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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Thank you to the publishers for an e-arc. All opinions remain 100% my own.
Books I should have read when (I was 18/back in 2014) reading vlog:
This is a title I should I picked up yonks ago! That's my bad, but I'm here to review it now.
This was a fun middle grade fantasy, focusing on the chosen one and from rags to riches trope.
Our MC, Ivy, was a a loveable narrative to have and I enjoyed how humble she was from start to finish.
I liked the different kind of magics available depending on if you were destined to be a scrivenist or a royal.
It was a run of the mill middle grade, but it was wholesome, fun, entertaining and had heart.
An imaginative middle grade read well-suited for fantasy lovers, this story takes place in a whimsical world full of original magical concepts and mysteries alike.
I enjoyed the characters and world of this story, however I found the story and world a bit confusing at first. With so many different magical terms, the vocabulary and pacing seemed a bit advanced at times for a middle grade novel - however, I became more engaged by the plot by the middle of the story and enjoyed the ending.
Though I wish the discoveries at the end of the book came a bit earlier and had more time to play out, overall this book reminded me of a Septimus Heap-like tale of magic, lost royalty, and magical places. This story is perfect for middle-grade readers who love magic and adventure!
I enjoyed the characters and world of this story, however I found the story and world a bit confusing at first. With so many different magical terms, the vocabulary and pacing seemed a bit advanced at times for a middle grade novel - however, I became more engaged by the plot by the middle of the story and enjoyed the ending.
Though I wish the discoveries at the end of the book came a bit earlier and had more time to play out, overall this book reminded me of a Septimus Heap-like tale of magic, lost royalty, and magical places. This story is perfect for middle-grade readers who love magic and adventure!
I received a free ebook of The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night in exchange for a review.
This was a fun young coming of age fantasy story. There’s a magic school, a main character with a mysterious background and a cursed royal family.
The main character is 16, so perhaps this is a very young YA, but it read more like an older middle grade story. From what I understand there are to be 4 installments in the series. I tried to look around a bit but I’m not really sure where to place it. Perhaps book one is much younger YA but it grows into more classic YA as the series continues.
In this first installment, Ivy Lovely is suddenly saved from her not-so-great life as a maid and, at great surprise to her, is sent to magic school, in a castle! In this world there are scrivinists and royals, each with a different role to play in the magical society. The royals have the magical aptitude while the Scrinivists do the “heavy-lifting” aka learning spells and studying histories. The story feels heavily influenced from other magic school type stories and some descriptions and phrasing felt a bit forced/predictable. My main criticism is how the plus-sized/fat characters were described.
The magical creatures and magic system in the world were quite fun to read about. Learning about how Ivy worked with dragons definitely started the story on an interesting note for me. Even so, the beginning was a bit slow to get into the story, and then the last 70% went by pretty quickly. Magic school adventures are generally quite fun.
I haven’t decided yet if I’ll continue the series, but if you’re looking for a nice younger YA magical school story, this could be a fun one for you!
This was a fun young coming of age fantasy story. There’s a magic school, a main character with a mysterious background and a cursed royal family.
The main character is 16, so perhaps this is a very young YA, but it read more like an older middle grade story. From what I understand there are to be 4 installments in the series. I tried to look around a bit but I’m not really sure where to place it. Perhaps book one is much younger YA but it grows into more classic YA as the series continues.
In this first installment, Ivy Lovely is suddenly saved from her not-so-great life as a maid and, at great surprise to her, is sent to magic school, in a castle! In this world there are scrivinists and royals, each with a different role to play in the magical society. The royals have the magical aptitude while the Scrinivists do the “heavy-lifting” aka learning spells and studying histories. The story feels heavily influenced from other magic school type stories and some descriptions and phrasing felt a bit forced/predictable. My main criticism is how the plus-sized/fat characters were described.
The magical creatures and magic system in the world were quite fun to read about. Learning about how Ivy worked with dragons definitely started the story on an interesting note for me. Even so, the beginning was a bit slow to get into the story, and then the last 70% went by pretty quickly. Magic school adventures are generally quite fun.
I haven’t decided yet if I’ll continue the series, but if you’re looking for a nice younger YA magical school story, this could be a fun one for you!
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Ivy Lovely has a miserable life as a maid in the Castle Plum, though she has always dreamt of and drawn another mysterious castle. When she loses her job (and gains a small pet dragon which was so cute), she leaves the slurry fields surrounding the Castle Plum and begins her adventures taking her to a magical school where she learns more about her own magical abilities while making friends and enemies.
The world of Croswald is a fascinating one. The book is crammed full of details of creatures, magical spells and artefacts, snippets of mysterious history. Often these only get a brief mention in this book but it makes the whole world feel very well-established and, as this is the first in a series, I look forward to learning more about the world in future books.
The story rattles along at breakneck speed, so much happens and I read it very quickly as it was really engaging. Some elements are quite familiar to readers of middle grade fantasy (an orphan with mysterious powers and an unknown origin, we know where this story is going) but that is not a criticism at all. This is a genre I love and I really enjoyed this book. I will say that Ivy is supposed to be 16, which seems a little old for a middle grade main character though on the whole she pretty much acts like a much younger child. I didn’t really care about the romance subplot but that’s just my own personal preference. The mystery of the opening prologue is not really resolved by the end of the book, Ivy has only just been reunited with a key character so presumably the rest of the series will explore and explain what is going on in Croswald and Ivy’s part in putting it right. I will definitely be reading the rest of this series to see what awaits Ivy next and look forward to learning more about its magic.
Thank you to Netgalley, D.E. Night and Stories Untold for a review copy of this book in return for an honest review.
This was an interesting book to read. It's very similar to Harry Potter in many ways (magical orphan with mean caregiver gets whisked away to an unfamiliar land of magic, goes to a special school for magic, has special skills, is frequently in danger, has a close male and female friend and a cute pet). However, it flips the script by having the main character be a girl instead, and the world building is pretty unique.
I wish, though, that the world building had been deeper. You get introduced to a lot of different concepts without an explanation as to what they are, and the concept of queens and scrivenists is never fully explained. There's a lot of fantasy words that are introduced and require the reader to use context clues to realize they just mean things like "kitchen maid." While I realize a lot of it had to be withheld for the ending, I would have liked things to be a lot more fleshed out. So many things happen that Ivy just accepts without questioning at all (everyone assumes this character is dead but I'm not going to ask them why everyone thinks that!).
As it is, Ivy was a pretty interesting character, and I'm intrigued enough that I might check out the next book in the series. Hopefully that will expound more on the things I felt were lacking in this one.
I wish, though, that the world building had been deeper. You get introduced to a lot of different concepts without an explanation as to what they are, and the concept of queens and scrivenists is never fully explained. There's a lot of fantasy words that are introduced and require the reader to use context clues to realize they just mean things like "kitchen maid." While I realize a lot of it had to be withheld for the ending, I would have liked things to be a lot more fleshed out. So many things happen that Ivy just accepts without questioning at all (everyone assumes this character is dead but I'm not going to ask them why everyone thinks that!).
As it is, Ivy was a pretty interesting character, and I'm intrigued enough that I might check out the next book in the series. Hopefully that will expound more on the things I felt were lacking in this one.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this novel. This was a fun magical world and I enjoyed the storyline and the characters, there were magical creatures which all middle grade books need.
Ivy’s story is one of learning who she is and what she can do, friends she makes along the way and her history that she may or may not learn about.
Fans of magic schools, friends and foes will enjoy this book.
Ivy’s story is one of learning who she is and what she can do, friends she makes along the way and her history that she may or may not learn about.
Fans of magic schools, friends and foes will enjoy this book.
I would like to thank the author @author.denight and @storiesuntoldpress for choosing me to review her book The Crowns of Croswald on @netgalley
The book is a fantasy that runs really smoothly because it keeps you hooked to the story. I really liked the main protagonist, Ivy. She is strong and not cliché. She is really brave and “a bit” obsessed with getting into trouble lol. Another thing I’ve found really cute were the illustrations at the beginning of every chapter. It made the story more interesting and thanks to them you were able to understand what the chapter was going to be about. At the beginning it was a bit slow, but then I just dived right in and couldn’t stop reading it.
The book is a fantasy that runs really smoothly because it keeps you hooked to the story. I really liked the main protagonist, Ivy. She is strong and not cliché. She is really brave and “a bit” obsessed with getting into trouble lol. Another thing I’ve found really cute were the illustrations at the beginning of every chapter. It made the story more interesting and thanks to them you were able to understand what the chapter was going to be about. At the beginning it was a bit slow, but then I just dived right in and couldn’t stop reading it.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
I absolutely loved this book even though I prefer YA books, it was totally amazing! The plot was unique and so much better than Harry Potter. One of the many reasons I liked this book is because of the found family trope! The author did an amazing job and I cannot wait for more!
I absolutely loved this book even though I prefer YA books, it was totally amazing! The plot was unique and so much better than Harry Potter. One of the many reasons I liked this book is because of the found family trope! The author did an amazing job and I cannot wait for more!
Some books work for both children and adults but this was, unfortunately, one of them. The story felt predictable, Ivy felt more like 12 than 16 and it reminded us a bit too much of Harry Potter. Although, it might be a great gift for someone who’s around the age of 12 and who enjoys books about magic.
medium-paced
This book was fine! I love a magical school setting and this book fits the bill. There are so many magical things and creatures in this world, What's not to like. Plus there is lots of magic and whimsy. In this book there is a magical creature that will highlight your books to help you study, Where can I get me one of those? Younger me would have liked this book, adult me found the writing a little clipped or clunky in some places but overall I liked the book. Definitely wish there was an audiobook for this.
If you like:
• Orphan with unknow magic
• Magical school
• Lots of Magical creatures
• Middle Grade
• Mysterious Elements
• Defeat Evil
• Single POV
• Adventure
• Magic and Whimsy
If you like:
• Orphan with unknow magic
• Magical school
• Lots of Magical creatures
• Middle Grade
• Mysterious Elements
• Defeat Evil
• Single POV
• Adventure
• Magic and Whimsy