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comicbookchick25 's review for:
The Crowns of Croswald
by D.E. Night
The Crowns of Croswald
4/5 stars
This is the first ever book I have gotten sent for review. The cover is absolutely gorgeous. And oh my gosh, my copy came signed which was very exciting!
The Plot:
Many people have compared this book to Harry Potter, and having just read Harry Potter for the first time a couple of months ago, I definitely agree. This story follows Ivy Lovely (which how great is that name for a lead protagonist) who lives a miserable life as a worker in this pretty abusive environment, until one day she leaves and discovers that she actually has an affinity for magic and gets whisked away to this magic school. (sound familiar?)
The magic system was pretty intricate in this one. There are Scrivenists and Royals I believe. They learn to harness their magic either through their blood and these quills they have (along with an assortment of magical items) and the royals have these bitching gems that help them control their magic (usually located in their crowns.
Now I will admit that it took me quite a while to finish this book. But it wasn’t through any fault of the book. It was effective at setting up the world and the magic system. It was effective at being a foundational book in the series, the characters were fun for the most part, and the writing was lush and beautiful. It also had the same whimsy and bounce that is in the first Harry Potter book.
It just took me a while because I was going through a lot of stressful personal things that made it a hard time for me where something that takes a lot of concentration such as high fantasy was difficult.
Since this was setting up things, there weren’t too many events happening back to back, which made the process go a little slower than I would have liked. But oh my gosh The Ball was the most intense and compulsively readable scene in the whole book and the last 60 or so pages just flew by and made me sad that it was over.
Characters:
Ivy-
She was a fun and strong willed protagonist. How her magic and backstory ended up unfolding was fascinating. But occasionally, her impulsiveness and disregard for consequences frustrated me to no end. Like I appreciated her need for answers, but if you’ve lived all your life in a shitty environment and finally have been given a better life, why would you constantly put that in jeopardy?
Rebecca-
I adored her. She was probably my favorite character and I just found her friendship with Ivy to be so endearing. Shit, give me a book in her point of view.
Fyn-
Was a cutie and I think his caring for Ivy, and tendency to always be there in the right moment made him likeable. But I felt like he could’ve been fleshed out more and was unfortunately the least dimensional of the characters.
The Dark Queen-
I LOVED the mysterious air that was surrounding her in the beginning and how her storyline climaxed towards the end. She reminded me of one of the villains in the first volume of Saga. I loved her.
Rimbrick, Winsome, and Derwin-
These men, I’m grouping together because they were all kind of mentors/ pivotal figures in Ivy’s life that shaped her into who she is. I loved them all and am excited to see more of Derwin.
Overall:
I liked this, a lot. And I feel like those feelings can easily turn into love upon a reread in the future. That ending was fantastic and I definitely plan on picking up the sequel whenever it comes out.
4/5 stars
This is the first ever book I have gotten sent for review. The cover is absolutely gorgeous. And oh my gosh, my copy came signed which was very exciting!
The Plot:
Many people have compared this book to Harry Potter, and having just read Harry Potter for the first time a couple of months ago, I definitely agree. This story follows Ivy Lovely (which how great is that name for a lead protagonist) who lives a miserable life as a worker in this pretty abusive environment, until one day she leaves and discovers that she actually has an affinity for magic and gets whisked away to this magic school. (sound familiar?)
The magic system was pretty intricate in this one. There are Scrivenists and Royals I believe. They learn to harness their magic either through their blood and these quills they have (along with an assortment of magical items) and the royals have these bitching gems that help them control their magic (usually located in their crowns.
Now I will admit that it took me quite a while to finish this book. But it wasn’t through any fault of the book. It was effective at setting up the world and the magic system. It was effective at being a foundational book in the series, the characters were fun for the most part, and the writing was lush and beautiful. It also had the same whimsy and bounce that is in the first Harry Potter book.
It just took me a while because I was going through a lot of stressful personal things that made it a hard time for me where something that takes a lot of concentration such as high fantasy was difficult.
Since this was setting up things, there weren’t too many events happening back to back, which made the process go a little slower than I would have liked. But oh my gosh The Ball was the most intense and compulsively readable scene in the whole book and the last 60 or so pages just flew by and made me sad that it was over.
Characters:
Ivy-
She was a fun and strong willed protagonist. How her magic and backstory ended up unfolding was fascinating. But occasionally, her impulsiveness and disregard for consequences frustrated me to no end. Like I appreciated her need for answers, but if you’ve lived all your life in a shitty environment and finally have been given a better life, why would you constantly put that in jeopardy?
Rebecca-
I adored her. She was probably my favorite character and I just found her friendship with Ivy to be so endearing. Shit, give me a book in her point of view.
Fyn-
Was a cutie and I think his caring for Ivy, and tendency to always be there in the right moment made him likeable. But I felt like he could’ve been fleshed out more and was unfortunately the least dimensional of the characters.
The Dark Queen-
I LOVED the mysterious air that was surrounding her in the beginning and how her storyline climaxed towards the end. She reminded me of one of the villains in the first volume of Saga. I loved her.
Rimbrick, Winsome, and Derwin-
These men, I’m grouping together because they were all kind of mentors/ pivotal figures in Ivy’s life that shaped her into who she is. I loved them all and am excited to see more of Derwin.
Overall:
I liked this, a lot. And I feel like those feelings can easily turn into love upon a reread in the future. That ending was fantastic and I definitely plan on picking up the sequel whenever it comes out.