivy did act a bit more like a 16-17 year old girl than in the first book, but I still feel like she should be around 14, so her age still throws me off and is still a bit of an issue for me.

One of my favourite aspects of The Girl with the Whispering Shadow were the stars in Belzebuthe. I love that the stars are wishes, and that a person can rent stargusters to putter around among the stars, and that if one were to catch a star, the wish inside would be granted...! Such a romantic and lovely idea! If I lived in Belzebuthe I would most definitely buy wishes/stars on a very regular basis. I also really love that because this magic system uses quills instead of wands, spells are actually written as well as spoken, and so good penmanship is of quite high importance. I have always loved penmanship, and taken pride in having legible handwriting - I think I would get along quite well in the world of Croswald!

I continue to recommend this series to others, and am looking forward to reading the next two books at some point!

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow is the second book in the Croswald series, written by D.E. Night. The series follows Ivy Lovely, a teenager who is unaware of her real fate in life after growing up as a maid in a castle. Having been (literally) swept up into her life of magic she faced her first year of magic school in the first book of the series. The second book tackles her school life being away from the Halls of Ivy, having been warned to stay away for her safety. Darkness always finds a way in, though, even in the safest place possible.
Compared to the first book, I felt the second one dragged a little more, and only really picked up towards the end of the book. Alongside other issues I found throughout the book; a slow beginning made most of the book much less enjoyable than the first novel.
The main issue I found with the second book was it felt much more innocent and immature at times than the first, and while I’m aware the book can be seen as being targeted for a younger audience, I felt it much more in this book. The relationship between the protagonist and her best friend often felt too childish, and sometimes repetitive with phrases like “I’ve missed you so much” being said frequently. When paired with the overuse of exclamation marks, it brought down the overall mood of the book a little for me.
One final, minor issue was when the author broke immersion and described a building as ‘Tudor-style’, in a fantasy world where the Tudor’s don’t exist. While only a minor issue, and one that isn’t going to affect my overall judgement or rating of the book, a comment should be made on it.
For the positives, I still love the plot and characters. While sometimes it can be a little too Harry Potter in style, and I fear the author may fall back into that comfort blanket too often, she proves that she is keen to diverge by creating a plot that does differ from the beloved series. The twist at the end really impressed me, and I continue to love the balance between characters, description and scenery that the author gifts her readers. Excluding the break in immersion mentioned earlier, the author has successfully created a world that is immersive and wondrous to the readers, and one that I find myself wanting to enter again and again. This series is one I am definitely going to be finishing when I can.
Overall, this book is excellent in its writing, characters, and plot. The few criticisms I’ve provided are only minor, in my opinion, and do not take away much from the experience of her series. If you’re a fan of the Harry Potter series, or a big fantasy reader that has that element of familiarity, the Croswald series is one you should read.

Great follow up book to The Crowns of Croswald. Fast paced read is hard to put down. I really enjoyed the world building in this series. The hidden town Ivy is spending her summer feels like a Diagon Alley permanently stuck in a winters night. There is still a heavy influence in my opinion from Harry Potter but again, not enough to dissuade me from thoroughly enjoying the story.

A great continuation to the story of Ivy and her search for the pieces of Kindred Stone that will defeat the Dark Queen. She is surrounded by friends with unique magical abilities as she battles shades and shadows who are trying to destroy her.

I love Ivy’s world it is so fascinating. I enjoyed being able to enter it again. I found Ivy a little childish in the first book, this one I found she had grown up and it was more acceptable that she was seventeen. I had also struggled with the first book keeping track of all of the side characters and I found it easier to keep track of them all. I it was a fun novel to read and it was great to learn about more of Ivy’s adventures.

This second book is way better than the first one! I love the scenes, the Town and its different shops and new characters, the Quogo game is wonderful and most of all the star-fishing and wish-granting idea is epic. Love that! Also, I still love Rebecca's character, how she can turn to something useful when needed the most. Fyn and Ivy's building romance is something I look forward to, their friendship along with the other members of the club makes me kind of emotional. Ivy being the heroine, doing the adventures while breaking all the rules is basically like Harry Potters! (sorry for the comparison)

I wish there's more to each chapter though, I feel like it's too short for me. I wanted to know more about what it's like to be in the Town, Belzebuthe. I definitely would like to read the next book, the Selector's character is suspicious to me.

I received this ebook in exchange for an honest review by Stories Untold LLC. All opinions are my own.

Review also posted on Goodreads, Amazon, and will be posted to my instagram.

“You can be trapped in a castle, trapped in a scaldrony. Trapped by people. But the worst is being trapped by fear.”

In The Girl with the Whispering Shadow by D.E. Night, the book picks up where The Crowns of Croswald left off. The school year is complete and Ivy is whisked off to a secret town for only those with magical blood. She reunites with Fyn, and spends her break with him learning even more about him and about her own magical heritage. She sets out to learn more about her prophecy and how it ties to the Dark Queen. When they return to school where she should be safe, it quickly becomes evident that not all is as it appears and something dark is at play again. Ivy does not want to be part of putting anyone in danger again, but it becomes clear that she is going to have to face evil again to protect those she cares about most.

I loved delving even deeper to this magical world. Ivy and her friends are fun to read about, and I especially like her growing relationship with Fyn. I feel like they are well suited to each other and love that he stands up to her but supports her at the same time. This series is perfect for anyone who enjoys middle school age reading, books like Harry Potter, and magical worlds. I give this installment 4 stars.

I really enjoyed this book!
The Girl with the Whispering Shadow was engaging and pulls you along for the adventure. In the first book in this series I felt like it was a little slow to start, but this one jumped right in (and I know that has something to do with already knowing Ivy and some of her story). This book took you to The Town, a secret scrivenist "lair" where magic is practiced freely and no Dark Queen can enter. Ivy spends most of her time here through the book until she gets asked back to The Halls of Ivy where both fun and danger await. At the end of the book there is a magical battle that takes place and friends band together to fight. The end also leaves you (sort of) on a cliffhanger, that is if you are wanting to know what happens next!
I also enjoy D.E. Night's fun and fantastical places and creatures! If you love fantasy (or even if it's not all your style), this book is worth a try. A good middle-grade read too!

Ivy Lovely and her friends are back for more adventure in The Girl with the Whispering Shadow! After the events at the Ball last year, Ivy has been told that school and the Halls of Ivy aren’t safe for her anymore. Her scrivenist Derwin leaves cryptic instructions telling her to seek refuge in the mysterious Town while she searches for the remaining pieces of the Kindred Stone.

My favorite scene in the whole book is where Ivy and Fyn are fishing for stars on Fyn’s rooftop in the Town. If you catch a star, whoever wishes on that star has their wish come true! There was just something so sweet about that particular scene.

If you love stories with magic, adventure and strong friendships, then definitely check out the Crowns of Croswald series!

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Welcome back to the world of Croswald.

This review contains spoilers if you have not read Book 1: The Crowns of Croswald.

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow the second instalment of D.E Night's The Crowns of Croswald series. And like the first book it did not disappoint.

The book basically starts days after the events of book 1, Ivy and Rebecca are getting ready to leave the Halls of Ivory for the summer. One going home the other, Ivy going to the town with no name, well it has a name but it is a secret and only those who live there or are going there know it. You can not find this town on your own you have to go by cabby. It is protected from the outside world, it where the many of the scrivenist live in safety to practice magic.

But things are happening in the town, shades are being scene and quills are being stolen. Ivy has been sent there to find the next stone and to keep her safe from the Dark Queen but how safe can she be if things are happening in the town that hasn't happened before. Is the Dark Queen getting closer to finding her? To find the stone?

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow like book 1 screams Harry Potter vibes, we are introduce to a game that that scrivenist play involving their quills and and the quills of past scivenists. With that we get introduced to a greater cast of characters, ones I'm sure we will see again in future books, ones that play a big role in this particular one.

So back to the Harry Potter vibes, I can see this series blowing up. This could be the Harry Potter, and it should be,I hope for D.E Night and all booklovers and Harry Potter fans it does.

Over all I really enjoyed this book, and I love this series thus far. One day they will be at home on my bookcase.


*I was given a copy in exchange for review

Oh my gosh Night just gets better. This is a great follow up to the 1st book. The story pulls you in from the beginning and you just want more and more. I loved having favorite characters return and meeting new ones. You learn a lot more about the magic in this book. I think this series is going to be something big. I look forward to the next book. I recommend for any fan of Harry Potter series.
*I was gifted a copy for an honest review.

After the crazy whirlwind that ended book 1, we’re back with our favorite secret princess and her dragon sidekick in this sequel of Crowns of Croswald.
Fearing for Ivy’s safety after the intense events at Crosswald, her family’s scrivnist, Derwin, urges Ivy to go hide in the safety of a secret town known as Belzebuthe.
Being in Belzebuthe was so charming and whimsical. Imagine a town that has the biggest and brightest at stars, the most peculiar yet enchanting food, and the most amazing people you could ever meet. As soon as Ivy lands in Belzebuthe, I was immediately entranced in by the magic in this whimsical world.
Although this town is known to be safe, strange things have been arising and it is up to Ivy to follow her destiny and figure out a way to put an end to the dark queen while figuring out the path to finding the missing pieces kindred stone.
My favorite things about this book:
-Ivy’s character development and seeing her go from a lonely girl who constantly doubts herself to a QUEEN who conquers her fears
-Quogo!!! A magical competition kinda like Quidditch but super unique and different! Quogo ended up being super important to the story and I LOVED that
-the friendships (Rebecca and Fyn- I would literally die for y’all 🥺)
-the world building!! I love seeing it through Ivy’s eyes and growing/learning with her
-the way D.E Night always manages to connect the beginning of the book and the title of the book to the entire story.
Filled with mystery, magic, adventure, enchanting world building, and amazing characters, the girl with the whispering shadow was a great sequel that will keep you guessing and wanting more!

I am falling completely in love with this world and Ivy's story. The second book in this series has just concreted what I felt about the first. The world building so far has to be my favourite part; everything is so magical and you feel like you're right there with Ivy in the book.
The friend group in this book has great character development. It is nice to see more than just the main character getting that development in a series and makes you feel closer to the group as a whole. So often in middle grades I feel the stakes are never high enough to keep me on the edge of my seat but these books have definitely presently surprised me with that.
This series so far has just got better and I’m excited to get to the 3rd book in the series to see where it takes me next.
A beautiful magical world filled with all kinds of creatures and spells with a story that feels straight out of a fairy tale, a must read if you love magical middle grades.

Book two of The Crowns of Croswald certainly delivers! I liked the first book but it just gets better with book two - filled with magic, critters and adventure! (I adore the idea of the Hairies- little cousins to fairies with bright hair that light the way in and around Croswald. Especially in the Halls Of Ivy. The school in which Ivy and her friends attend to learn magic and the ways of the Scrivinist)

We return to the familiar world and characters of Croswald but its much more in depth and developing. Pieces of the last book come into play and frequently I stopped in an "ah-ah" moment as the books and ideas linked. Sorry... no spoilers!

The world is full of delights including wishing stars and it's own game called Quogo - where scrivinists battle with quills and specters of the quills former owner ~ spell binding.

"Have you ever fished for a star before? It takes hours, and I'm not leaving here until I catch one"

" The act of catching one (star) is like wishing on a star, just in reverse. Meaning, you net a star, you get to help grant the wish inside, for whatever the star setter wished"

Well thought out and a good pace, we follow Ivy and her friends as she tries to find the 2nd piece of the Kindred stone before The Dark Queen can get there first.

What's brilliant about Ivy is that her character is developing. She doesn't just know she's the rightful heir to the throne - she's starting to believe it too.
A quick mention of her friend Fynn here; always following and supporting her. I really can't help liking him and his growing love for Ivy.

I thoroughly enjoyed wondering around this world in my minds eye. The descriptions are wonderful too - they are detailed; and bring the reader up close with the characters such as : "The wet, cobbled street that Ivy walked down reflected the colorful lights above: bright pinks, yellows, oranges and purples"

Book two is a magical roller caoster- I just don't understand why I haven't seen this book around more. I really can see why there's a comparison to Harry Potter; but it really holds it own. Great ideas- would love to see them continue to flesh out. Its delightfully spell binding- so much depth to the Croswald world and its characters. ( I want to play Quogo too!!!) Would definitely recommend to those who love to get lost in a magical world.

Ivy learned about her past and her Queenly bloodline, and now has been brought to Belzebuthe, a secret town for those with magical blood. She has to find the second part of the Kindred stone while avoiding the Dark Queen, all while feeling she is being followed. If she can’t, she might not be able to return to the Halls of Ivy.

Despite her bloodline, Ivy is still new to magic, magical items, and the town itself. This means the reader is now brought into the town itself, and we’re exposed to new types of scrivenist magic. Being so isolated in her early years means people growing up with magic see her as naïve, but she remains our entry into this world. Summer proceeds with making more friends and some covert magic practice, especially because Ivy isn’t returning to school right away. Of course she does return for her second year of classes, and it’s a trick meant to draw her out into danger. It’s hardly the first time that happens over the course of the year, until we get to the final quarter of the book. Now we’re at the end of the school year and the Dark Queen makes another appearance, facing off with Ivy directly.

All in all, Ivy is a fun middle grade heroine. Some of the actions she takes and the mistakes she makes seem younger than her sixteen years, though her relative newness to magic and the customs of the scrivenist culture explains part of that. She has the best of intentions in mind as she and her friends do their best to find the Kindred Stone, as well as her attempts to discover why she is so important. There are consequences to Ivy’s actions as she tries to fight off the queen, all of which will ripple down into future novels of this four book series.

This is the second book in the series after the Crowns of Croswald, continuing the life and adventures of Ivy Lovely. After what happened at the Ball at the end of the first book, Ivy was asked to spend the summer at The Town in a place called Belzebuthe, a secret place only a magical can have access to. Derwin Edward Night, her family’s scrivenist, sent her on a mission to find the missing pieces of the Kindred Stone. While she was here and up until she came back to the Halls of Ivy, a shadow is trailing her and wrecking havoc.
While at school, she continued to be friends with her Belzebuthe acquiantances in The Quality Quills Club. How will she solve the puzzle of the shadow and avoid the wrath of the Dark Queen?
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I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this book than the first one, I somehow have finally let the Harry Potter similarities out of my mind. There are areas in the book that I still find to be like Harry Potter although not directly, this book still have created a world of it’s own. I’ve finally known how these quills are different from the wands we have been so accustomed to. There are additional characters in the story, from the QQC, all of whom are endearing. I like Belzebuthe too. Overall, this is a great follow up to the first book.

3.5 ⭐️s

Thank you to Netgalley, D.E. Night and Stories Untold for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

What a fantastic sequel! There was a lot more action and more character development in this one and I enjoyed both of those aspects. Ivy finds herself in The Town for the summer and we see her developing her knowledge and getting to know more people. The range of characters brought to the forefront of the story increases which is fun and allows for more drama and action. I found Ivy to be predictable in some of her movements, particularly in the Fall, but the actions she took needed to happen for the story to roll to the place it was left at the end of this book!

I can obviously see a lot of comparisons to Harry Potter, but the differences are enough. I enjoy the magical side of this fantasy and am really curious as to where Ivy and friends are headed in the next book! Great series for anyone who enjoys middle grade fantasy!!